In Buddhism

Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)

Source: Pali Kanon: Pali Proper Names

Kandari, a king of Benares, was very handsome; each day he received one thousand boxes of perfume for his use, and his food was cooked with scented wood. His wife, Kinnara, was very beautiful; his chaplain was Pancalacanda. One day, Kinnara, on looking out, saw a loathsome cripple in the shade of a jambu tree near her window, and conceived a passion for the man. Thereafter she would wait for the king to fall asleep and would then, nightly, visit the cripple, taking him dainty foods and having her pleasure with him. One day the king, returning from a procession, saw the misshapen creature, and asked the chaplain if such a man could ever win the love of a woman. The cripple, hearing the question, proudly boasted of his intimacy with the queen. At the chaplains suggestion the king watched the queens movements that same night, and saw the cripple abuse her and strike her for being late in coming. The blow fell on her ear breaking off her ear ornament, which the king picked up.

The next day he ordered the queen to appear before him in all her ornaments, and having proved that he knew of her infidelity, handed her over to the chaplain to be executed. Pancalacanda, pitying the woman, begged that she should be pardoned, because in being unchaste she had but obeyed the instincts common to all women. To prove his contention, Pancalacanda took the king with him and, in disguise, they wandered through Jambudipa, testing the virtue of various women, including that of a young bride who was being taken to her husbands house. Convinced that all women were alike, the king spared Kinnaras life, but drove her out of the palace together with the cripple, and caused the jambu tree to be cut down.

The story was among those related by the bird Kunala to his friend Punnamukha, testifying to the unfaithfulness of women. Kunala is identified with Pancalacanda. J.v.437-40; J.iii.132.

context information

Theravāda is a major branch of Buddhism having the the Pali canon (tipitaka) as their canonical literature, which includes the vinaya-pitaka (monastic rules), the sutta-pitaka (Buddhist sermons) and the abhidhamma-pitaka (philosophy and psychology).

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Jataka, Kandari.

Full-text: Kinnara, Kandari.

Relevant text

No search results for Kandari Jataka, Kandari-jātaka; (plurals include: Kandari Jatakas, jātakas) in any book or story.