Mahāpaduma Jātaka

[Full title: Jātakas and Avadānas in the Amarāvatī Art: Mahāpaduma Jātaka]

Story:-

According to the Jātaka when Brahmadatta was reigning in Banaras, Bodhisattva was born as the son of his chief queen and was named Padumakumāra. His father married another wife after the death of his former wife. Padumakumāra was made the viceroy. The king once was engaged in suppressing a frontier rebellion and Padumakumāra was entrusted with the welfare of the queen. When the victorious king returned, Padumakumāra decorated the city and went to the palace to take leave of his stepmother. The queen was charmed by him and made overtures to him. On being rejected by him the queen thought that she might be punished by the king. So she made nail scratches in her body and pretended to be ill. When the king got the news he went to the queen and asked the reason for her illness. In reply the queen accused his step son of attempting to rape her. The king without making any investigation ordered his men to throw his son down the thief’s cliff to kill him.

The king who lived down the hill caught the falling prince and set him in the abode of serpents of eight regions. He lived there for one year and then desired to go to the Himalayas to lead a religious life. One day a wood ranger of Banaras recognized the prince and informed his father that Padumakumāra had embraced an ascetic life. The king went to salute the Great Being who sat in his golden form. Bodhisattva invited the king to share his fruits. The king then learnt from Bodhisattva how he was saved by the Nāga king. The king requested him to return to his kingdom. In reply the Bodhisattva said that he preferred to live the present life rather than to be a king. The king thus went back weeping and punished the queen for her act^[1].

Depiction:-

The synoptic sequential narrative of the Jātaka is visible on a coping fragment from Amarāvatī preserved in the Madras Government Museum. The Jātaka is delineated in three panels. The first panel represents a water pond with lotuses. The second panel depicts ascetic Paduma seated in front of the hut adorned by nāgarāja, nāgini and a Brāhmiṇ. Nāgini is shown almost kneeling in anjali attitude and the sage is blessing her with outstretched hand. A man climbing the tree is the forest ranger who recognized him and informed the king. The third broken panel shows Nāgini rising out of the lotus lake^[2]. The depiction of the Jātaka is also found at Nāgārjunakoṇḍa^[3].

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Cowell E.B, Op.cit, vol III -IV, No. 472, pp 116-121.

[2]:

Sivaramamurti C, Op.cit, pp 220-222, pl XLIX, fig 2

[3]:

Subrahmanyan B, Op.cit, pp 149-152, pl 53