Vidurapaṇḍita Jātaka

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

Story:-

According to the Jātaka king Dhananjaya Korabba of the Kuru kingdom had a wise minister named Vidurapaṇḍita. He was eloquent in the discourse of law and adviced the king in all matters. Four rich Brāhmiṇ householders of Banaras who embraced the ascetic life approached the city of Kalamchampa in the kingdom of Anga for obtaining things for their livelihood. The four ascetics after taking food from the householders proceeded to various places. One ascetic went to the heaven of thirty three, the second one to the world of the nāgas, the third one to the world of the Supaṅṅas and the fourth to the park of Migacira belonging to the Koravya king Dhananjaya. The four ascetics praised each king and they desired for heavenly abode for each of them. When they died after performing meritorious act, one of them was born as Śakra, another was the king of the nāga, the third was Supaṅṅa king and the last one was born as the son of king Dhananjaya.

After the death of king Dhananjaya his son of the same name succeeded the throne. He honoured the advice of Vidura-paṇḍita. One day king Dhananjaya went to the garden for meditation. Similarly Śakra, nāga king and Supaṅṅa all went to the same garden for meditation. When they rose to depart they looked at one another. They discussed about the superior nature of virtues of each other. As they did not reach to any conclusion they went to Vidura-paṇḍita to solve the problem. Vidurapaṇḍita asked each of them of their special virtue. Vidurapaṇḍita was pleased with their reply and declared all the four virtues mentioned by four of them to be the four essential virtues of an ascetic. In return he got many presents from them. He received a silver robe, a golden garland, a jewel and thousand cows from Śakra Supaṅṅa, nāga king and king Dhananjaya respectively.

When the nāga king came home his queen Vimala asked about the jewel and learnt that it was presented to Vidurapaṇḍita. Hearing this, the queen pretended to be sick and asked her husband to get Vidurapaṇḍita’s heart which could cure her sickness. Nāga king’s daughter took the responsibility of saving her mother. She went to the Himalayas and sang song inviting capable persons for getting Vidurapaṇḍita’s heart. Puṇṇaka, the nephew of Vessavana was attracted to her. He told her that he could get her the heart and make her his wife. Puṇṇaka went to the Kuru kingdom where Vidurapandita was the minister with the precious jewel. On reaching the kingdom he went to the court and showed the king the priceless jewel and the magnificent horse as objects to be won. The king fascinated by these began the game with Puṇṇaka. But the dice fell against him. Puṇṇaka now demanded Vidurapandita. Ultimately the king gave Vidurapandita to Puṇṇaka. On the way Puṇṇaka tried to frighten Vidura-pandita to death so that he could get the heart. Failing in his mission Puṇṇaka tried to kill him. On hearing Puṇṇaka’s reply he understood what Vimala meant by his heart. He requested Puṇṇaka to enable him to reveal his heart to the laws of good men. Yakṣa, that is, Puṇṇaka now repented for his action and offered to take the sage back to Indapatta. But the sage insisted on taking him to nāga’s world. The sage discoursed with the king on the merits of virtuous action. The king took him to his wife who greeted him. Irandati was given in marriage to Puṇṇaka. The sage then returned to the kingdom of Kurus where he was welcomed by the king with his men^[1].

Depiction:-

The synoptic continuous narrative scenes of the Jātaka are executed on a limestone coping from Amarāvatī. The scene on the extreme left shows Vidura seated on a low seat in front of four noble personalities. Of them one person is shown with a snake hood. This scene represents the four kings taking leave of Vidura after consulting him about their merits. The next scene shows Irandati talking to Puṇṇaka seated on a horseback. Semi-divine figures are shown souring high into the sky. The gateway represents the outer toraṇa of the palace of the king of Kurus. Vidura is shown coming out of the gateway. Next to it is a hall where king Korabba is seated in ardhaparyaṅkāsana surrounded by his queens and host of officers. The queens are shown lamenting at the departure of the sage.

To the extreme right of the panel is Puṇṇaka holding the tail of animal and carrying away Vidura. The next scene shows Yakṣa holding Vidura’s head downwards with the intension of throwing him down the hill. Beside it is a Yakṣa listening to the discourse of the sage. A standing nāgarāja in the panel represents the abode of the Nagās. The nagaraja is shown adoring the sage. The sage is shown with his lifted right hand as if he is discoursing to the king. This is preserved in the British Museum^[2].

Another broken medallion of the cross bar from Amarāvatī housed in the Madras Government Museum shows a partial depiction of the Jātaka. On the right side of the panel are two men talking to each other with their raised hands. They are shown playing a game of dice on a rectangular game broad. They are Puṇṇaka and the king Dhananjaya. Beside them are courtiers. On the extreme left of the medallion beyond the pillar are Puṇṇaka’s horse and dwarfish attendants^[3].

One more circular medallion shows the monoscenic narration of the jātaka. The central figure represents Vidura seated on a throne wearing a decorated turban and preaching to the king of the nāgas and his queen. Above it is shown probably the arrival of Vidura. The representation of the hind part of the horse and legs indicates Puṇṇaka on the horse with his attendants. The pleasure of the nāga kingdom is indicated by a beautiful lake with geese swimming in it^[4].

One of the long panel of a coping from Amarāvatī displayed in the Madras Government Museum represent various episodes of the Vidurapaṇḍita jātaka^[5].

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Cowell E.B, Op.cit, vol V-VI, No. 545 pp 126-156

[2]:

Subrahmanyam B, Op.cit, pp 106-110, Pl 33.

[3]:

Sivaramamurti C, Op.cit, pl XXIX, fig 1.

[4]:

Ibid, pl XXIX, fig2

[5]:

Ibid, pl XLIV, fig 1 and 2