Mahā Sutasoma Jātaka

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

Story:-

When the king Koravya was ruling the city Indapatta in the Kuru kingdom, Bodhisattva was born to the chief queen. On account of his fondness for soma juice he was known as Sutasoma. He went to Takkhasilā for education. On the way he met Brahmadatta and became friends. After their education they returned to their respective kingdoms. Bodhisattva knew that the king of Banaras, Sudasa never ate his rice meal without meat. One day the meat for the king was eaten by a dog. The cook was in trouble and so he brought the flesh of a dead man. He cooked it and gave it to the king. The king who was a yakṣa in his former birth developed a taste for human flesh and asked his cook to serve such meat every day. The cook revealed the secret to the king. From the next day the king ordered the cook to bring dead bodies for supplying meat to the king. One day the cook was caught by the commander when he was cutting the human flesh. He was placed before the king. The commander tried to advice the king that such an act will destroy him. But the king said that he cannot resist his desire. The commander told him several stories to bring him to a better mind.

The commander Kālahatti told the king to depart from the kingdom. The king agreed but he wanted his sword and the cook. The commander granted them and the king departed from the kingdom. The king lived happily eating flesh. One day he did not find anyone. The king then killed the cook and ate his flesh.

One day a Brāhmiṇ while passing through the area faced the man-eater. In the struggle, the man-eater got a big wound. He went to the banyan tree and requested the tree for fast recovery of the wound. He promised to bathe the trunk with blood of hundred and one princes and offer five kinds of flesh. He thought that he recovered his strength by the grace of the tree spirit. Incidentally he met his friend who was also a yakṣa in his previous birth. He requested his help in fulfilling his oath. But he gave a spell. With this spell within seven days he collected hundred and one kings, hanged them to the tree branches for sacrificing them to the tree. But he did not touch his friend Sutasoma. The tree spirit urged the four great kings to stop it. They advised her to see Śakra. Śakra expressed his inability to stop this and advised her to approach Sutasoma who can save the lives of the kings from the man eater. She instigated the man eater to bring Sutasoma. Somehow he caught Sutasoma when he was bathing in the royal tank in the Mrigacira park. Noticing the drops that fell upon him from Sutasoma’s hair the man-eater thought that there is no man living free from the fear of death. Sutasoma then started weeping. Sutasoma said that he is not weeping for himself but for the unfulfilled promise. The man eater did not believe it. Sutasoma told him to believe him and he will provide an offering for him. Sutasoma departed and promised to come back soon. After hearing to the verses of the Brāhmiṇ he returned to the dwelling of the man eater.

After discussions the man eater decided that he will not eat the wise man. Sutasoma delivered the verses taught by Brāhmiṇ Nanda to the man-eater. The Great Being asked the man eater to release the kings. Accordingly all were released. The man-eater before departing to his palace praised the virtues of Sutasoma^[1].

Depiction:-

The monosenic episode of the jātaka is identified on two dome panels at Amarāvatī housed in the British Museum. In the panels are visible armed men on elephant and horseback. They look as hunting men employed to supply human flesh to the king. Another panel shows a dynamic procession of soldiers seated on horses and elephants to secure human flesh to the king. Within the limited space of the panel the artist has selected the main theme of the jātaka^[2].

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Cowell E.B, Op.cit, vol V-VI, no 537, pp 246-279.

[2]:

Knox Robert, Op.cit. pp 132-136, pl 70 (Dome slab C) Subrahmanyan B, Op.cit, p 171, pl 64.