Story 170 - Concerning The Golden Peacock

IN a certain country there is a King, it is said. Near the city there is also a mountain; on the mountain a [golden-coloured] Peacock lodges. A Vaedda of that country saw that the Peacock lodges on the mountain; having seen it the Vaedda for a long time made efforts to seize the Peacock.

At that time the Peacock, getting to know that this Vaedda is saying,

“I will seize it,”

went to another mountain. Having gone, during the time while it was at the mountain this Vaedda got to know of it. Learning about it, the Vaedda went near that mountain also, and made efforts to seize the Peacock. Age having gone to the Vaedda while he was trying to catch [it], when he was about (lit., making) to die he told the Vaedda’s son about the matter of the Peacock. While saying it the Vaedda died.

After the Vaedda’s son became big he went near the mountain on which the Peacock lodged. Having gone there, owing to its freedom from danger (ahiyata) he was unable to seize this Peacock. “I at least must seize this Peacock,” he thought.

After that, taking a pair of noose-posts (mala-kanu), and catching also a peahen, he went there as the first light came, and having fixed the pair of noose-posts he made the peahen cry out. When it was crying out the Peacock came and perched (waehaewwa) near the peahen. Thereupon it was fastened at the pair of noose-posts, and while it was fastened the Vaedda went and seized the Peacock. The Vaedda, seizing it, released the Peacock from the pair of noose-posts. Having released it and said [to himself] that the Peacock is dead, he placed it on one side. Having put it aside he opened the noose of the noose-posts. In the twinkling of an eye the Peacock, having been as though dead, flew away. The Vaedda sorrowed more than his first sorrow [at being unable to catch it].

The Peacock having flown away, without staying in that country went to another country. In that country it began to lodge on a mountain of that country also. At the time when a Vaedda of that country was going hunting he met with the Peacock alone, and told the King of that country,

“There is a gold - coloured Peacock at such and such a cave.”

When he said it the King caused the notification tomtoms to be beaten, and told all the Vaeddas of that country to come. Then all the Vaeddas came.

After they came the King said,

“On such and such a mountain a Peacock lodges. Catching the Peacock come back.”

Then the Vaeddas having gone tried to catch it; the Vaeddas were unable to catch it, so the Vaeddas told the King,

“We cannot catch it.”

Then the King having become angry with the Vaeddas said,

“Without staying in my country go ye to another country.”

So the Vaeddas went away.

Out of them one Vaedda stopped and said to the King,

“O Lord, Your Majesty, I will go quite alone and come back [after] catching it.”

Then having said,

“It is good,”

the King asked,

“To catch the Peacock what are the things you want ?”

The Vaedda said,

“I want, for five days, food-expenses and a pair of noose-posts.”

So the King gave them.

Then the Vaedda, taking the articles also, went near the mountain. Having gone there, he stayed for three or four days to get to know the time when the Peacock comes and goes for food; he learnt the times when the Peacock comes and goes. [After] learning them having fixed the pair of noose-posts in the morning before _it became light, he made the peahen [which he had caught and brought with him] call in the very same manner as at first. Then the Peacock came and perched on the pair of noose-posts [and was caught]. Thereupon the Vaedda, taking the Peacock, came near the King. The King took the Peacock, and gave the Vaedda many presents and distinctions. Having given them he kept the Peacock.

When it had been there in that way a considerable time, a King of another country, taking his army also, came to seize that city. At the time when he came, this King having prepared to go to the war and having come carrying the Peacock, said,

“Should I win in this war I will free thee; if not, I will kill thee.”

Then the Peacock said,

“Taking my feather, and placing it on your head, and tying it there, should you go you will win.”

So the King having gone in that manner conquered in that war.

Having conquered he came to the palace, and having come near the Peacock, he says,

“By thy power, indeed, I conquered in this war.”

Having said,

“Because of it, half the kingdom is for thee, the other half for me,”

dividing the kingdom he remained there.

North-western Province.

 

Note:

In The Jataka, No. 159 (vol. ii, p. 23), and also No. 491 (vol. iv, p. 210), there is a story of a Golden Peacock.

“The egg which contained him had a shell as yellow as a kanikara bud; and when he broke the shell, he became a Golden Peacock, fair and lovely, with beautiful red lines under his wings.”

We leam that

“when day dawned, as he sat upon the hill [at Dandaka], watching the sun rise, he composed a Brahma spell to preserve himself safe in his own feeding-ground.”

It was as follows:—

There he rises, king all-seeing, Making all things bright with his golden light.
Thee I worship, glorious being, Making all things bright with thy golden light.
Keep me safe, I pray
Through the coming day.^[1]

During the reign of six Kings it could not be captured on account of the spell, but at last a hunter with the assistance of a tame peahen owing to whose presence the bird forgot to utter the spell, succeeded in catching it in a spring net.^[2] The Peacock proved to the satisfaction of the King that he had been a devout monarch himself in a former life, keeping the five Precepts, and after being rewarded with an existence in the heaven of Shakra had been re-born on earth as a Golden Peacock. After this he was allowed to return to “the golden hill of Dandaka.” The bird admitted that “all who eat of me become immortal and have eternal youth.” In the second story the Peacock was released by the hunter, whom he converted to Buddhism.

In all the earlier part of this Jataka tale there is no trace of Buddhism; the Peacock was a sun worshipper, pure and simple. It is evident that the latter part has been tacked on to it in order to give it a Buddhist complexion.

It is possible, therefore, that the Sinhalese form of the tale preserves an early version which the composer of the Jataka story modified to suit his purpose. See my note in vol. i, p. 240, on the story of the Jackal and the Turtle.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Similarly, in the Maha Bharata (Vana Parva, iii) it is declared that the repetition of the Hymn to the Sun recited by Yudhisthira grants any boon, and that its reading in the morning and evening twilight frees a man or woman from danger.

[2]:

In the second story it was a spring noose, which held the Peacock dangling in the air, caught by the leg. Apparently this is what the Sinhalese narrator meant.