THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
1642
When King Korabya and PuÓÓaka the ogre were playing a game of dice, they agreed to
bet as follow: should the King lose, PuÓÓaka would take anything from the King except (1)
the King's person, (2) the Chief Queen and (3) the white parasol. Should PuÓÓaka lose on
the other hand, the King would take from him the Manomaya Gem and the thoroughbred
horse. The King lost the contest and PuÓÓaka asked: ‚I have won, O King, give me the
stakes as agreed.‛
As it was a fact that the King had lost, he could not refuse, but allowed PuÓÓaka to take
anything he wanted. PuÓÓaka said he would take Vidhura the Minister. Then the King
pleaded: ‚The Minister is my person. He is also my refuge. Therefore, he should not be
compared with other treasures of mine, such as gold, silver, etc. He should be compared
only with my life. Thus I cannot surrender him.‛
Then PuÓÓaka said: ‚We shall not get anywhere if we are arguing whether he belongs to
you or not. Let us go to him and abide by his decision.‛ The King agreed and they went to
the Minister, whom PuÓÓaka asked: ‚O Minister, as the Minister of the Kurus you are
praised even by devas for standing in righteousness. Is it true? Are you King Korabya's
servant? Are you a relative of the King's and of equal rank? Or are you a relative of the
King's but of higher rank? Is your name Vidhura meaningful (
anvattha
) or without
meaning (
rulhÊ
)?‛
(The last question means to say like this: In this world there are two kinds of
names. The first is
rulhi
, a name, the meaning of which does not agree with what it
represents; instead, it is a name given at random. The other is
anvattha
, a name, the
meaning of which agrees with what it represents. For example, if some ugly person
is named Maung Hla (Pretty Boy), it is just a
rulhi
name because the name does not
suit the boy. If some handsome person is named Maung Hla, it is an
anvattha
name
because it goes well with the appearance.
When PuÓÓaka asked whether Vidhura's name was
rulhi
or
anvattha,
he wanted to
verify whether the Minister was righteous or not, for the name Vidhura signifies a
virtuous person who eradicates evils. Should the Minister not abide by
righteousness, his name would then be
rulhi
, a name given to him with no
significance. Should he abide by righteousness, his name would then be
anvattha
, a
name in harmony with his true nature.
Should the Minister not abide by righteousness, his name would then be
rulhi
, a
name given to him with no significance. Should he abide by righteousness, his
name would then be
anvattha
, a name in harmony with his true nature.)
Then the Minister thought to himself: ‚I can say that I am a relative of the King, or I am
of higher rank or I am not at all related to the King. But in this world there is no refuge
like truthfulness. I should speak out what is true.‛ So he said: ‚Friend, there are four kinds
of servitude in the world:
(1) the servitude of one born of a female slave,
(2) the servitude of one bought by money,
(3) the servitude of one who serves voluntarily, and
(4) the servitude of a prisoner of war.
Of these four servitudes, I am a servant who comes to serve the King voluntarily.‛ So the
Minister answered truthfully.
Such an answer given truthfully without deceit was a speech of truth but not
saddahapana-sacca
because the speech was made not to convince others; nor was it
icchapurana-sacca
because it was made not to get one's wish fulfilled. It was made just to
avoid telling lies and therefore was
musÈviramaÓa-sacca
only.
Similarly, in the SuvaÓÓa SÈma JÈtaka when King Piliyakkha asked SuvaÓÓa SÈma: ‚What
is your clan? Whose son are you? Tell me the clan to which you and your father belong.‛
he would have believed if SuvaÓÓa Sama were to say: ‚I am a deva,‛ or ‚a
NÈga
‛ or ‚a
KinnarÊ‛ or ‚of a royal family‛ or if he were to give any other answer. But he thought he
should say nothing but the truth; so he said truthfully: ‚I am a fisherman's son.‛ SuvaÓÓa