How Bisvaṃtara Got His Dharma Body: Story, Ritual, and the Domestic in the Composition of a Newar Jātaka

Abstract

introduction The tale of the generous prince who renounces his right to the throne, his children, and, eventually, his wife, and who is finally rewarded for his generosity by receiving back all of the above in a triumphant homecoming, is one of the most popular stories of Buddhism and certainly the most widely known shared tale in Buddhist South and Southeast Asia. Recorded in Pāli, in the South and Southeast Asian vernaculars, and transmitted through texts, performances, and visual representations, the story has become an important part of those societies in the region that support a living Buddhist heritage. The prince is known as Vessantara in Pāli and Sinhala, Vessantar in Khmer, Wethandaya in Burmese, and Wetsandon in Thai versions. The story, which originated in South Asia, is also found in Sanskrit Buddhist literature and it has made its way into Central and East Asian Buddhist literatures as well. The plot is as follows. In his last birth as a human being before becoming the Buddha, the bodhisattva is born to a royal couple and from early on reveals his propensity towards practicing the virtue or perfection of generosity (Pā. dāna pāramī or Pā. and Skt. pāramitā). This becomes a major political issue once he gives away his father’s state elephant to the king of the neighboring realm. His acts of generosity are on such a scale that the ministers convince the king to have his son banished. The prince leaves the kingdom together with his wife, his daughter, and his son on a horse-drawn chariot. But he gives away first the horses and then the chariot to people they encounter on the way. Continuing on foot, they make it into the wilderness where the prince spends his time in meditation. He is approached by a wicked Brahman to whom the prince hands over his two children. They are led away pleading and crying. Intent on receiving compensation, the Brahman brings them back to their grandfather. When the prince’s wife discovers what her husband has done she is devastated. But she too is given away by the generous prince and, being the good wife that she is, acquiesces without complaint. However, this time the recipient is the king of the gods, who had