Jataka 254
Kuṇḍaka Kucchi Sindhava Jātaka
Rice Gruel, Broken Meats, and Grass
as told by Eric Van Horn
originally translated by William Henry Denham Rouse, Cambridge University
originally edited by Professor Edward Byles Cowell, Cambridge University
This is an interesting little tale. The main character is a magnificent horse who—despite his extraordinary breeding—accepts poor quality food from a kind and loving woman. But when he is bought by a rich man, the horse expects to be fed accordingly.
“Grass and the scum of gruel.” The Master told this story at Jetavana. It is about the Elder Sāriputta.
It once happened that the Buddha had been spending the rainy season in Sāvatthi, and afterwards he went off on a pilgrimage. When he returned, the local residents decided to welcome him back by presenting gifts to the Buddha and his monks. They had the clerk who sounded the call for Dharma teaching distribute the monks among all the residents according to the number they wished to support.
There was one poor old woman who had prepared a meal for one monk. The monks were assigned, some to this giver and some to that. At sunrise the poor woman went to the clerk and said, “Give a monk to me!” He answered, “I have already assigned them all, but the Elder Sāriputta is still in the monastery and you may give your meal to him.” At this she was delighted. She waited by the gate of Jetavana until the Elder came out. She greeted him, took his bowl from his hand, led him to her house, and offered him a seat.
Many devoted families heard a rumor that some old woman had got Sāriputta to sit down at her door. Among those who heard it was King Pasenadi of Kosala. He at once sent her food of all sorts together with a robe and a purse of a thousand gold coins with the request, “Let she who is entertaining the arahant put on this robe, spend this money, and entertain the Elder.” Just as the King did, so did Anāthapiṇḍika, the younger Anāthapiṇḍika, and the lay sister Visākhā (a great lady). All sent the same gifts. Other families sent one hundred gold coins, two hundred gold coins, and so on, as much as they were able to afford. Thus in a single day the old woman got over 100,000 gold coins.
Our Elder drank the broth which she gave him and ate her food and the rice that she cooked. (The implication is that she fed Sāriputta simple food before she received the gifts from the King and others.) Then he thanked her and so inspired her that she became a lay follower. Then he returned to the monastery.
In the Dharma Hall the monks discussed the Elder’s goodness. “Friend, the General of the Dharma has rescued an old housewife from poverty. He has been her mainstay. He did not refuse to eat the food she offered.”
The Master entered and asked what they were discussing. They told him. And he said, "This is not the first time, brothers, that Sāriputta has been the refuge of this old woman, nor the first time he did not refuse to eat the food she offered. He did the same before.” And he told them this story from the past.
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was the King of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born into a trader’s family in the northern province. There were 500 people in that country who were horse dealers, and they all used to take horses to Benares and sell them there.
Now a certain dealer took the road to Benares with 500 horses for sale. On this road, not far from Benares, there is a town in which a rich merchant used to live. He had a huge house there, but his family had gradually lost most of its fortune. There was only one old woman left who lived in the family house. The dealer boarded at this house, and he kept his horses near by.
One day, as luck would have it, a thoroughbred mare of his gave birth to a foal. He stayed at the house for several days, and then took his horses with him and went off to visit the king. Before he left, the old woman asked him for his boarding fee.
“All right, mother, I’ll pay you,” he said.
“When you pay me, my son,” she said, “give me this foal and deduct its value from the fee.” The dealer did as she asked and went his way.
The woman loved the foal like a son. But all she could afford to feed him was parched rice drippings, broken meats, and grass.
Sometime later, the Bodhisatta, who was traveling with 500 horses, took lodging in this house. But the horses smelled this highbred foal that fed on red rice-powder, and none of them would enter the place. Then the Bodhisatta said to the woman, “There seems to be a horse here, mother.”
“Oh, my son, the only horse here is a young foal that I keep as tenderly as if it were my son!”
“Where is he, mother?”
“Gone out to graze.”
“When will he return?”
“Oh, he’ll be back soon.”
The Bodhisatta sat down to wait until the foal came back. Soon the foal returned from his walk. When he set eyes on the fine foal with his belly full of rice powder, the Bodhisatta noted his beauty and he thought, “This is a priceless thoroughbred. I must buy him from the old woman.”
By this time the foal had entered the house and gone to his stable. Once he did this the other horses were able to go in as well.
The Bodhisatta stayed there for a few days and attended to his horses. Then as he prepared to go he said, “Mother, let me buy this foal from you.”
“What are you saying! One must not sell one’s own foster child!”
“What do you give him to eat, mother?”
“Boiled rice, rice gruel, parched rice, broken meats and grass, and rice broth to drink.”
“Well, mother, if I get him, I will feed him on the daintiest of fare. When he stands, he will have a cloth awning spread over him. I will give him a carpet on which to stand.”
“Will you, my son? Then take this child of mine and go, and may he be happy!”
The Bodhisatta paid a separate price for the foal’s four feet, for his tail, and for his head. Thus he gave her six purses of a thousand gold coins, one for each. He gave the woman a new dress, decked her with ornaments, and set her in front of the foal. When the foal opened his eyes and looked upon his mother, he shed tears. She stroked his back, and said, “I have received fair payment for what I have done for you. Go, my son!” and then he left.
On the next day, the Bodhisatta thought he would test the foal to see if he would recognize his authority over him. So after preparing common food, he had red rice gruel poured out and presented it to him in a bucket. But he refused to touch any such food. Then the Bodhisatta uttered the first verse:
“Grass and the scum of gruel you thought good
In former times: why don’t you eat your food?”
On hearing this the foal answered with these two couplets:
“When people do not know one’s birth and breed,
Rice-scum is good enough to serve one’s need.
“But I am chief of steeds, as you are aware.
Therefore from you I will not take this fare.”
Then the Bodhisatta answered, “I did this to test you. Do not be angry,” and he cooked fine food and offered it to him.
When he got to the King’s courtyard, he put the 500 horses on one side, and on the other side he set up an embroidered awning. Under the awning he laid a carpet with a canopy over it, and there he kept the foal.
The King came to inspect the horses, and he asked why this horse was being kept apart.
“O, King,” was the reply, “if this horse is not kept apart, he will let the others loose.”
“Is he a beautiful horse?” the King asked.
“Yes, Oh, King.”
“Then let me see him perform.”
The owner covered him in a fine cloth and mounted on his back. Then he cleared the courtyard of men and galloped the horse around in it. He was so fast that the whole place appeared to be encircled a line of horses without a break!
Figure: The astonishing foal
Then the Bodhisatta said, “See my horse’s speed, Oh King!” He drove the foal even faster. He was so fast that he was just a blur! Then he fastened a red leaf on the horse’s flank, and all they saw was just the leaf. And then he rode him over the surface of a pond in a garden in the city. Over the pond he went, and not even the tips of his hoofs were wet. He galloped over lotus leaves without even pushing one of them under water.
When his master had thus showed off the steed’s magnificent speed, he dismounted, clapped his hands, and held out one palm upwards. The horse got on it and stood on the palm of his master’s hand with his four feet close together. And the Bodhisatta said, “Oh mighty King! Not even the entire ocean would be space enough for this horse to show off all his skill.”
The King was so pleased that he gave the Bodhisatta half of his kingdom. He made the horse his horse of state and sprinkled him with ceremonial water. He was dear and precious to the King. The foal was given great honor. His stable was made like the chamber where the King lived. It was all beautiful. The floor was sprinkled with perfumes, the walls were hung with wreaths of flowers and garlands. In the roof was an awning of cloth covered with golden stars. It was a lovely pavilion all around. A lamp of scented oil always burned, and in the closet there was a golden jar. His food was always fit for a king. Because of the horse’s magnificence, the royalty from over all India came under this King’s influence. And the King did good deeds and gave alms according to the Bodhisatta’s advice, and he became destined for rebirth in a heavenly realm.
When the Master finished this discourse, he taught the Dharma. At the conclusion of his teaching many of those present attained stream-entry, some became once-returners, and some became non-returners. Then he identified the birth: “At that time the old woman was the same, Sāriputta was the thoroughbred, Ānanda was the King, and I was the horse dealer.”
