Mahakapi Jataka
Two Jataka tales of the Buddha as a self-sacrificing monkey king.
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The Mahakapi Jataka consists of two of the Jataka tales or stories of the former lives of the Buddha, when he was still a Bodhisattva, as a king of the monkeys. These narratives are preserved in Buddhist canonical and artistic traditions, illustrating themes of self-sacrifice and moral consequence.
Quick Facts
- Jataka number (pali canon)
- 516
- Collection
- Khuddaka Nikāya, Sutta Piṭaka
- Bodhisattva form
- monkey king
- Human king involved
- Brahmadatta of Benares
- Antagonist in one tale
- Devadatta
- Textual retelling
- Aryasura's Jatakamala, number twenty-four
Facts from the source article.
Story
The Bodhisattva was born as a monkey ruling over 80,000 monkeys near the Ganges, where they ate from a great mango tree. King Brahmadatta of Benares, wanting the mangoes, surrounded the tree with soldiers to kill the animals. The Bodhisattva formed a bridge with his own body, allowing the tribe to escape. Devadatta, the Buddha's jealous cousin and in that life a monkey, jumped on the Bodhisattva's back, breaking his spine. The king, repenting, tended the dying Bodhisattva and gave him royal obsequies.
Mahakapi Jataka (#516)
This second Mahakapi Jataka, number 516 in the Pali Canon, tells of a Brahmin who became lost while searching for stray oxen. After fasting seven days, he saw a Tinduka tree and fell sixty cubits into a hell-like abyss while trying to retrieve fruit. The Bodhisattva, as a great monkey, ate the fruit and after ten days found the Brahmin. The monkey practiced with a large stone, then retrieved the Brahmin, asking to be guarded while sleeping. The Brahmin crushed the monkey's head with a rock. Later, the Brahmin became a leper and traveled to Benares, where he poetically recounted the events to the king. Upon finishing, the earth opened and swallowed him. This tale is also retold in Aryasura's Jatakamala as number twenty-four.
Mahakapi Jataka (#516) in Bharhut
A bas relief at Bharhut depicts the Mahakapi Jataka #516, though it is mostly destroyed with only a few legible scenes. The top-right corner shows the great monkey practicing with a stone or peering into the abyss. The middle scene depicts the monkey carrying the Brahmin on his back out of the abyss. The final scene shows the Brahmin holding a large stone above the monkey's head, seemingly to kill it.
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