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Mahakapi Jataka: The Great Monkey King | Story - 12

The Mahakapi Jataka is the 407th tale, telling the life of the Buddha born as a Monkey King.

In the forest of the Himalaya was a mango tree on which grew an exotic variety of mangoes. Lured by the delicious mangoes, a troop of monkeys had made it their home. The leader of the troop of monkeys was a big monkey, the Monkey King, who was actually the Buddha. The Monkey King warned the monkeys to take care not to let even a single mango fall into the river Ganga that flowed below some of the branches of the mango tree. He feared that the river would carry the mango into the city of Benares. He warned the monkeys that if the mango made its way to people, the people would come to find the tree. Once people found the tree, it might mean danger to the monkey troop itself. Although the monkeys took great care, a single mango escaped. It got carried downstream and reached Raja Brahmadatta, the king of Benares. The King, a lover of mangoes came in search of the tree and began killing the monkeys. The Monkey King in a bid to save his monkey clan leaped across the river and takes hold of an aerial root of the banyan tree on the other bank. He clings to it, creating a bridge with his body and asks his troop of monkeys to run across to safety. In the process of saving his clan, the Monkey King himself sustained serious injuries and died. Just before dying the Monkey King, who was the Buddha himself, instructs the King of Benares on how a king should lead a righteous life. Raja Brahmadatta then gives the Monkey King a royal funeral, builds a shrine in the great monkey's honor and leads the rest of his life following the teachings of the Buddha.

Crafted & Narrated by: Sherline Pimenta K.

About the visual: The Mahakapi Jataka is beautifully illustrated in a stone relief on a pillar at the Sanchi Stupa (1st century BCE).

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