Naḷinikā’s Story: The Seduction of an Innocent
Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
Introduction
The story is an interesting, if highly improbable, fable: a sage lives alone in the Himālayas, there is semen in the urine he passes, and a deer who happens to eat the grass in that place gets pregnant from it.
A human boy is later born to the deer and he is brought up in complete seclusion from mankind, and most importantly, from womankind. The boy’s ascetic power becomes so great that Sakka in his heaven is worried by it and causes a drought to occur in the country and blames it on the boy. He then convinces the King to send his daughter to seduce him and to break his power. The King and his daughter accept Sakka’s reasoning and in good faith – and for the benefit of the country agree to the plot. The girl dresses up as an ascetic and while the Father (the Bodhisatta) is away gathering roots and fruits in the forest, she manages to seduce the boy, who has never seen a woman before, though she does so with a completely unbelievable story. Through their revelling the boy does indeed loose his powers, the girl then makes off, and when his Father returns the boy who has become infatuated with his new friend, tells him all about it, only to be instructed and rebuked by his Father, and repent his actions.
What happens next seems not to have interested the story-teller as, apart from the fate of the boy, who regains his former powers, he doesn’t inform us. Once the boy had his powers back Sakka’s seat must have glowed again, but whether he let it be, or stood up for a lifetime is not revealed.
It is interesting to note that this is not the only story of Isisiṅga that appears in the Jātakas, there is another, and somewhat similar, story just a few pages before, and which is referred to in our story. That is Jātaka 523, the Alambusājātaka, but there Sakka chooses a heavenly nymph to seduce the ascetic.
The outcome is the same, the sage is seduced, repents and Sakka is thwarted, but for some reason he does not seem upset, in fact he grants a boon to the seductress. The stories are, of course, in neither case, to be taken seriously, it is not in the logic of their events, but in their telling, that the story-teller has won his friends.The story also appears in the Mahāvastu (Jones’ translation pp. 139-147), but Ekaśṛṅga, as he is known there, is the Bodhisattva, and Nalinī is Yaśodharā in an earlier existence. There is a variation in the story as without his knowing it, Ekaśṛṅga is married to the girl and has to take up his responsibilities, eventually becoming the King and having 32 children.
The story also appears in the Mahāvastu (Jones’ translation pp. 139-147), but Ekaśṛṅga, as he is known there, is the Bodhisattva, and Nalinī is Yaśodharā in an earlier existence. There is a variation in the story as without his knowing it, Ekaśṛṅga is married to the girl and has to take up his responsibilities, eventually becoming the King and having 32 children.
The story is also known to the Hindu epics the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, with many further variations. In the former Ekaśṛṅga was the chief priest when the king Dasaratha performed a sacrifice in order to gain children, and as the consequence there were born Rāma, Bhārata, and the twins Lakṣmana and Śatrughna! Because of its sexual content the Pāḷi version of the story has never been translated in full before. In the English version presented here the word-analysis is omitted as it only makes sense in the context of the Pāḷi text.
Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
August 2010
526-Nalinikas-Story
