REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 207
- ‘But in what then, Ambattha, have the Sakyas given you offence ?’
‘Once, Gotama, I had to go to Kapilvastu on some business or other of Pokkharasadi’s, and went into the Sakyas’ Congress Hall. Now at that time there were a number of Sakyas, old and young, seated in the hall on grand seats, making merry and joking together, nudging one another with their fingers; and for a truth, methinks, it was I myself that was the subject of their jokes; and not one of them even offered me a seat. That, Gotama, is neither fitting, nor is it seemly, that the Sakyas, menials, as they are, mere menials, should neither venerate, nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to Brahmans.’
Thus did the young Brahman Ambattha for the second time charge the Sakyas with being menials.
‘Why a quail Ambattha, little hen bird tough she be, can say what she likes in her own nest. And there the Sakyas are at their own home, in Kapilvastu. It is not fitting for you to take offence at so trifling a thing.’
‘There are these four grades, Gotama,—the nobles, the Brahmans, the tradesfolk, and the work-people. And of these four, three—the nobles, the tradesfolk, and work-people—are, verily, but attendants on the Brahmans. So, Gotama, that is neither fitting nor is it seemly, that the Sakyas, menials as they are, mere menials should neither venerate, nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to the Brahmans.’
1 *Thus did the young Brahman Ambattha for the third time charged the sakyes with being menials.
- Then the Blessed One thought thus:’ This Ambattha is very set on humbling the Sakyas with his charge of servile origin. What if I were to ask him as to his own lineage.’ And he said to him:
‘And what family do you then, Ambattha, belong to?’
‘Yes, but if one were to follow up your ancient name and lineage, Ambattha, on the father’s and the mother’s side, it would appear that the Sakyas were once your masters, and that you are the offspring of one of their slave girls. But the Sakyas trace their line back to Okkaka the kings.’
‘Long ago, Ambattha, King Okkaka, wanting to divert the succession in favour of the son of his favourite queen, banished his elder childrenOkkamukha, Karanda, Hatthinika, and Sinipura-from the land. And being thus banished they took up their dwelling on the slopes of the Himalaya, on the borders of a lake where a mighty oak tree grew. And through fear of injuring the purity of their line they intermarried with their sisters.