southern continent being called JambudvTpa. The southern zone of this continent included INdia. See Basham, A., o p . c i t ., pp.
U88—U89-
10 3.
his gambling he asked the officials where the criminal was, for he wanted to pass judgement. They reported that as they had to proceed according to law he was already dead. Now when the king heard this he fainted and fell to the ground. The ministers and attendants sprinkled water on his face, and after a long time he regained consciousness. Shedding tears he said: "Tie palace women and singing girls, the elephants
56
and horses, in fact the sapta ratna all will stay here. I alone will go to hell to receive all suffer ings. Before I was king another king ruled. Soon I will die and yet another king will succeed me. I am named a king, but I have killed someone, which
57
makes me equal to a candala who is an outcast for for generation after generation. I have now decided to be a king no m o r e " . Then he abdicated and took to the mountains to keep himself from evil. After his death he was reborn in the sea as a makara with a body seven-hundred yojäna long. The king's officials took advantage of their power to maltreat the people. They separated and exploited them. Upon expiry most of them became makaras. Often there were parasites that fed on their bodies, the same way as insects will stick to the tuft of a fine mat. When their body itches too much they rub against a mountain and crush all parasites. The blood reddens the sea to a distance
56
. The Seven Treasures. According to Senart, o p . ci t . , pp. 22-23, they are "le tremor de la roue (cakra),de l'elephant (näga) , du cheval (a^va) , du ma'Ttre de maison(griphati), du joyau (mani), de la femme (stri), du conducteur (parinakaya).
57. Basham, A., o p . c i t . , p. 145, states "Chief of these groups (outcastes) was the candala . . . He was not allowed to live in an Aryan town or village, but had to dwell in special quarters outside the boundaries. . . in theory their main task was the carrying and cremation of corpses, and they also served as executioners of
lOU.
of one-hundred li . Because they are entangled in
their net of wrongdoing they enter hell. A makara
sleeps for a hundred years at the time, and when he
awakes he is hungry and thirsty. He opens his mouth.
The seawater flows into it like a flooded river. Now at this time five-hundred merchants had gone down to the sea in search of treasures, and they came across
his open mouth. The boat travelled quickly with the
current and made straight for the mouth. The
merchants were terrified and began a great wailing. All spoke in this way: "It has been decided that we
should die this day". They all called the names of
what they respected, some a buddha and all his
disciples, some the spirits of heaven, mountains and seas, some their father, mother, wife, brothers and
relatives. They all said: "Today we have seen
JambudvTpa for the last time, nor shall we ever see it
again". As they were about to enter the makara's
mouth they shouted at the same t i m e : "Nama
Amithaba". As soon as the fish heard this he closed
his mouth and the water came to rest. The merchants
were saved from death's claws. The fish was so
hungry that he instantly died. He was reborn in the
city of Räjagrha. Yakshas and rakshas set about the
dead body that was lying on the beach, bleached by
the sun and washed by the rain. The flesh went, but
the bones remained. And this is the mountain of
/
bones. SrTvrddha, you ought to know that you used
to be that King Dharmavrddha".
It is now possible to state one of the uses, though not the essence 58
of the makara in Buddhist literature. Makaras can exist in
their own right, but persons committing an offence, such as being an accessory in the killing of a man or insulting the Buddha, may
58. To my knowledge the makara does not occur in Chinese popu
lar literature apart from the Voyage to the Western Ocean, and it resembles its source so closely that one is justi fied to say that it belongs entirely to Buddhist literature
105.
as punishment he reborn in this guise. Since he dwells in the ocean he may destroy ships and their company, thus committing offence upon offence. If however he is lucky enough to meet a ship sailed by follwers of the Buddha who have the presence of mind to shout "Namo Amithaba", not only will the ship be safe, but the makara will have his fundamental consciousness restored to him. This allows him to break out of this existence and be reborn as a m a n .
The author of the Voyage to the Western Ocean makes the Buddha narrate the events leading up to the appearance of the
59
makara. He used to be the eldest son of the King of Makara in
60
India. His name was also Makara. He was born under strange circumstances. When he grew up he devoted himself to magic. On the king's death he succeeded to the throne. Then he lusted after someone else's wife and killed an innocent man, after which the people rebelled, and drove him out of the country. He goes to a kingdom in southern India where he impresses the king with his tricks. One day he changed into a butterfly, fluttered up to a concubine and told her that if she slept with Makara she would not go to h e l l . She told the king who promptly drove him o u t .
have anything to do with him. He stayed at an inn where the innkeeper grew suspicious of the way he obtained his money. Nobody in India wanted him, and he had to go to Persia. There he played a trick on the king's dancing girls. Finally an He then went to Motiaoli 6l, where nobody wanted to
immortal, Tian (Heaven Acts as it pleases),
59. Xiyangji, pp. 560-563.
60. Perhaps Makara stands here for Magadha ^ pj?