The life of Gautam Buddha has been a source of inspiration for all. It is believed that his life was inspirational not only in this birth, but also in previous births. The collection of stories related to his previous birth is called Jataka tales. In fact, only a part of Buddhism's religious book Tripitaka is called Jataka Katha, in which attempts have been made to teach life lessons through stories. Jataka tales have also been included for teaching children in school. In these stories, Buddha is sometimes depicted as a human and sometimes as an animal.
The Story of Chaddanta Elephant ~ Jatak Tales In English
In the dense forests of the Himalayas, there used to be two
distinct species of white elephants - Chhaddanta and Uposath. The color of tusk
elephants used to be white and they had six tusks. (It is mentioned in the Pali
literature.) Chhaddanta, the king of elephants, lived in a Kanchana cave. His
forehead and feet were red and bright like rubies. He had two queens -
Mahasubhadda and Chullasubhadda.
One day Gajraj and his queens were doing water sports in a lake with their maids and servants. There was also a sal-tree laden with flowers on the banks of the lake. Gajraj playfully shook a branch of the sal tree with his trunk. Coincidentally the flowers and pollen of the tree covered Mahasubhadda. But the dry branches and flowers of the tree fell on Chullasubhadda. Chullasubhadda did not accept this incident as a coincidence, he considered himself insulted. Annoyed Chullasubhadda at the same time left her husband and their residence and went somewhere. Hence, despite the tireless efforts of Chhaddantraj, she could not be found anywhere.
Later, Chullsubhadda died and became the princess of Madda
kingdom and after marriage became the queen of Varanasi. But her sadness and
anger towards Chhaddantraj was so strong that even after rebirth she kept
burning in the fire of vengeance. On a favorable occasion, he instigated the
king to get Chhaddantraj's teeth. As a result, the king made a group of skilled
Nishads for the above purpose, whose leader was made Sonuttar.
After seven years, seven months and seven days Sonuttar reached the abode of Chhaddantaraja. He dug a pit there and covered it with wood and leaves. Then he quietly hid in a clump of trees. When Chhaddantraj came close to that pit, Sonuttar fired a poisoned arrow at him. Wounded by the arrow, when Chhaddanta saw Sonuttar hiding in the thicket with a bow in his hand, he rushed to kill him. But Sonuttar was wearing the saffron clothes of the ascetics, due to which Gajraj gave life to Nishad. Sonuttar had a change of heart after begging for his life. Bhav - Vihmval Sonuttar told Chhaddanta everything why he had come there with the aim of getting his teeth.
Since Chhaddunt's strong teeth could not bite Sonuttar, therefore Chhaddunt himself cut off his teeth from his trunk and gave it to Sonuttar before his death.
Returning to Varanasi, when Sonuttar showed Chhaddant's teeth to the queen, the queen could not handle the shock of Chhaddant's death and died immediately.
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