[323]
The seers of old were self-restrained, austere;
having abandoned the five strands of sensual pleasure (kāmaguṇa),
they fared intent upon their own good.
The brahmins had no cattle,
no gold and no grain;
recitation was their wealth and grain,
and they guarded that holy treasure.
Whatever was prepared for them —
food set out at the door —
prepared in faith, people deemed
was to be given to those who sought.
With variously dyed garments,
with beds and with dwellings,
prosperous districts and realms
paid homage to those brahmins.
Inviolable were the brahmins,
unconquerable, guarded by righteousness;
no one anywhere barred them
at the doors of families.
For forty-eight years
they lived the holy life (brahmacariya) (from boyhood);
of old the brahmins carried on
their quest for true knowledge (vijjā) and conduct (caraṇa).
The brahmins did not go with another woman,
nor did they buy a wife;
having come together only in mutual love,
they delighted in dwelling in concord.
Apart from that occasion —
upon the cessation of her season —
brahmins never went in the interim
to sexual intercourse.
They praised the holy life and virtue (sīla),
honesty, gentleness, austerity,
meekness and harmlessness,
and patience as well.
He who was highest among them,
a brahmā of firm exertion,
did not come to sexual intercourse
even in a dream.
Training themselves after his practice,
some here of discerning nature
praised the holy life and virtue,
and patience as well.
Having begged rice, bedding, garments,
ghee and oil,
and gathered them righteously,
they then arranged a sacrifice (yañña);
and at the sacrifice thus set up,
they did not slay cows.
"Like a mother, a father, a brother,
or other kin besides,
cows are our supreme friends,
in whom medicines are produced.
They give food and give strength,
they likewise give beauty and happiness."
Understanding this reason,
they did not slay cows.
Delicate, of large frame,
comely and renowned,
the brahmins were zealous, by their own dhammas,
in their tasks and duties;
through which, while they carried on in the world,
this generation prospered in happiness.
But a distortion (vipallāsa) came over them:
having seen, trifle upon trifle,
the pomp of the king
and women finely adorned,
chariots yoked with thoroughbreds,
well-wrought, with ornate stitching,
dwellings and abodes
partitioned and measured out in lots —
that grand human wealth,
thronged about with herds of cattle,
attended by companies of lovely women —
the brahmins coveted it.
Then, having composed hymns (manta) upon it,
they approached Okkāka:
"You are one of abundant wealth and grain —
(sacrifice: much is your property!)
sacrifice: much is your wealth!"
And then the king, lord of charioteers,
persuaded by the brahmins,
[offered] the horse sacrifice (assamedha), the human sacrifice (purisamedha),
(the sammāpāsa,) the vājapeyya, and the niraggaḷa;
having offered these sacrifices,
he gave wealth to the brahmins:
cows, bedding, and garments,
and women finely adorned,
chariots yoked with thoroughbreds,
well-wrought, with ornate stitching,
and delightful dwellings,
well-partitioned throughout —
having filled them with various grains,
he gave this wealth to the brahmins.
And they, having gained wealth there,
found their pleasure in hoarding;
for them, sunk down into desire,
craving (taṇhā) increased still more.
Having composed hymns upon it,
they approached Okkāka once again:
"As water and earth,
gold, wealth and grain,
even so are cows to human beings,
for this is a requisite of living creatures.
Sacrifice: much is your property!
Sacrifice: much is your wealth!"
And then the king, lord of charioteers,
persuaded by the brahmins,
caused many hundreds of thousands of cows
to be slain in sacrifice.
Neither with foot nor with horn,
nor with anything at all do they do harm —
cows, docile as goats,
yielding pails of milk —
yet, seizing them by the horns,
the king had them slain with the knife.
Then the devas, the Fathers,
Inda, the asuras and rakkhasas
cried out, "Unrighteousness!"
as the knife fell upon the cow.
Formerly there were three diseases:
desire, hunger, and old age;
but from the slaughter of cattle
these came to ninety-eight.
This unrighteous violence,
come down [upon the world], is of old:
the innocent are slain,
and the sacrificers fall away from righteousness.
Thus this mean ancient practice
is censured by the discerning;
wherever one sees the like of it,
the people blame the sacrificer.
When righteousness had thus perished,
suddas and vessas were divided;
the khattiyas were divided in many ways;
and the wife despised her husband.
Khattiyas and the kinsmen of Brahmā,
and whoever else were guarded by clan,
casting aside the claim of birth,
came under the sway of sensual pleasures.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.