Reading guide
A king's desperate bargain
Jayaddisa is seized without warning — ‘you are my prey, don't move’ — and secures only a delay by promising to return, a promise he then relays to his son rather than break.
A substitution offered without hesitation
Alīnasattu bows to his parents and takes his father's place immediately, ‘tossing my bow and sword’ before approaching the cannibal — the disarming stated as deliberate: carrying weapons, he reasons, might frighten the cannibal, and frightening him would itself be a violation of his ethics.
Kindness addressed to the one who intends to kill him
Facing a man who plans to eat him, Alīnasattu speaks ‘lovingly and beneficially’, not with hatred or pleading — going so far as to instruct the cannibal on how to prepare the fire himself, as though managing a practical arrangement rather than facing an execution.
An outcome stated, not explained
The story closes on a claim about lasting consequence — that Alīnasattu ‘drove out forever his attacks on living creatures’ — without narrating exactly how the encounter resolves or what became of Alīnasattu himself. As with several other verse-only stories in this collection, the outcome is asserted rather than shown.
Key terms
The text
§1“In the fine city of kingdom of Pañcāla, in the capital city of Kapilā, the king named Jayaddisa was furnished with virtuous qualities.
§2I was that king’s son, well educated and virtuous; Alīnasattu of fine qualities, I always cared for the attendants.
§3My father had gone deer hunting when he came across a cannibal, who seized my father, saying, ‘You are my prey, don’t move!’
§4When he heard these words, he was scared and trembled with fear, his thighs became stiff when he saw the cannibal.
§5‘Let me go, take the deer meat!’ he said, ‘I promise to return.’ Having paid the brahmin, my father said to me:
§6‘Son, rule the realm. Do not neglect this city. I promised the cannibal that I will return.’
§7I bowed to my mother and father, and substituted myself. Tossing my bow and sword, I approached the cannibal.
§8Perhaps if I have weapons in hand that might make him afraid. And that would violate my ethics, were I to frighten him.
§9For fear of violating my ethics, I said nothing hateful to him. Lovingly and beneficially, I said the following.
§10‘Kindle a great fire. I will drop into it from a tree. When you know I am cooked, eat me, Grandfather.’
§11And so for the sake of my ethical vows I did not protect my life. And I drove out forever his attacks on living creatures.”
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