Jathaka Stories :

The white elephant

Retold by Risitha Deelaka Wickmal Subasinghe

There was a forest surrounded by a desert which was a comfortable and pleasant abode with many a gift from nature. Though the margins of this greenery was a desert, it was affluent with trees which bore fruits and flowers and a huge pond with various type of water lilies. This forest was surrounded by a beautiful range of mountains which stood as the guardian of the forest. The forest was hidden inside a rocky range of mountains and a desert beyond that. Therefore,it was unknown to the outsiders.

There was only one creature in the forest who lived freely, eating fruits and leaves of trees and drinking cool fresh water from the pond. That was a white elephant.

One day when the white elephant was rumbling in the forest, he happened to hear a cry of pain from the side of the desert.

The white elephant hurried towards desert to inquire into the incident.

There was a group of people int the desert crying of thirst and hunger. The white elephant strode towards the crowd.

At the sight of the white elephant, the crowd was petrified with fear. They attempted to run but their weak legs did not allow them to. They were afraid that the elephant would trample and crush or slam them. The fear-stricken people cried louder than earlier having lost every hope of life.

The white elephant could understand the plight of the people. So he expressed a few kind words and repelled their fear of the elephant.

"O! people, I assure that I would not cause any harm whatsoever to you. May I know the reason for your distress? Is there any way that I can extend my favour to you?" "We're stranded in this limitless desert, not knowing which direction to go. We're ostracized from our kingdom. There're 700 people here, we haven't had food or water for a couple of days. We have become very weak therefore. If the same situation continues we all will die before the day break."

A person who appeared to be the leader of the gang spoke with extreme difficulty. Everyone appeared to be so pale with dried and peeled lips, half closed eyes.

The white elephant wanted to know why they'd been ostracized from the kingdom. The same person who spoke earlier parted his lips and spoke with constant intervals between words.

"Dear kind elephant! we're identified as a group of murders who murdered more than 300 people in the kingdom. Therefore, the kind imposed on us the capital punishment. The royal soldiers left us in the desert. This is a huge desert in which no one can see the end. We all would no doubt die of hunger and thirst, before we see the other end of the desert.This is another way of killing 700 people indirectly. We're sure of our death."

The white elephant became sympathetic on hearing their story.

"How can I let 700 people die of hunger and thirst. I must certainly help them live." The white elephant thought to himself.

The white elephant lifted its trunk and saluted the crowd and said "I would show you a direction. You may tread towards that. There you'll find a huge pond with a lot of water lilies. You may quench your thirst by the water of that pond. You will find a hill and down it there's a dead elephant. You may partake its flesh and alleviate your hunger. Take out its duodenum and fill water into it from the pond.

When you walk some distance along the forest you will find a plateau. You will find sufficient food there to live the rest of your life, with no difficulty." The white elephant disappeared into the forest in a blinking of an eye.

After a while the group of people, arrived at the pond. They drank water to their heart's content. Then as instructed by the white elephant they started going in search of the dead elephant.

They yelled with rapture on seeing a dead elephant. When they approached the carcass, they found to their horror that the dead elephant was the very one who directed the people towards the affluent wilderness to save their lives and the one who told them about a dead body of an elephant down the hill.

The person who appeared to be the leader of the gang said "This elephant saved our lives by sacrificing his great life. He is a sublime creature. We have never come across a beast of this nature. How can we eat this noble animal's flesh? No, no,we cannot do that, let's pay our homage to him and cremate him." Everyone agreed on the idea.

"Dear people," a strange voice came from above. Everyone looked up but no one could find any one.

"If you do not eat the flesh of this animal you will have to stay hungry. What this animal wanted was that everyone alleviate his hunger by his flesh. If you do not eat his flesh his effort would be in vain. So, as a respect to him, you may eat his flesh."

Everyone wondered of where that strange voice came from: There was no clue. As that invisible voice suggested they agreed to eat half of the white elephant's flesh and to cremate the rest as a respect to the elephant. They made a special monument out of clay to remember the elephant and to recognise the place where he was cremated.

When the dusk fell, people started walking towards the plateau. They all worshipped the white elephant and started their journey.

That strange voice was heard once again. "O, people! This white elephant is not an ordinary animal. That's why he was so generous and sacrificed his own life for the benefit of others." On hearing this, everyone sat on the ground to listen to the invisible voice.

"You may remember, after the elephant instructed you what to do, he disappeared. Then he climbed the hill from the other side. When he was on the top he made a wish, "May this act of virtue help me attain Nirvana. And also to be free from all sorrows and defilements of the Samsara. I am sacrificing my life, flesh of mine for the people who would otherwise die of hunger. May the people alleviate their hunger and live."

In the next moment the white elephant jumped off the hill. He was quickly surrounded by deities. Hundreds of deities took the white elephant into their hands and slowly descended the hill.

Therefore, there was not an iota of pain to the elephant. Some deities showered the ground with beautiful and fragrant flowers and kept the body of the elephant on the bed of flowers. His soul had already been gone due to the power of his wish. Deities paid homage to the white elephant and once again showered his body with heavenly flowers and vanished into heavens."

After a little pause, the voice was heard again. "I am the deity who volunteered to safeguard the place where the white elephant was cremated." People looked around with astonishment. Yet, there was no one to be seen. Only the voice is heard.

"This white elephant was one of the lives of Bodhisatva. That's why he differs from other animals."

The voice was not heard again. They started their journey. When the day broke they arrived at the plateau.

They found sufficient food to live in that plateau. They put up tents to be protected from sun and rain. They never ran short of food. They believed that it's due to the invisible force of kindness of the white elephant.