Under the title of "Krisa Gautami" in the collection of "Tibetan
Tales from Indian Sources," translated by Mr. Ralston from the
German of Von Schiefner, we have what appears to be a very much
garbled form of an old Buddhist version of our story. The heroine
is married to a young merchant, whose father gives him some
arable land in a hill district, where he resides with Krisa
Guatami his wife.
When the time came for her to expect her confinement, she
obtained leave of her husband to go to her parents' house in
order that she might have the attendance of her mother. After her
confinement and the naming of the boy, she returned home. When
the time of her second confinement drew near, she again expressed
to her husband a desire to go to her parents. Her husband set out
with her and the boy in a waggon; but by the time they had gone
half way she gave birth to a boy. When the husband saw that this
was to take place he got out of the waggon, sat under a tree, and
fell asleep. While he was completely overcome by slumber a snake
bit him and he died. When his wife in her turn alighted from the
waggon, and went up to the tree in order to bring him the joyful
tidings that a son was born unto him, he, as he had given up the
ghost, made no reply. She seized him by the hand and found that
he was dead. Then she began to weep. Meantime a thief carried off
the oxen. After weeping for a long time, and becoming very
mournful, she looked around on every side, pressed the new-born
babe to her bosom, took the elder child by the hand, and set out
on her way. As a heavy rain had unexpectedly fallen, all the
lakes, ponds, and springs were full of water, and the road was
flooded by the river. She reflected that if she were to cross the
water with both the children at once, she and they might meet
with a disaster, and therefore the children had better be taken
over separately. So she seated the elder boy on the bank of the
river, and took the younger one in her arms, walked across to the
other side and laid him down upon the bank. Then she went back
for the elder boy. But while she was in the middle of the river,
the younger boy was carried off by a jackal. The elder boy
thought that his mother was calling him, and sprang into the
water. The bank was very steep, so he fell down and was killed.
The mother hastened after the jackal, who let the child drop and
ran off. When she looked at it, she found that it was dead. So
after she had wept over it, she threw it into the water. When she
saw that the elder was being carried along by the stream, she
became still more distressed. She hastened after him, and found
that he was dead. Bereft of both husband and children, she gave
way to despair, and sat down alone on the bank, with only the
lower part of her body covered. There she listened to the howling
of the wind, the roaring of the forest and of the waves, as well
as the singing of various kinds of birds. Then wandering to and
fro, with sobs and tears of woe, she lamented the loss of her
husband and her two children.
She meets with one of her father's domestics, who informs her
that her parents and their servants had all been destroyed by a
hurricane, and that "he only had escaped" to tell her the sad
tidings. After this she is married to a weaver, who ill-uses her,
and she escapes from him one night. She attaches herself to some
travellers returning from a trading expedition in the north, and
the leader of the caravan takes her for his wife. The party are
attacked by robbers and the leader is killed. She then becomes
the wife of the chief of the robbers, who in his turn finds death
at the hands of the king of that country, and she is placed in
his zenana.
The king died, and she was buried alive in his tomb, after having
had great honour shown to her by the women, the princes, the
ministers, and a vast concourse of people. Some men from the
north who were wont to rob graves broke into this one also. The
dust they raised entered into Krisa Gautami's nostrils, and made
her sneeze. The grave-robbers were terrified, thinking that she
was a demon (vet�la), and they fled; but Krisa Gautami escaped
from the grave through the opening which they had made. Conscious
of all her troubles, and affected by the want of food, just as a
violent storm arose, she went out of her mind. Covered with
merely her underclothing, her hands and feet foul and rough, with
long locks and pallid complexion, she wandered about until she
reached Sravast�. There, at the sight of Bhagavant, she recovered
her intellect. Bhagavant ordered Ananda to give her an overrobe,
and he taught her the doctrine, and admitted her into the
ecclesiastical body, and he appointed her the chief of the
Bhikshun�s who had embraced discipline.[FN#520]
This remarkable story is one of those which reached Europe long
anterior to the Crusades. It is found in the Greek martyr acts,
which were probably composed in the eighth century, where it is
told of Saint Eustache, who was before his baptism a captain of
Trajan, named Placidus, and the same legend reappears, with
modifications of the details, in many medi�val collections and
forms the subject of several romances. In most versions the motif
is similar to that of the story of Job. The following is the
outline of the original legend, according to the Greek martyr
acts: