|| An Indian folktale ||
Once upon a time, Brahmadatta, the King of Benares, was blessed with a son. On his naming ceremony, the king gave a feast and gifts to many priests and scholars. Some of the scholars, who were skilled in divination, predicted that the king’s son would be a great man one day.
“Oh great King, your son is full of goodness. When you die he will become the king. He shall be famous and renowned for his skill with the five weapons, and shall be a name famous in all India.”
The king was overjoyed to hear this. The king and the queen gave their son the name as the Prince of the Five Weapons: sword, spear, bow, battle-axe, and shield.
Years passed and the prince reached sixteen years of age.
The king said, “My son, go and complete your education.”
“Who shall be my teacher?” the lad asked.
“In the kingdom of Kandahar, in the city of Takkasila, is a great teacher from whom I wish you to learn. Take this, and give it him for a fee.” He gave him a thousand pieces of money, and dismissed him.
The lad departed to the city alone. He spent sometime there getting educated in methods of combat and other matters of ruling a kingdom.
After the stipulated time, he received the Five Weapons from him as a gift, bade him farewell, and leaving Takkasila, he began his journey to Benares, armed with the Five Weapons.
On his way he came to a forest inhabited by the Demon with the Matted Hair. As he was entering the forest some men saw him and cried out, “Hullo, young sir, keep clear of that wood! There’s a Demon who lives in it: he kills every man he sees!” And they tried to stop him. But the prince, having confidence in himself, went straight on, fearless as a lion.
When he reached mid-forest the Demon showed himself. He made himself as tall as a palm tree; his head was the size of a pagoda, his eyes as big as saucers, and he had two tusks all over knobs and bulbs; he had the face of a hawk, a huge belly, and blue hands and feet. He looked very unusual and very terrifying.
“Where are you going?” he shouted. “Stop! You’ll make a meal for me!”
The prince warned, “Demon, I came here trusting in myself and my skill. I advise you to be careful how you come near me. Here’s a poisoned arrow, which I’ll shoot at you and knock you down!”
The demon was not bothered by this threat. He took a step forward. The prince fitted a poisoned arrow to his bow and let fly.
The arrow stuck fast in the Demon’s hair. Then he shot and shot, till he had shot away fifty arrows; and they all stuck in the Demon’s hair.
The Demon snapped them all off like matchsticks and threw them down at his feet. Then came up to the prince, who drew his sword.
He struck the demon with the three-and-thirty inches long sword and that too was stuck in the Demon’s hair!
The prince struck him with his spear, that stuck too! He struck him with his club and that stuck too!
Now he lost all the weapons. The demon laughed.
“You, Demon!” said the prince, “did you never hear of me before—the Prince of the Five Weapons? This day will I pound you and grind you to powder!”, with a shout he hit at the Demon with his right hand.
His right hand stuck fast in his hair! He hit him with his left hand, that stuck too!
With his right foot he kicked him, that stuck too; then with his left, and that stuck too! Then he butted at him with his head, crying, “I’ll pound you to powder!” and his head stuck fast like the rest. The prince was trapped in five places, hanging from the demon while the demon was awed at the courage of the prince.
“Who is this noble man, he does not seem afraid at all. I have not seen any like him till now!”, he thought. He asked the prince, “Why is it, young man, that you are not frightened to death?”
“Why should I fear, Demon?” replied he. “Death is inevitable. Besides, in my belly is a thunderbolt. If you eat me, you will never be able to digest it. This will tear your inwards into little bits, and kill you. So we shall both be finished.”
By the weapon in his belly, the prince meant the weapon of knowledge which he had within him.
When he heard this, the Demon thought: “This young man must be speaking the truth. A piece of the flesh of such a fearless noble man might be too much for me to digest, if it were no bigger than a bean. I’ll let him go!” So, he let go of the prince.
The prince said, “Oh demon! If you still continue being wicked, you will go from darkness to darkness” and he proceed to explain the demon the five kinds of virtue and the five kinds of wickedness. After sufficiently admonishing him, the prince went back to his own kingdom.
In due course, he became the king and ruled his kingdom with justice and kindness.
This story is told in Jataka tales as a story that Buddha told his disciples, “At that time Angulimala was the Demon, but the Prince of the Five Weapons was I myself.”
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