SN3:16 Daughter
- DG BB TBW © Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. (More copyright information)
1At Sāvatthī. Then King Pasenadi of Kosala approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, and sat down to one side. Then a certain man approached King Pasenadi and informed him in a whisper: "Sire, Queen Mallika has given birth to a daughter." When this was said, King Pasenadi was displeased. [n.238] Spk: He was displeased thinking, "I elevated Queen Mallika from a poor family to the rank of queen. If she had given birth to a son she would have won great honour, but now she has lost that opportunity." This daughter was almost certainly the Princess Vajīrī (see MN II 110, 10–18), who was later married to King Ajatasattu of Magadha after the two kings were reconciled. Prince Viḍūḍabha, the heir to the throne, was begotten from another wife of Pasenadi, Vasabha-khattiya, a Sakyan lady of mixed descent who was passed off to Pasenadi as a pure-bred Sakyan princess. Viḍūḍabha later usurped the throne and left his father to die in exile. When he learned that the Sakyans had deceived his father he massacred them and almost decimated the entire Saykan clan.
2Then the Blessed One, having understood that King Pasenadi was displeased, on that occasion recited these verses:
3v.408 "A woman, O lord of the people,
May turn out better than a man:
She may be wise and virtuous,
A devoted wife, revering her mother-in-law.
[n.239] in pāda b, I follow Ee1 & 2 in reading posa, "than a man," though Be and Se, as well as Spk, read posa, which Spk glosses as the imperative posehi, "nourish (her)." Spk sees the comparison with a son implicit in seyya: "Even a woman may be better than a dull, stupid son." in pāda d, sassudeva literally means "having (her) mother-in-law as a deva"; Spk adds father-in-law in the gloss.
4v.409 "The son to whom she gives birth
May become a hero, O lord of the land.
The son of such a blessed woman
May even rule the realm."
[n.240] in pāda b, it is uncertain from the text whether disampati is nominative or vocative, but I follow Spk, which glosses it with the vocative disajeṭṭhaka. With Be, Se, and Ee2, I read pāda c as tadisa subhagiya putto and comply with Spk by translating tadisa as if it were a truncated genitive qualifying the woman. Ee1 reads tadiso in apposition to putto.
1Sāvatthinidānaṁ. Atha kho rājā pasenadi kosalo yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ abhivādetvā ekamantaṁ nisīdi. Atha kho aññataro puriso yena rājā pasenadi kosalo tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā rañño pasenadissa kosalassa upakaṇṇake ārocesi: "mallikā, deva, devī dhītaraṁ vijātā"ti. Evaṁ vutte, rājā pasenadi kosalo anattamano ahosi.
2Atha kho bhagavā rājānaṁ pasenadiṁ kosalaṁ anattamanataṁ viditvā tāyaṁ velāyaṁ imā gāthāyo abhāsi:
3"Itthīpi hi ekacciyā,
seyyā posa janādhipa;
Medhāvinī sīlavatī,
sassudevā patibbatā.
4Tassā yo jāyati poso,
sūro hoti disampati;
Tādisā subhagiyā putto,
rajjampi anusāsatī"ti.