Part 33: Story of the three-footed buffalo

There in a garden he saw a temple with three doors and entrance at the chief door, which had thirty-two bars, was difficult. He entered by a side door and saw statues of a sage, a householder, and a three-footed buffalo. He asked a Brāhman, “What is this?” and he said:

“There was a king here, Jitaśatru, and he had a son, Mṛgadhvaja. There was a sheth, Kāmadeva, who went one day to his cattle-station and was told by his herdsman, Daṇḍaka: ‘I have killed five calves of this cow-buffalo in the past. But this sixth calf, which has a very fine appearance, has been born. As soon as born, he bowed at my feet with tremulous eyes and I have protected him trembling from fear from compassion. Do you, too, give him freedom from fear. For he is some one who remembers former births.’

On being told this, the sheth took the buffalo to Śrāvastī from compassion. At the sheth’s request, the king granted him freedom from fear. ‘He may wander anywhere in Śrāvastī without fear.’ One of his feet was cut off by Prince Mṛgadhvaja; and he (the prince) was exiled by the king and became a mendicant. The buffalo died on the eighteenth day and on the twentieth day Mṛgadhvaja’s omniscience took place. Gods, asuras, kings, and ministers came and paid homage to him. King Jitaśatru said, ‘What was the reason for your enmity toward the buffalo?’ The omniscient related:

‘In the past there was an Ardhacakrin, Aśvagrīva. His minister, Hariśmaśru, a Kaula,^[1] criticized religion. The king always approved religion and he was a believer. Thus the dissension between the king and the minister increased. They were both killed by Tripṛṣṭha and Acala, and went to the seventh hell. Rising from it, they wandered through many births. Then Aśvagrīva became I, your son, and Hariśmaśru became the buffalo and was killed by me because of their enmity. After he died, he became Lohitākṣa, chief of the Asuras, and has come to pay homage to me. Such is the drama of birth.’

Lohitākṣa bowed to the sage and made jeweled statues here of the sage, the sheth, and the three-footed buffalo.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

A left-hand Śākta.