Syama Jataka

Syama Jataka, Sanchi Stupa 1 Western Gateway. ^[1]

The Syama Jataka or Sama Jataka is one of the Jataka tales or stories of the former lives of the Buddha, one of the "Ten Great Birth Stories of the Buddha" or Mahanipata Jataka, when he was still a Bodhisattva.^[2]

Story[]

Syama, the Buddha in a former life, was the only son of a blind hermit and his wife, who are entirely dependent on him for support. He attends to their needs with great devotion in an example of filial piety.

One day, Syama goes to draw water at the river and is shot with an arrow by the King of Benares, who is out hunting. Owing to the king’s penitence and his parents’ sorrow Indra intervenes and allows Syama to be healed and his parents’ sight to be restored.

Similarity to Shravana story in the epic Ramayana[]

The story of Syama is very similar to the story of Shravana in the Sanskrit epic Ramayana. Shravana's tale is about a pious son taking care of his blind parents, who gets killed while fetching water by a hunting king. But the endings are different, in Shravana's story, the king gets cursed by the blind parents who lost their son and serves as backstory for the cause of king's son Rama's exile and his journey, the epic poem Ramayana, whereas in Syama's story there is Indra's intervention, revival of Syama and restoration of his parent' sight. Based on the dates of Ramayana and Jataka tales and the highly similar narrative, it is possible that Syama Jataka was inspired from the Shravana's story.

Sanchi relief[]

Sama takes care of his blind parents. A modern rendering from Thailand.

The Jataka appear on a relief at Sanchi, Stupa No1, Western Gateway. At the right hand top corner of the panel arc the two hermitages with the father and mother seated in front of them. Below them their son Syama is coming to draw water from the stream.

Then, to the left, we see the figure of the King thrice repeated, first shooting the lad in the water, then with bow in hand, then standing penitent with bow and arrow discarded; and in the left top corner are the father, mother and son restored to health, and by their side the god Indra and the king.

References[]

Source[]

• Public Domain text of "A Guide to Sanchi" published in 1918 in India, John Marshall (1876-1958) [2]