Mūsikajātaka

The Tale of Mūsikā

“People cry “Where is she gone”—This story the Master, whilst residing in the Bamboo Grove, told about Ajatasattu. The incident that led to the story has been already fully told in the Thusa Birth. Here too the Master observed the king at the same moment playing with his boy and also listening to the Law. And knowing as he did that danger to the king will arise through his son, he said, “Sire, kings of old suspected what was open to suspicion, and kept their heirs in confinement, saying, “Let them bear rule, after our bodies have been burned on the funeral pyre.” And with this he told a story of the past.