A Lesson for Kings

Long ago, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the future Buddha was born as his son. When it was time to name the baby, they called him Prince Brahmadatta, after his father. He grew up, and at sixteen he went to the famous city of Takkasila to study, and there he mastered every art and skill. When his father died, he became king, and he ruled with goodness and fairness.

He judged every case without taking sides, and without anger, ignorance or fear. Because the king was fair, his ministers were fair too. With every case decided justly, nobody bothered to bring false claims, and soon the shouting and arguing in the king’s court died away. The judges sat in the Hall of Justice all day long, and nobody came to them. It looked as if the Hall of Justice would have to be shut!

Then the young king thought, “Surely it can’t be just because I rule well that no one comes to be judged. Now that the courts are quiet, I should look at my own faults. If I find anything wrong in myself, I will put it right and practise only what is good.”

So he began to look for someone who would tell him his faults. But among the people around him he found no one who would mention a single fault. All he heard was praise.

“They only say good things because they are afraid of me,” he thought. So he went looking among the people who lived outside the palace. He found no one there to point out his faults, so he searched among the people in the outskirts of the city, by the four gates. There too he heard nothing but praise, so he decided to search the countryside.

He left his ministers in charge of the kingdom, climbed into his chariot and, taking only his charioteer, drove out of the city in disguise. He searched the whole country, right up to the border, but he found no one with a fault to tell him, and heard only of his own goodness. So at the far border he turned round and set off along the main road back towards the city.

Now at that same time, Mallika, the king of Kosala, was also ruling his kingdom with goodness. He too had gone looking for someone to tell him his faults, and he too had found no one in his palace, only people who praised him. So he too had gone searching through the countryside, and now he came to the very same spot. The two kings met face to face in a narrow, sunken cart track with steep banks on both sides, where there was no room at all for one chariot to pull aside for the other.

King Mallika’s charioteer called out to the charioteer of the king of Benares, “Move your chariot out of the way!”

“No, you move your chariot out of the way, charioteer!” came the answer. “In this chariot sits the lord of the kingdom of Benares, the great King Brahmadatta!”

“And in this chariot, charioteer,” said the other, “sits the lord of the kingdom of Kosala, the great King Mallika! Move your carriage out of the way and make room for our king’s chariot!”

The charioteer of the king of Benares thought, “So he’s a king too! What’s to be done now?” After thinking it over, he said to himself, “I know. I’ll find out how old he is. Then the younger king’s chariot can move aside and make room for the elder.”

So he asked the other charioteer how old the king of Kosala was, and he found that the two kings were exactly the same age. Then he asked about the size of his kingdom, about his army and his riches, his fame, his country, his caste, his clan and his family. And he found that each king ruled a kingdom three hundred leagues across, and that in army, riches, fame, country, caste, clan and family they were exactly equal!

Then he thought, “I will make way for whichever king is the better man.” And he asked, “What sort of goodness does your king have?”

So King Mallika’s charioteer described his king’s goodness, though what he praised was really a fault, in this verse:

“The strong he beats by being stronger, The gentle by being gentle too, The good he wins by being good, The wicked by being wicked too. Such is the nature of this king! Move out of the way, charioteer!”

“Is that all your king’s goodness?” asked the charioteer of the king of Benares.

“Yes,” said the other.

“If those are his good points, what are his bad ones?”

“Well, call them faults for now, if you like,” said the other. “But tell me, what sort of goodness does your king have?”

So the charioteer of the king of Benares asked him to listen, and spoke this verse:

“Anger he conquers by staying calm, The wicked he conquers by being good, The mean he conquers by giving gifts, And those who lie, by speaking true. Such is the nature of this king! Move out of the way, charioteer!”

When he heard these words, King Mallika stepped down from his chariot, and his charioteer climbed down with him. Together they unharnessed the horses, lifted their chariot out of the way and made room for the king of Benares to pass.

About this telling

This story comes from Indian Fairy Tales, edited by Joseph Jacobs (1892), who took it from the Buddhist Jataka tales, the stories of the Buddha’s earlier lives. In the Jataka collection it is the Rajovada Jataka, “the advice to kings,” number 151. Benares (Varanasi) and Kosala were two great kingdoms of ancient north India.

The two verses are the heart of the tale. King Mallika repays everyone in their own coin, good for good and bad for bad. The king of Benares answers anger with calm and meanness with generosity, and that is why the other king steps aside.

Read the original: Joseph Jacobs, Indian Fairy Tales (Project Gutenberg #7128)

Reading guidance: For ages 6–8 and older readers. An adult can explain the chariot setting, unfamiliar place names and the contrast between retaliation and principled restraint.

A closer reading

Both kings go looking for criticism, which means the story does not begin with one obvious villain. Brahmadatta notices that praise may be produced by fear. The long search makes an important distinction between receiving compliments and creating conditions in which someone can safely identify a fault.

The charioteers first compare age, territory, wealth and inherited rank, but those measures cannot settle the dispute. Their verses finally contrast retaliation with a response chosen on principle. Mallika then performs the lesson: by helping move his own chariot, he accepts correction without demanding that someone else lose face. The road becomes passable because one party acts, not because either title grows more impressive.

Try this with the story

Write paired responses to one imagined insult: matching the insult, and responding truthfully without escalation. Then locate Mallika’s equivalent choice in the last paragraph. Discuss how calm can include a firm boundary rather than agreeing to mistreatment.

Talk about it

• Why did King Brahmadatta go looking for someone to tell him his faults?
• What is the difference between the two kings’ kinds of goodness?
• Why do you think King Mallika moved his own chariot out of the way?

More stories like this

• King Shibi and the Dove — another Indian tale about a king whose goodness is tested
• The Gray Hair — another Jataka about a wise king who looks hard at himself
• Pride Goeth Before A Fall — the story that comes straight after this one in Jacobs’ Indian Fairy Tales