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Were there "mean girls" in the Buddha's time? Oh, yes
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| What must the Kosalan garden have been like? |
Ladies, ladies, please! Settle down and pay attention. Is girl meanness (and their crimes against humanity) new, or was it around in ancient proto-India during the time of the Buddha?
It seems like the meanness and pettiness of the females back then was worse, a matter of life and death, making crimes against Lohan pale in comparison. Not in all cases, but there was some palace drama surrounding the beautiful, kind, and enlightened Queen Mallikā, the chief partner King Pasenadi of Kosala, a great supporter of the Buddha.
Buddhist Teen Queen and the Drama
One day, when she was 16, the daughter of the head garland maker of Kosala, a beautiful girl named Mallika was on her way to a pleasure garden with her teen companions. She and her girlfriends were gorgeous and good.
Mallika was carrying three portions of congee in a basket for their picnic. Unexpectedly meeting the Buddha, she spontaneously offered him their food and bowed full of joy. The Buddha smiled on seeing her rapt in joy.
The Buddha's attendant monk Ananda asked about his smile. The Buddha explained that that girl would become the queen of the Kingdom of Kosala that day.
To explain Mallika's good fortune, the Buddha revealed the Kummāsapinda birth-story (Jātaka iii.405; SA.i.110ff).
It happened that on that very day King Pasenadi suffered a military defeat at the hands of neighboring King Ajātasattu of Magadha (the royal son who had committed patricide to usurp the throne by imprisoning and starving his enlightened Buddhist father, the stream-enterer Buddhist King Bimbisara).
Distraught and dejected, King Pasenadi, as he entered the flowery garden, was attracted by Mallika's melodious voice. Seeing the king coming and noticing his weariness, she seized his horse's bridle.
The king, learning that she was unmarried, dismounted. Having rested his head awhile on her lap, he entered Kosala with her and took her to her house then returned to his palace to make preparations. That evening, he sent a chariot to pick her up.
With great pomp and circumstance, he had her chauffeured from her house to his palace. He set her on a heap of jewels and anointed her his chief queen.
From that day forward she was the king's beloved and devoted chief wife and a devoted follower of the Buddha (DhA.iii.121f).
The king found Mallika wise beyond her years, sagacious, and practical. Delighting in her intelligence, he consulted her and accepted her advice when in difficulty.
For example, in the Asadisa-dāna Jātaka, he wished to excel his subjects; again when he was troubled by bad omens in 16 dreams, as narrated in the Mahāsupīna Jātaka (DhA.ii.8ff.), Mallikā called the king a simpleton for his blind faith in unreliable Brahmin priests.
She took him to see the Bodhisattva (the Buddha-to-be) who was a recluse yogi at that time, and while the king sat trembling, she asked his questions for him and had them explained until all his worries subsided.
The birth-story (jātaka) states how Mallikā saved many innocent lives from being sacrificed, and the Buddha declared that in a past life, too, when her name was Dinnā, she had saved the lives of a large number of people by her wisdom (DhA.ii.15f).
Both Mallikā and King Pasenadi's other queen, Queen Vāsabhakhattiyā, desired to learn the Dhamma (the Buddha's Teaching). At their request, conveyed through King Pasenadi, the Buddha asked Ananda to visit the palace regularly and teach them the Doctrine.
Ananda found in Queen Mallikā an apt and ready pupil, conscientious in her work; however, Vāsabhakhattiyā was not so devoted to her duties (DhA.i.382f).
For an incident connected with Ananda's visit to the palace, see Vin.iv.158f.
Teen Queen Mallika's knowledge of the Dhamma made her wiser than King Pasenadi would have desired. Once, in a moment of great affection, asked if anyone were dearer to her than herself.
"No, Sire," was the answer. The king was greatly disappointed, for he sought the Buddha, who explained to him that Queen Mallikā, in answer that way, had uttered a great truth (S.i.75; Ud.v.1). It is a truism that we all regard ourselves as most dear.
Queen Mallikā, though an exemplary wife, was not without lapses. Reference is made to the quarrels she had with her husband. Once, on the question of conjugal privileges, as a result of which they both sulked and had to be reconciled by the Buddha (J.iv.437; also J.iii.20).
In these quarrels the king was probably more to blame than Mallikā, for it is said that until reconciled by the Buddha, the king ignored her very existence, saying that becoming rich had turned her head.
The Dhammapada Commentary (DhA.iii.119ff) relates a ridiculous [sexual] story about her misbehavior with a dog in the bath house. King Pasenadi witnessed this shocking scene, but she was able to convince him that it was the fault of the lighting of the bath house and not to believe his lying eyes.
Nevertheless, it is said that at the moment of her death she recollected this misdeed and, as a result, was reborn in Avīci (the "Waveless"), the very worst tormenting hell for a week.
The king was overcome by grief at Queen Mallika's death. After the funeral rites, he went to the Buddha to ask where she had been reborn.
The Buddha, not wishing to upset him if he were to know, caused the king to forget his question every time he visited for an entire week, until Mallikā's suffering in Avīci was over; then then the Buddha allowed the question to be asked. At this time, the Buddha was able to assure King Pasenadi that she had now been reborn in Tusita (a lofty heavenly world), which consoled him greatly in his grief.
It is said (A.iii.57) that King Pasenadi was on a visit to the Buddha when a man came with the whispered message that his chief queen was dead. It came as a terrible shock, and "his shoulders drooped, his mouth fell, and he sat brooding, unable to speak."
Queen Mallikā had a daughter by King Pasenadi; no mention is made of a son. This princess was probably Vajīrī, who is spoken of as the king's only daughter (M.ii.110). He is said to have been disappointed on hearing that his child was a girl. But the Buddha assured him that females were sometimes wiser than males and had many other excellent qualities (S.i.86f).
Mallikā is mentioned (Mil. 115, 291) as one of seven persons whose acts of devotion bore fruit in this life and whose fame reached even to the celestial devas. Only one instance is on record of Queen Mallikā asking a question of the Buddha.
She wished to know why some females are beautiful, others plain, some rich, and others poor. The Buddha explained to her the reasons for these discrepancies, which is karma. (See the Mallikā Sutta 1).
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| The Bodhisattva developed over many lives. |
In the Piyajātika Sutta (M.ii.106ff.), King Pasenadi is said to have taunted her because "her recluse Gotama" (the Buddha Gautama) had said that dear ones bring sorrow and tribulation.
"If the Bhagwan says so, it must be so," she replied but secretly sends Nālijangha to find out from the Buddha himself if he had said so and why. Having learned the facts, she faced King Pasenadi again and convinced him too that the Buddha was right. Source (edited by Wisdom Quarterly): Mallikā 1 (palikanon.com)
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