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Buddhism is considered a religion of non-violence, and this feet has been personally demonstrated by the Buddha himselÇ who even forgave his deadly enemies. Dëvadatta, one of his disciples and cousins, could not tolerate the popularity of the Buddha and tried a few times to kill and replace him, but always failed in his machination. And each time the Buddha in spite of taking revenge would take mercy on him In the light of textual and artistic context, this article discusses murder attempts of Dëvada tta that he made on the Buddha. We have also made an effort to review the iconographic symbolism used in Gandharan narrative reliefs.
The Story
Dëvadatta was a jealous cousin1 of Gotama Buddha Siddhärtha from the very beginning when the latter was still a prince. His jealousy starts with the marriage contest to win a beautiful girl Yasodharä, daughter of a noble, Suprabuddha. In the contest, apart from other youths, two cousins of the prince Änanda and Dëvadatta also participated vainly. The prince was declared superior to all in literature, numerals and sixty-four martial arts, and crafts. The former cousin later on became the chief disciple of the Buddha, while the jealous Dëvadatta became his life-long enemy (Coomaraswamy 1956: 11 and ff., 58 ff.; Basham 1954: 257). When the Buddha visited Kapilavastu he (Dëvadatta) became his disciple, but always tried to harm the Buddha Säkyamuni and rupture the Order established by him. He planned several times to kill the Buddha, but was in vain because of the divine powers of the latter. He enjoyed the support of King Ajätasatru of Magadha, who deposed his father Bimbisära - who was a great follower of the Buddha and an important patron of the Order, Sä«gha - and took the authority in his hands. (Coomaraswamy 1956: 58-61).
This event, probably, took place after the 'Descent of the Buddha' from the Träyastrirhsa heaven whereupon he came to know that things have been changed in Räjagrha and his supporter King Bimbisära was ousted by his wicked son, Ajätasatru, and forced him starve to death. This event made Ajätasatru enemy of the Buddha. Dëvadatta, availing this opportunity, got support of Ajätasatru and left no stone unturned to harm or kill the Buddha. (Foucher 2003 [1949]:...