Once on a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta came to life as a Brahmin in the city of Takkasila in the Gandhara country. By the time he had grown up, such was his proficiency in the Three Vedas and all accomplishments, that his fame as a teacher spread through all the world.

In those days there was a Brahmin family in Benares, unto whom a son was born; and on the day of his birth they took fire and kept it always burning, until the boy was five. Then his parents told him, if his heart was set on winning entrance into the Realm of Brahma, then let him take the fire and retire with it to the forest and there to work out his desire by ceaseless worship of the Lord of Fire.

But, if he preferred the joys of a home, they told their son to go to Takkasila to study under the world-famed teacher with a view to settling down married life.

The young Brahmin said,”I should surely fail in the worship of the Fire-God and so I’ll be a squire.” So he said farewell to his father and mother, and, with a thousand pieces of money for the teacher’s fee, set out for Takkasila. There he studied till his education was complete, and then returned home.

Now his parents wished him to forsake the world and to worship the Fire-God in the forest. Accordingly his mother, in her desire to dispatch him to the forest asked whether he had quite finished his education. “Oh yes,” said the youth.

“Then of course you have not omitted the Dolour Texts?”

“I have not learnt those, mother.”

“How then can you say your education is finished? Go back at once, my son, to your master, and return to us when you have learnt them,” said his mother.

“Very good,” said the youth, and went to Takkasila once more.

Now his master too had a mother, an old woman of a hundred and twenty years of age, whom with his own hands he used to bathe, feed and tend. And for so doing he was scorned by his neighbours. So he decided to go to the forest and live with his mother. Accordingly, in the solitude of a forest he built a hut where water was plenty; after purchasing stock of ghee and rice and other provisions, he took his mother to her new home, and she lived a quiet life.

Not finding his master at Takkasila, the young Brahmin made enquiries, and finding out what had happened, went to the forest, and presented himself respectfully before his master. “What brings you back so soon, my boy?” said the latter. “My mother sent me back to learn the Dolour Texts.” The Bodhisatta said to the youth that it was all right, and that he should in due course be taught the Texts in question.

He said,”From to-day, you shall take my place about my mother, and with your own hands wash, feed and look after her. As you rub her hands, feet, head and back, praise her beauty. Be careful to exclaim, ‘Ah, Madam! If you are so lovely at this age, what will be the beauty at your youth!’ Further, you came and tell me without shame every single word my mother says to you. Obey me in this, and you shall be master the Dolour Texts; if you disobey me, and you shall remain ignorant of them for ever.”

Obedient to his master’s commands, the youth did everything and persistently praised the old woman’s beauty that she thought he had fallen in love with her. Though she was Blind and decrepit, passion was kindled within her. So one day she broke in on his compliments by asking, “Do you really love me.”

The youth answered,”It is indeed, madam. But my master is so strict.”

She said, “Then kill my son!”

The Youth said,”How can I kill my master, for passion’s sake?”

She said, “Well then; if you will be faithful to me, I will kill him myself.”

(So lustful, vile, and degraded are women that, giving the rein to lust, a hag like this, and old as she was, actually thirsted for the blood of so dutiful a son!)

Now the young Brahmin told all this to the Bodhisatta, who, commending him for reporting the matter, calculated how much longer his mother was destined to live. Finding that her destiny was to die that very day, he said, “Come; young Brahmin! I will put her to the test.” So he cut down a fig tree and carved out of it a wooden figure about his own size, which he wrapped up completely, in a robe and laid upon his own bed, with a string tied to it. He said, “Now go with an axe to my mother and give her this string as a clue to guide her steps.” So the youth went to the old woman, and said, “Madam! the master is lying down on his bed; I have tied this string as a clue to guide you; take this axe and kill him, if you can.”

She asked,”But you won’t forsake me, will you?”

“Why should I?” was his reply. So she took the axe, and, rising up with trembling limbs, groped her way along by the string, till she thought she felt her son. Thinking to kill her son at a single blow, she brought down the axe right on the figure’s throat, only to learn by the thud that it was wood!

“What are you doing, mother?” said the Bodhisatta. With a shriek that she was betrayed, the old woman fell dead to the ground. For, says tradition, it was fated that she should die at that very moment and under her own roof.

Seeing that she was dead, the Bodhisatta burnt her body, and, when the flames of the pile were quenched, graced her ashes with wild flowers. Then with the young Brahmin he sat at the door of the hut and said, “My son! there is no such separate passage as the ‘Dolour Text.’ It is women who are depravity incarnate. And when your mother sent you back to me to learn the Dolour Texts, her object was that you should learn how wicked women are. You have now witnessed with your own eyes my mother’s wickedness, and there from you will see how lustful and vile women are.” And with this lesson, he sent the youth home.

Bidding farewell to his master, the young Brahmin went home to his parents.

His mother asked him, “Have you now learnt the Dolour Texts?”

The Youth said,”Yes, mother.”

She asked, “And what is your final choice? Will you leave the world to worship the Lord of Fire, or will you choose a family life?” The young Brahmin answered,”No! with my own eyes have I seen the wickedness of womankind; I will have nothing to do with family life. I will renounce the world.”

With this invective against womankind, the young Brahmin took leave of his parents, and renounced the world for the hermit’s life, wherein winning the peace he desired, he assured himself of admittance after that life into the Realm of Brahma.