Jataka Tales - Mora Jataka
A popular Jataka tale that illustrates the power of prayer.
Walk down the aisle facing the Vessantara Jataka, and at the end, to your left, look for a free-standing sculpture marked ‘Mora Jataka’.
This panel depicts the Mora Jataka - a story of a Bodhisattva, one of the many incarnations of Buddha from his previous life. The story was narrated by Buddha to teach his disciples the power of prayer.
Once, Bodhisattva was born as a golden peacock and lived in the Dandaka forest. Each morning, at daybreak, he would sit atop a hill and recite a prayer of protection. Every evening, when the sun set, he would recite another prayer to keep him safe at night. And so, protected by these charms, he lived happily.
One day, Queen Khema of Benaras had a dream in which she saw a golden peacock preaching. She asked the king to find the unusual peacock.
You can see this scene on the broken circular panel at the top of the sculpture. The king is seated on a throne with Queen Khema near a lotus pond.
Despite several attempts to catch the golden bird, the peacock escaped, thanks to the power of the charms.
Seven years went by. Queen Khema died without having her wish fulfilled. The king felt sad that he couldn’t bring the golden peacock to his queen.
Six successive kings and hunters tried to catch the golden peacock, but every one of them failed. The seventh king, however, had an astute hunter who noticed that the peacock recited a charm every morning. The hunter brought in a peahen and trained it to sing at his signal. One day, just before the peacock said his prayer of protection, the hunter signalled the peahen to sing. And sing she did, so charmingly that the peacock was distracted and forgot to recite his own prayer.
The hunter promptly caught the golden peacock and presented him to the king. That’s when the peacock narrated the story of his life. He said that he too had been a king in his previous birth and had lost his life when his golden chariot fell into a lake. He asked the king to dredge the lake and see for himself. The king did just that and sure enough, a golden chariot was found and pulled out from the mud.
The peacock went on to tell the king that it was the power of prayer that had kept him safe all this time. The king of Benaras understood and let the peacock fly away home safely.
The panel on the right shows the king seated with his minister, while a hunter kneels before the king. The central panel shows the king and queen listening to the sermon of the peacock, with their hands folded together in reverence.
