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In a valley of the Himalayas, there was a beautiful lake. Around the lake were seven thickets of flowers and plants, and beyond the thickets seven mountains, of which golden mountain was a large cave called Golden Cave in which lived a herd of eight thousand elephants with the Bodhisatva as the leader. He was the pure white in colour, stood eight-eight hands high and was a hundred and twenty hand in length. He had a silvery trunk and six tusks of different hues. His name was Chaudant.

77 He had two wives, Chullasubhadha and Mahasubhadha, of whom the former was jealous of the latter. One day while the white elephant, with his two wives standing on either side, was browsing in a grove of such trees he shook a flower laden bough with his trunk and it happened that the flowers fell on Mahasubhadha and the twigs and red ants on Chullasubhaddha. The latter took it to heart and said to herself "He throws dead leaves, twigs and red ants over me and fragrant flowers over the wife who is dear to him." On another occasion, when the elephant were disporting themselves under a Banyan tree that stood by the lake, one of the elephants found a beautiful lotus and gave it to the Bodhisatva, who presented it to Mahasubhadha. Chullasubhadha cannot bear this slight and decided to avenge herself. So one day when the Bodhisatva entertain some holy men, Chullasubhadha also gave them food and secretly prayed that she should be born as the daughter of the king Madha. Shortly after this she died and born as the daughter of Madha. She grew into a beautiful maiden and was given in marriage to the king of Benares. This king was fond of his bride and one day she told him that she had a boon to beg of him. The king said that he would do anything for her, and the queen asked him to send for all the hunters in the kingdom. This was done and when the hunters came, the queen selected man named Sonuttara of great size and fierce look for the work she had in view. She called him privately and told him; "there is a white elephant with six tusks inhabiting the woods near a lake in the Himalayas and you should go and bring me his tusks. "Great will be your reward if you do this."

78 The hunter agreed and the queen equipped him with all the tools provisions and followers necessary for crossing the seven mountains and capturing the elephant. Sonuttara set forth with an army of hunters towards the forests of the Himalayas. But all his men perished on the way, and he alone reached the seven mountains. The mountains were high and the forests were thick, and it took Sonuttara seven years, seven months and seven days to reach the lake. At last he reached the lake, saw the elephant herd and noted the place where the white elephant browsed. As the elephant went back in the evening, Sonuttara dug a pit at the place where he had browsed, covered the mouth of the pit with grass and leaves and hid himself in a tree. White elephant came and fell in the pit and Sonuttara wounded him with arrows. Chandanta trumpeted in agony and the herd ran away in fear. When the elephants ran away from the place, Sonuttara, came down from the tree, and the Bodhisatva asked him why he wanted to kill him, "Because," said the hunter, "the queen of Benaras wants your tusks." Now the Bodhisatva understood who the queen of Benaras was and why she wanted to kill me. But he did not resent it; on the contrary, he asked the hunter to cut his tusks as soon as he could. Sonuttara however, found it difficult to reach his tusks because of the great height of the Bodhisatva. So the Bodhisatva allowed him to climb up his trunk and cut his tusks. But the tusks of the Bodhisatva were hard as iron and Sonuttara could not cut them. So the Bodhisatva, suffering immense pain, took the saw from the

79 hunter's hand and sawed his tusks with his own trunk and to him. After this he collapsed in a pool of blood and died. gave them Sonuttara took the tusks to the queen of Benaras and narrated to her the story of Bodhisatva's death. When the queen beheld the tusks and heard the hunter's story, the memory of the happy days she had spent with her lord came to her mind. It broke her heart, and she died on the same day.