Angulimala - 21

Ahimsaka’s peers jubilant over getting rid of him
 

by G. K. Ananda Kumarasiri

After paying respects to his acariya, he left the campus. His jealous peers were jubilant that their evil scheme had finally borne fruit. They were truly happy that he would be gone forever.

They were so certain that he would be killed in the course of collecting a thousand angulis that they cheered and celebrated the success of their evil plot. Ahimsaka’s evil kamma in a previous life was beginning to ripen.

Blinded by a misdirected sense of gratitude and a burning desire to excel in his scholastic pursuit and wield special powers, even if it meant he had to embark on a murderous career, he made up his mind to give his acariya what he demanded. He was now determined to fulfil at any cost his gory Guru Dakshina.

Arming himself with swords, daggers and spears, Ahimsaka made his way into the Jalini Forest, located along the western borders of Kosala. He chose a strategic location atop a cliff that overlooked the centre where the major cart tracks traversing the kingdom converged.

One of them was a famous caravan route which merchants used to carry their goods, particularly rice, wheat and other agricultural products of Kosala to the trading city of Kosambi.

Another route linked Savatthi and the famous cotton and silk handlooms of Kansi which produced the finest textiles for export to even as far as Rome and Greece. Then there were the cart tracks used to transport goods to and from the neighbouring kingdom of Magadha.

To be continued

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