Angulimala - 23

Ahimsaka severs the little fingers from his victims

One by one his unsuspecting victims came to the Jalini Forest from different directions. As if from nowhere, the young ex-student would leap out from the thick undergrowth and with one blow, render them all lifeless.

From each of his victims he cut off the little finger from their right hand. He did not hate them. Neither did he wish to take their gold or other possessions. All that he wanted was their little anguli.

At first Ahimsaka tied the angulis he severed from his victims and hung them on a tree. But they were all eaten by crows and vultures whenever he left to look for more victims. He realised that if this continued, he would never ever be able to complete his Guru Dakshina.

He then decided to string the angulis with twine and wear them as a garland around his neck. This enabled him not only to guard them but also to keep count of the total number of angulis he had collected.

It was because of the garland of angulis he wore around his neck that Ahimsaka became infamous as the dreaded name Angulimala - one wearing "a garland of angulis". Not only that, he found that by the time he found new victims, the old fingers had rotted and fallen off.

He reckoned that he would have to kill more than a thousand people to fulfil his offering to his acariya. But by this time he was well past the point of caring. He was blinded by the need to fulfil his vow. The innocent, noble kind-hearted Ahimsaka was long gone.

He was now the dreaded 'Angulimala' who terrorised people, so much so that the very mention of 'Angulimala' sent shudders down a person's spine. Thus Ahimsaka was no more, as he came to be only known by his nickname 'Angulimala' which stuck with him ever since.

To be continued

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