The Exemplary Tale of Shardulakarna

The Exemplary Tale of Shardulakarna (Skt. Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna; Tib. སྟག་རྣའི་རྟོགས་པ་བརྗོད་པ།, Wyl. stag rna’i rtogs pa brjod pa) begins with the dramatic story of an outcaste girl named Prakrti, who falls in love with the venerable Ananda but is subsequently led by the Buddha to liberation and arhathood. In order to explain these events to the upper-caste community of Shravasti, the Buddha narrates the story of a learned outcaste king, Trishanku, who sought to marry his son, Shardulakarna, to the daughter of an eminent brahmin named Puskarasarin. In this story, the outcaste king advances various arguments against the notion of caste and displays at length his brahmanical—mostly astrological—learning from past lives. When the brahmin’s pride is finally overcome, he grants his daughter’s hand in marriage. At the end of his narration, the Buddha reveals that he was the outcaste king at that time, and that Prakrti and Ananda were the brahmin maiden and the outcaste prince, thus showing that caste designations have little meaning in the light of karma and merit across multiple lives.

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The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 358

• English translation: The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa