The Tale of Bambhadatta and Citta
Adapted from Hindu Tales: An English Translation of Jacobi’s Ausgewählte Erzählungen in Māhārāshṭrī
Long ago, in the city of Kampillapura, there lived a young prince named Bambhadatta. His birth had been foretold by fourteen auspicious dreams, marking him for greatness. But the story of Bambhadatta begins much earlier, in a previous lifetime, when he was a monk named Sambhūya.
In that earlier existence, Sambhūya and his friend Citta had renounced the world to follow the spiritual path. Though both were dedicated to their practice, their fates would diverge because of a single moment of weakness.
When King Sanamkumāra visited the monks with his court, his beautiful queen Sunanda prostrated herself at Sambhūya’s feet. The touch of her silken hair against his skin awakened worldly desire in Sambhūya’s heart. Despite warnings from his friend Citta about the dangers of sensual attachment, Sambhūya secretly wished: “If there is any merit to my spiritual practices, may I become a universal sovereign in my next life, so I might enjoy such pleasures.”
Both monks eventually died and were reborn as gods in the Sodhamma heaven. When they fell from that divine realm, Citta was born as a merchant’s son who remembered his past lives, while Sambhūya was reborn as Prince Bambhadatta.
Bambhadatta’s father, King Bambha, had four close friends who were also kings: Kadaya, Kaneradatta, Diha, and Pupphacūla. These kings were so fond of each other that they spent one year in each other’s kingdoms, enjoying various amusements together.
When King Bambha fell ill with an incurable disease, he placed his young son on the laps of his royal friends and entrusted the boy to their care. After the king’s death, the four kings appointed Diha as regent until Bambhadatta came of age.
King Diha faithfully maintained the royal power, but soon began an illicit affair with Queen Culani, Bambhadatta’s mother. When the young prince discovered this betrayal through the clever intervention of his father’s loyal minister Dhanu, King Diha and Queen Culani plotted to kill the prince. They planned to arrange his marriage and then set fire to his wedding chamber while he slept.
However, the loyal minister Dhanu approached King Diha with a request that saved the prince’s life. The prince escaped the plot and eventually confronted King Diha in battle. Using a powerful disc weapon, Bambhadatta slew the treacherous regent. The people rejoiced, and celestial beings declared him the twelfth universal monarch to appear in the world.
Following in the footsteps of previous universal monarchs, Bambhadatta conquered the six regions of Bharaha-land. His harem grew to include many beautiful queens, with Pupphavai as the chief consort. He ruled with wisdom and strength, enjoying all the pleasures that his position afforded.
One day, an actor came to perform a dramatic composition called “Mahuyarigiya” at the royal court. During the performance, a slave girl brought Bambhadatta an enormous wreath of flowers. The combination of the drama and the fragrant flowers triggered a strange sensation in the king—a feeling that he had experienced this exact moment before.
Suddenly, Bambhadatta remembered his previous existence as the monk Sambhūya and his friendship with Citta. He fainted from the shock of this revelation. When he recovered, he became determined to find his former spiritual brother.
The king instructed his prime minister Varadhanu to spread half of a verse throughout the kingdom: “We two have been two slaves, two deer, two swans, two Candalas, two gods thereupon…” He announced that whoever could complete the verse would receive half of his kingdom.
Meanwhile, Citta, who had become a wandering sage after remembering his past lives, had arrived in a forest near Bambhadatta’s capital. While meditating there, he overheard a man working at a Persian wheel reciting the half-verse. Immediately recognizing it, Citta completed it with: “This is the sixth birth of us who are now separated from each other.”
The worker brought this completion to the king. When Bambhadatta heard it, he was overwhelmed with emotion and fainted again. Upon recovering, he rushed to find the sage who had completed the verse.
In the forest, the king found his former spiritual brother. Citta delivered a powerful discourse on the impermanence of life, the dangers of sensual pleasures, and the path to spiritual liberation. He urged Bambhadatta to remember the sorrows of past lives and to make his human birth meaningful by pursuing spiritual freedom.
Bambhadatta, however, was still bound by the worldly desire that had shaped his rebirth. He asked Citta to accept the position of king so that they might practice asceticism together later. The sage refused, explaining that human life is fleeting, fortune is unstable, and sensual pleasures lead to suffering. He warned that kingship, which would last only a few days, could lead to countless rebirths in hell.
Despite repeated exhortations, Bambhadatta could not be swayed from his attachment to worldly pleasures. Citta realized that the king’s current condition was the direct result of the worldly thought he had conceived in his previous life as Sambhūya. Like someone bitten by a venomous snake, Bambhadatta was now immune to the healing wisdom of spiritual teachings.
Citta departed and eventually attained final liberation, while Bambhadatta continued to enjoy the pleasures of his position as universal monarch. His story serves as a powerful reminder that even a single moment of desire can shape many lifetimes, and that the opportunity for spiritual awakening, once missed, may not come again.
This tale teaches that even momentary desires can shape our destiny across multiple lifetimes. It shows how attachment to worldly pleasures can blind us to spiritual wisdom, while also illustrating the power of friendship that transcends death and rebirth.
