Companion to the Buddhist Story : Rabindranath’s ‘Mastak Bikray’/ বৌদ্ধ কাহিনির অনুষঙ্গ : রবীন্দ্রনাথের ‘মস্তক বিক্রয়’

Abstract

Rabindranath is a world-renowned poet with diverse talents. He was also known as an essayist, novelist, story writer and dramatist. Rabindranath’s work has had an impact on all branches of literature. With the touch of Rabindranath's brilliance, any subject in human thought becomes luminous. His originality and uniqueness are unparalleled. It fascinates, amazes, excites. One such wonderful poem of Rabindranath is 'Katha'. Which was published in 1900. An evocative poem in this anthology is ‘Head Sale’ ('Katha': 21^stKartika,1304). The origin of this narrative poem is from the 'Ajnat kaundilyajatakam' belongingto the third volume of the original Buddhist Mahavastu contribution. It should be mentioned that Rabindranath was not familiar with the original 'Mahabastu Karvani' because he did not know the Pali language. He was familiar with Rajendra Lal Mitra's (The Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal [Calcutta -1882]) short English translation from Pali. Rajendra Lal Mitra's translation tell sthe story of 'Ajnat kaundilya' in the eighth volume of the book. In the second paragraph of that Story, there is talk of the rivalry between Kosalaraja and Kashiraja, in the memoirs of Ajnatkaundilya's previous birth. As a result of that conflict, the song of self-sacrifice, forgiveness and prem-dharma of gentleman began.