Among the many stories contained in the Mahabharata, a lot of them seem to be and are in fact Buddhistic in origin. Thus, for example, the stories of King Sibi not only look very Buddhistic, but, in a text belonging to the Tipitaka, the legend is actually already related, how this self-sacrificing king tears out both his eyes in order to give them to a beggar. In the Mahabharata the story is told in three different versions. These versions include how the king cuts the flesh from his own body piecemeal and gives up his life, in order to save the life of a dove which is pursued by a hawk. This same king Sibi, however, already plays a part in the old heroic legends of Yayati. He is one of the four pious grandsons of this king, who offer him their places in heaven and finally ascend to heaven with him. The description, too, of the immeasurable riches and the tremendous generosity of Sibi in another place, where he is glorified as a pious sacrificer, who gives the Brahmins as many oxen as raindrops fall upon the earth, as there are stars in the sky and grains of sand in the bed of the Ganga River, is distinctly brahmanical in colouring. Thus discussed above are a few of the stories of sacrifice contained in the Mahabharata. |