The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa

The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa begins with the dramatic story of an outcaste girl named Prakṛti, who falls in love with the venerable Ānanda but is subsequently led by the Buddha to liberation and arhathood. In order to explain these events to the upper-caste community of Śrāvastī, the Buddha narrates the story of a learned outcaste king, Triśaṅku, who sought to marry his son, Śārdūlakarṇa, to the daughter of an eminent brahmin named Puṣkarasārin. 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 Prakṛti and Ānanda 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.