Ja 112 The Question of Lady Amarā
(Amarādevīpañha)
In the past This is an extract from Ja 542 Umaṅgajātaka. when Mahosadha reaches the age of sixteen he sets about finding a wife for himself. He comes across a beautiful young maiden, and through riddling discovers she is as wise as he is, and a suitable person to take to wife (full story).
1. Yena sattubilaṅgā ca,
Dviguṇapalāso ca pupphito,
Yena dadāmi, tena vadāmi,
Yena na dadāmi, na tena vadāmi,
Esa maggo Yavamajjhakassa,
Etaṁ channapathaṁ vijānāhī ti.
By way of barley meal and by gruel, and the flowering of the two-fold leaf, with the hand I give, by that I do speak, with the hand I don’t give, by that I don’t speak, this is the path to the Barley Market, this is the secret path that you must know.
This is the meaning: “Master, having entered into the village, look for the barley market, and then the gruel market, in front of these is the Koviḷāra tree with flowering two-fold leaves, therefore, by way of barley and gruel and the flowering Koviḷāra, having gone there and stood at the root of the Koviḷāra, take the right path and let go of the left, this is the path to the Barley Market in the Barley Market village, for the one standing in our house, after concealing it thus, it was said by me: the secret path is the hidden path, know the secret path or the hidden path.
Here by the hand I do give, by the hand I give with, this is said to indicate the right hand, the other is the left hand. Thus, after indicating his path, taking the gruel for her father, she left.