Bherivādakajātaka
“Go not too far.”—This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana, about a certain self-willed Brother. Asked by the Master whether the report was true that he was self-willed, the Brother said it was true. “This is net the first time, Brother,” said the Master, “that you have shewn yourself self-willed; you were just the same in bygone times as well.” And so saying, he told this story of the past.
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral
1.1PTS 1.283“Dhame dhame nātidhame,Blow, blow, don’t overblow,11.2atidhantañhi pāpakaṁ;for overblowing is bad.1.3Dhantena hi sataṁ laddhaṁ,By blowing a hundred was gained,21.4atidhantena nāsitan”ti.by overblowing it was lost.
2.1Bherivādakajātakaṁ navamaṁ.
A drummer with his boy earned money playing drums at a festival. On the return journey, however, the boy’s incessant beating attracted the attention of bandits.
The story and title speak of a “drum” (bheri), while the verse uses dhamati, which normally means “blows”. The repeated idiom recalls the onomatopoetic Sanskrit dhamadhamā, which in Marathi, Hindi, Kannada, and Nepali has the sense of a repeated drumbeat. On the other hand, the next verse is almost identical and concerns the blower of a conch or horn. Rather than rendering the two verses to match the commentary, I assume they originally had the same sense.
Sataṁ is explained as “a hundred dollars”. But there is a play on words here, for sataṁ can also mean “the good, the true”.
