Kharassarajātaka
“He gave the robbers time.”—This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana, about a certain Minister. He, ’Tis said, ingratiated himself with the king, and, after collecting the royal revenue in a border-village, privily arranged with a band of robbers that he would march the men off into the jungle, leaving the village for the rascals to plunder,—on condition that they gave him half the booty.
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral
1.1PTS 1.355“Yato viluttā ca hatā ca gāvo,When cows were plundered and killed,11.2Daḍḍhāni gehāni jano ca nīto;houses burned down, and people abducted,1.3Athāgamā puttahatāya putto,then came the son of she whose son is dead,21.4Kharassaraṁ ḍiṇḍimaṁ vādayanto”ti.sounding the harsh drum of war.3
2.1Kharassarajātakaṁ navamaṁ.
A village headman conspires with bandits to leave a village helpless and ripe for the plunder.
Āgamā is aorist singular.
See the nearly identical phrase at MN 76:53.5; here we have puttahatāya rather than puttamatāya, but both mean the same thing.
The expression kharassara is used for the beating of a drum to announce an execution (SN 12.70:28.5).
