THE SILENT PRINCE ( ေတမိဇာတ္)

This is the story of future Buddha who pretended deaf and dumb at the risk of his life, to avoid becoming a king and make harmful mistakes on innocent people.

Once upon a time a son was born to king and queen of Karsi-karit . The little son was named Taemiya. He was earmarked to become the heir to his father. So the king used to put his son in his lap when he was doing his royal duties, and let the boy learn. There were times when the king had to listen to cases in court of justice and decided punishment on people he considered guilty. Taemiya was always thinking that it would be too bad if his father made wrong decisions and punished the innocent ones, and his father would go to hell for it in afterlife. In his previous life Taemiya has been in hell for some evil deeds, and life in hell was still haunting him. He became very afraid to become a king.

One day Taemiya was alone in the throne room where there was the Royal White Parasol guarded by a Guardian Angel. He was thinking about his fear to be a king. Fear of life in hell made young Taemiya very unhappy. The Guardian Angel saw this and appeared before him. She told Taemiya that they were mother and son in previous lives. She asked what was bothering him, and he told her about his fear to become a king. She suggested that if he remained silent like a deaf and dumb nobody would consider him to be a king. Little prince liked this idea and decided to act like deaf and dumb. He did not speak, and pretended like a deaf person by not showing interest in anything around him.

Attendants of the little prince noticed the strange behaviors, and reported this to queen mother who became very worried. She found her son silent and showing no interest in anything. She thought it was a strange illness, and reported this to the king who sent for court physicians immediately. Court physicians examined Taemiya but they could not find any disease in him. They made astrological calculations also, but could not find anything wrong. They told the king that they need time to make some tests on the prince. The king agreed to their suggestion and let them go ahead with their tests.

Court physicians ordered that the little prince be given food and drink only when he asked for it. Taemiya remained silent and never asked for food or drink though he was hungry and thirsty. He was starved, and getting weak day by day. On seeing her son starving, queen mother cried day and night. Finally she asked the king to give food and drink to his son or else he would die doing the tests of court physicians. The king agreed to her. This saved Taemiya from starving to death, but the other tests were to continue.

As Taemiya grew up, court physicians made more tests in different ways to make him talk. As a boy he was shown various kinds of toys, tricks, entertainments etc. He showed no interest, and remained silent like a deaf and dumb. As a teenager he was frightened with snakes, elephants (actually tamed ones), flames, and weapons. He was scared, but did not shout or yell. He was soaked with honey to make ants crawl on him, and with foul smelling waters to make flies buzzing around him. He made no complaint to all these insults. When Taemiya became a young man, beautiful girls were put around him who tried to draw his attention by singing, dancing and talking to him. He remained silent
showing no interest in them . Finally, all the tests done by the court physicians failed to make the prince talk.
The court physicians finally told the king that all their tests had failed to find out the cause of Taemiya’s illness, and that he was really a deaf and dumb as a curse of nature. They told the king that it will be a disgrace to have a deaf and dumb as an heir to his throne, and the curse would befall on his kingdom by keeping the prince. They advised the king that Taemiya should be buried alive to save the country. The king became very ashamed and agreed to their advice. He ordered Taemiya be taken away, and buried alive in forest.

At that time the queen mother remembered a reward the king had promised to her when their son was born, but she had saved it for later times. She asked the king to give her that reward now. She said “ Let my son be king of Karsi-karit just for one week, and see if he will talk” The king granted her wish. Taemiya was crowned the king, but he remained silent as ever before throughout the week. Finally, Taemiya was taken away to be buried alive.

In the forest, while the jailor was digging a pit to bury the prince, Taemiya realized that he would die for nothing if he does not talk now. So he went to the jailor and said
“ You must be very tired of digging . Just go back to the palace and tell the king that I am talking now” The jailor was surprised to hear Taemiya talking at last. He raced back to palace on his cart to break the news. On seeing the jailor came back with an empty cart queen mother cried in grief thinking that her son was buried alive in the forest. When the jailor shouted in joy “ the silent prince has talked ” the king and queen became very happy. All the people in the palace were shouting and singing with joy.

The king and queen, followed by people of the palace, went to the forest to bring Taemiya back, but they found him in hermit’s robe. The king said, “ Now that you are talking, should come back to the palace. I am getting old and you should be taking my place”. Taemiya said that he had been pretending deaf and dumb for years for fear of becoming a king. He asked for forgiveness from his parents, and said that he would live in the forest to spend his lifetime in prayers and meditation. On hearing his story the king and queen also decided to become hermits.