ABSTRACT
A rich householder of Vārāṇasī named Gautama, who travelled with goods to Takshaśilā, contracted a friendship there with another householder, and the two men made an agreement that their children should marry each other. To Gautama was born a daughter, who received the name of Kṛiśā Gautamī. After she had been taught to read, she had to apply herself to learning such work as women do. Now her father had been in the habit of associating with courtesans, so he entrusted his daughter's instruction to a woman of that class. The daughter began to study with her. After she had done so for some time she said, “As I have acquired what was to be learnt, I will go away.” But the woman objected that she must first complete her studies properly; it was too soon for her to go away yet. The girl replied that she had already studied enough, and that she would go away. Then the woman took a paint-box and said that she would give herself a broken head if the girl was determined to go away. The girl begged her not to do that, and promised to remain. Then said the woman, “Kṛiśā, you believed that you had learnt everything, and yet you did not 217know this. Who would give herself a broken head for the sake of a stranger child? You know nothing then.”
