Biggest Right

There was a garden near the palace of King Suddhodana(Father of Gautam Buddha) where Siddharth used to sit and enjoy nature. One day while he was sitting in his garden, an injured swan fell near his leg. There was an arrow in his body. On seeing the swan, it seemed that some hunter has hunted him.

Seeing the swan in trouble and seeing it fluttering, Siddhartha’s heart melted and he wanted to help the swan.

He first took that arrow from the body of that swan and bandaged it with ointment on the injured place. After doing all this, Devdutt came to Siddharth looking for something.

As soon as Devdutt approached Siddhartha, he said, “Well, it is with you. Bring it to me. I have hunted it. I had to work very hard to hunt it and I have the right to it."

On hearing this, Siddharth said to Devadatta, “No, this swan was injured and came to me. I helped it and saved his life. That’s why I have the right over it.”

There was a debate between the two brothers over the rights of that goose. Now they wanted to know who has more right over that swan? So both of them decided that both of them would go to the king. Siddhartha’s father was the king of Kapilavastu.

They both went to the king Suddhodana. As soon as they reached the king, Devdutt first said, “Maharaj, I have the highest authority over this swan because I have hunted it. Because of this you ask Siddharth to give me this swan.”

As soon as Devdutt’s point was completed, the king pacified both and then asked him what was the whole matter?

In such a situation, Siddhartha told the king the whole thing and said to him, "Father the thing is that this swan was hunted by Devdutt but this swan got injured and came near my feet. Seeing it injured, I treated it and fixed it. Now tell me that the highest authority on this goose is mine."

The king considered this matter well. After considering it, he said one of the biggest things in the meeting and that was, “the right to save more than the one who is killed is the highest. Therefore, the biggest authority over this swan is only and only for Siddhartha because he save that swan. He did not kill it, but treated that swan after seeing it injured and saved its life. After the king had said this, Devdutt understood the matter very well. He also knew that the protector has more rights than the one who killed.

-Buddha