Kunala of Beautiful Eyes

Kunala means eagle, the bird with the most beautiful eyes.

Kunala was the Crown Prince of Ashoka Maurya and also the designated heir to the great Mauryan Empire. Around 238 BCE, the Maurya Empire stretched from the mountains of Afganistan to the Sea of Bengal, from Kashmir in north to Mysore and Kanchipuram in south. Xuanzang had noted in his memoirs that the prince Kunala was extremely popular throughout the Empire for his Great Compassion and Humility.

As Ashoka grew old, rebellions started erupting on the western front. By this time, Ashoka’s health was failing and he had become dependent on his youngest queen Trishyarakshita. The crown prince left for Taxila and successfully quelled the rebellion. When the news of success came from the west, the old king was happy and wrote a letter to his son encouraging him also to continue his study in addition to the royal duties. ( Adhitam in pali ଅଧିତଂ). He handed over the letter to the youngest queen to put his royal seal and send it by the royal messenger. The youngest queen and the step mother of Kunala was jealous of Kunala’s popularity. She also wanted her son to be the next emperor. So she put a “dot on A” before sealing the letter ( ଅନ୍ଧିତଂ.) Now Adhitam became Andhitam. “The crown prince of Bharata to be blinded: by order of the Emperor.”

Can you see a similarity to the story of Dasharatha & Kaikeyi ?

…
The Royal Court of Taxila became dumb when the letter was read out. The ministers were shocked and wanted to rebel. But Kunala didn’t want to set a bad precedent by disobeying a sealed royal order. So he took a hot iron and blinded himself.
Thus Kunala of beautiful eyes lost his eyes and also forfeited his right to the throne of Pataliputra.

When Ashoka learnt about the incident, he was broken and almost died in grief. But before death, he had ensured that Samprati, the adolescent son of Kunala should ascend to the throne of Pataliputra when he would attain adulthood.

Samprati went on to become the 5th Maurya emperor but he never forgave his grand father for the injustice meted to his father. So he renounced Buddhism to adopt Jainism. This led to rapid decline of Buddhism in India immediately after the death of Ashoka the great.

( The story of Blinding of Kunala occurs more often in the folk Lore of the south east asian nations like Viet Nam. Here’s the link:

https://www.chuahoangphap.com.vn/en/news/detail-the-eyes-of-the-prince-kunala-216/#/ )