‘Venerable Nāgasena, when beings die, do they all die in fullness of time, or do some die out of due season?’

‘There is such a thing, O king, as death at the due time, and such a thing as premature death.’

‘Then who are they whose decease is at the due time, and who are they whose decease is premature?’

‘Have you ever noticed, O king, in the case of mango trees or Gambu trees or other fruit-bearing trees, that their fruits fall both when they are ripe and when they are not ripe?’

‘Yes, I have.’

‘Well, those fallen fruits, do they all fall at the due time, or do some fall prematurely?’

‘Such of those fruits, Nāgasena, as are ripe and mature when they fall, fall in fullness of time. But of the rest some fall because they are bored into by worms, some because they are knocked down by a long stick, some because they are blown down by the wind, some because they have become rotten—and all these fall out of due season.’

‘Just so, O king, those men who die of the effect of old age, they die in fullness of time. But of the rest some die of the dire effect of the Karma (of evil deeds), some of excessive journeying, some of excessive activity.’

‘Venerable Nāgasena, those who die of Karma, or of journeying, or of activity, or of old age, they all die in fullness of time: and even he who dies in the womb, that is his appointed time, so that he too dies in fullness of time; and so of him who dies in the birth chamber , or when he is a month old, or at any age up to a hundred years. It is always his appointed time, and it is in the fullness of time that he dies. So, Nāgasena, there is no such thing as death out of due season. For all who die, die at the appointed time.’

‘There are seven kinds of persons, O king, who, there being still a portion of their appointed age to run, die out of time. And which are the seven? the starving man, O king, who can get no food, whose inwards are consumed —and the thirsty man who can get no water, whose heart is dried up—and the man bitten by a snake, who, when consumed by the fierce energy of poison, can find no cure and he who has taken poison, and when all his limbs are burning, is unable to procure medicine—and one fallen into fire, who when he is aflame, can find no means of putting out the fire—and he who having fallen into water can find no firm ground to stand on—and the man wounded by a dart, who in his illness can find no surgeon—all these seven, there being still a portion of their appointed time to run, die out of due season. And herein (in all these seven cases) I declare that they are all of one nature. In eight ways, O king, does the death of mortals take place—through excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, through the adverse union of these three, through variations in temperature, through inequality in protection, through (medical) treatment, and through the working of Karma. And of these, O king, it is only death by the working of Karma that is death at the due season, all the rest are cases of death out of due season. For it is said:

“By hunger, thirst, by poison, and by bites,
Burnt, drowned, or slain, men out of time do die;
By the three humours, and by three combined,
By heats, by inequalities, by aids,
By all these seven men die out of time.”

‘But there are some men, O king, who die through the working of some evil deed or other they have committed in a former birth. And of These, O king, whosoever has starved others to death, after having been himself through many hundreds of thousands of years tormented by hunger, famished, exhausted, emaciated, and withered of heart, dried up, wasted away, heated, and all on fire within, will, either as youth or man or old man, die of hunger too. And that death will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by thirst, after having through many hundreds of thousands of years become a Preta consumed by thirst, thin and miserable, will himself too, either as youth or man or old man, die of thirst. And that death will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by having them bitten by snakes, will, after wandering through many hundreds of thousands of years from existence to existence, in which he is constantly bitten by boa constrictors and black snakes, himself too, either as youth or man or old man, die of snake bite. And that will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by poison will, after existing for many hundreds of thousands of years with burning limbs and broken body, and exhaling the odour of a corpse, himself too, either as youth or man or old man, die of poison. And that will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by fire, he having wandered from purgatory to purgatory, from one mass of burning charcoal to another, with burning and tortured limbs, for many hundreds of thousands of years, will himself too, either as youth or man or old man, be burnt to death. And that will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by drowning, he having suffered many hundreds of thousands of years as a being disabled, ruined, broken, weak in limb, and anxious in heart, will himself too, either as youth or man or old man, die by drowning. And that will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by the sword, he having suffered for many hundreds of thousands of years (in repeated births as an animal) from cuts and wounds and blows and bruises, or (when born as a man) ever destroyed by weapons, will himself too, either as youth or man or old man, perish by the sword. And that will be to him a death at the appointed time.’

‘Venerable Nāgasena, the death out of due time that you also speak of—come now, tell me the reason for that.’

‘As a great and mighty fire, O king, on to which dry grass and sticks and branches and leaves have been heaped, will nevertheless, when this its food has been consumed, die out by the exhaustion of the fuel. Yet such a fire is said to have gone out in fullness of time, without any calamity or accident (having happened to it). Just so, O king, the man who, when he has lived many thousands of days, when he is old and stricken in years, dies at last of old age, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, is said to have reached death in the fullness of time. But if there were a great and mighty fire, O king, on to which dry grass and sticks and branches and leaves had been heaped, then if a mighty rain cloud were to pour out rain upon it, and it were thus to be put out, even before the fuel was consumed, could it be said, O king, that that great fire had gone out in fullness of time?’

‘No, Sir, it could not.’

‘But wherein would the second fire differ, in its nature, from the first?’

‘The second one, Sir, which suffered from the onset of the rain—that fire would have gone out before its time.’

‘Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease—from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one’s time.

‘Or again, O king, it is like a mighty storm cloud which, rising up into the heavens, should pour out rain, filling the valleys and the plains. That cloud would be said to have rained without calamity or accident. Just so, O king, the man who after having lived long, dies at last, when he is old and well stricken in years, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, of old age, is said to have reached death in the fullness of time. But if, O king, a mighty storm cloud were to rise up into the heavens, and as it did so were to be dissipated by a mighty wind, could it be said, O king, that that cloud had perished in due time?’

‘No, Sir, it could not.’

‘But wherein would the second cloud differ, in its nature, from the first?’

‘The second one, Sir, which suffered from the onset of the whirlwind, would have been dissipated before its time.’

‘Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease—from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one’s time.

‘Or again, O king, it is like a powerful and deadly snake, which being angered should bite a man, and to him that poison, no impediment and no accident happening to it, should bring death. That poison would be said, without impediment or accident, to have reached its aim. Just so, O king, the man who, having lived long, dies at last, when he is old and well stricken in years, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, of old age, he is said to have reached, unimpeded and uninterrupted, to the goal of his life, to have died in the fullness of time. But if a snake charmer were to give a drug to the man while he was suffering from The bite, and thus get rid of the poison, could it be said that the poison was removed in the fullness of time?’

‘No, Sir, it could not.’

‘But wherein, O king, would the second poison differ, in its nature, from the first?’

‘The second one, Sir, which was acted upon by the introduction of the drug, would have been removed before its end was attained.’

‘Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease—from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one’s time.

‘Or again, O king, it is like the arrow discharged by an archer. If that arrow should go to the very end of the line of the path along which it was natural for it to go, then it would be said to have reached that aim, without let or hindrance. Just so, O king, the man who, having lived long, dies at last, when he is old and well stricken in years, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, of old age, is said to have reached death, unimpeded and uninterrupted, in the fullness of time. But if, at the moment when the archer was discharging the arrow, some one should catch hold of it, could that arrow be said to have reached the end of the line of the path along which it was shot?’

‘No, Sir, it could not.’

‘But wherein, O king, would the second arrow differ, in its nature, from the first?’

‘By the seizure which intervened, Sir, the course of the second arrow was arrested.’

‘Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease—from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one’s time.

‘Or again, O king, it is like the brazen vessel which a man should strike. And by his striking thereof a note should be produced, and sound to the very end of the line of the path along which it was its nature to sound. It would then be said to have reached that aim without let or hindrance. Just so, O king, the man who, having lived long, dies at last, when he is old and well stricken in years, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, of old age, is said to have reached death, without let or hindrance, in the fullness of time. But if a man were to strike a brazen vessel, and by his striking thereof a note should be produced, but some one, before it had reached any distance, were to touch the vessel, and at his touching thereof the sound should cease, could then that sound be said to have reached the end of the line of the path along which it was its nature to sound

‘No, Sir, it could not.’

‘But wherein, O king, would the second sound differ, in its nature, from the first?’

‘By the touching which intervened, Sir, that sound was suppressed.’

‘Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease—from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one’s time.

‘Or again, O king, it is like the corn seed which had sprung up well in the field, and by means of a plentiful downpour of rain had become well laden far and wide with many seeds, and had survived in safety to the time of standing crops, that corn would be said to have reached, without let or hindrance, to its due season. Just so, O king, the man who, having lived long, dies at last, when he is old and well stricken in years, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, of old age, is said to have reached death, without let or hindrance, in the fullness of time. But if that corn, after it had sprung up well in the field, should, deprived of water, die, could it be said to have reached its due season?’

‘No, Sir, it could not.’

‘But wherein, O king, would the second crop differ, in its nature, from the first?’

‘Oppressed by the heat which intervened, that crop, Sir, perished.’

‘Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease—from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one’s time.

‘And have you ever heard, O king, of a young crop that, after it had come to ear, worms sprung up and destroyed down to the roots?’

‘We have both heard of such a thing, Sir, and have seen it, too.’

‘Well, O king, was that crop destroyed in season, or out of season?’

‘Out of season, Sir. For surely if worms had not destroyed the crop it would have survived to harvest time.’

‘What then, O king! on a disaster intervening the crop is lost, but if no injury is done it, it survives to the harvest?’

‘That is so, Sir.’

‘Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease—from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one’s time.

‘And have you ever heard, O king, of a crop that had grown, and was bent down by the weight of the grains of corn, the ears having duly formed, when a so-called Karaka rain (hail-storm) falling on it, destroyed it?’

‘We have both heard of such a thing, Sir, and have seen it, too.’

‘Well, O king! would you say the crop was destroyed in season or out of season?’

‘Out of season, Sir. For if the hail-storm had not come the crop would have lasted to harvest time.’

‘What then, O king! on a disaster intervening the crop is lost, but if no injury is done it, it survives to the harvest?’

‘That is so, Sir.’

‘Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease—from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one’s time.’

‘Most wonderful, Nāgasena, most strange! Right well have you explained, by reason and by simile, how it is that people die before their time. That there is such a thing as premature death have you made clear and plain and evident. A thoughtless man even, Nāgasena, a puzzle-headed fellow, could by any one of your comparisons have come to the conclusion that premature deaths do occur;— how much more an able man! I was convinced already, Sir, by the first of your similes, that such deaths happen, but nevertheless, out of the wish to hear still further and further solutions, I would not give in.’

Here ends the dilemma as to premature deaths.