The Awakened One calmed their excited hearts and diverted their curiosity by answering very briefly:

“Among these women, monks, some were stream-enterers, some were once-returners, and some were non-returners. None of these lay disciples had died destitute of the noble fruits” (Ud 7: 10).

The Buddha mentioned here the first three fruits of the Dhamma: stream-entry, once-returner, and non-returner. All these disciples were safe from rebirth below the human realm, and each one was securely bound for the final goal of total liberation. This was the most important aspect of their lives and deaths and the Buddha would not go into detail. At a later time, when the monks were discussing how unjust it was that these faithful disciples should die such a terrible death, the Buddha explained to them that the women experienced this because of a joint deed they had committed many lifetimes ago. Once, when Sāmāvatī had been queen of Benares, she had gone with her ladies—in-waiting to bathe, and feeling cold, she had asked that a bush be burned to give some warmth. Only too late she saw that a paccekabuddha was sitting immobile within the bush. Although he was not harmed, the women did not know this and feared that they would be blamed for having made a fire without due caution. Thereupon Sāmāvatī had the deluded idea to pour oil over this ascetic who was sitting in total absorption, so that burning him would obliterate their mistake. This plan could not succeed, but the evil intention and attempted murder had to bear fruit, and it was in this lifetime that the result had ripened.

The Buddha declared that one of the favourable results of the practice of loving-kindness is that fire, poison, and weapons cannot harm the practitioner. This has to be understood to mean that during the actual emanation of loving-kindness the one who radiates this quality cannot be hurt, as Sāmāvatī proved when the king’s arrow did not penetrate her. But at other times the practitioner is vulnerable. Sāmāvatī had become a non-returner and was therefore free of all sensual desire and hate and of all identification with her body. It was only her body that was burnt by the fire, not her inner being. Her soft, radiant heart, imbued with love and compassion, was unassailable and untouched by the fire. It is rare for one of the saintly disciples to be murdered or for a Buddha to be threatened with murder, and equally rare is it for one perfected in metta and a non-returner to die a violent death. All three types of persons, however, have in common that their hearts can no longer be swayed by such violence.

Sāmāvatī’s last words were:

“It would not be an easy matter, even with the knowledge of a Buddha, to determine exactly the number of times our bodies have thus been burnt with fire as we have passed from birth to birth in the beginningless round of existence. Therefore, be heedful!”

Stirred by these words, the ladies of the court meditated on painful feeling and thereby gained the noble paths and fruits.

Referring to the tragedy at Kosambi, the Buddha spoke the following inspirational verse to the monks:

The world is held in bondage by delusion

And only appears to be capable.

To a fool, held in bondage by his acquisitions,

Enveloped in a mass of darkness,

It appears as if it were eternal;

But for one who sees there is nothing.

(Ud 7:10)

King Udena was overwhelmed with grief at Sāmāvatī’s death and kept brooding about who could be the perpetrator of this ghastly deed. He came to the conclusion that it must have been Māgandiyā. He did not want to question her directly because he knew that she would deny it. So he thought of a ruse. He said to his ministers:

“Until now I have always been apprehensive, because Sāmāvatī was forever seeking an occasion to slay me. But now I shall be able to sleep in peace.”

The ministers asked the king who it could have been that had done this deed.

“Only someone who really loves me,” the king replied. Māgandiyā had been standing nearby and when she heard that, she came forward and proudly admitted that she alone was responsible for the fire and the death of the women and Sāmāvatī. The king said that he would grant her and all her relatives a boon for this.

When all the relatives were assembled, the king had them burnt publicly and then had the earth ploughed under so that all traces of the ashes were destroyed. He had Māgandiyā executed as a mass- murderess, which was his duty and responsibility, but his fury knew no bounds and he still looked for revenge. He had her killed with utmost cruelty. She died an excruciating death, which was only a foretaste of the tortures awaiting her in the nether world, after which she would have to roam in saṃsāra for a long, long time to come.

Soon King Udena regretted his cruel, revengeful deed. Again and again he saw Sāmāvatī’s face in front of him, full of love for all beings, even for her enemies. He felt that by his violent fury he had removed himself from her even further than her death had done. He began to control his temper more and more and to follow the Buddha’s teachings ardently.

Meanwhile Sāmāvatī had been reborn in the Pure Abodes, where she would be able to reach Nibbāna without ever returning from that world. The different results of love and hate could be seen with exemplary clarity in the lives and deaths of these two queens. When one day the monks were discussing who was alive and who dead, the Buddha said that Māgandiyā while living was dead already, while Sāmāvatī, though dead, was truly alive. Then he spoke these verses:

Heedfulness is the path to the Deathless,

Heedlessness is the path to death.

The heedful ones do not die;

The heedless are likened to the dead.

The wise then, recognizing this

As the distinction of heedfulness,

In heedfulness rejoice, delighting

In the realm of the noble ones.

The steadfast meditate persistently,

Constantly they firmly strive,

Aspiring to reach Nibbāna,

The unexcelled security from bonds.

(Dhp 21–23)

The Buddha declared Sāmāvatī to be foremost among those female lay disciples who dwell in loving-kindness (mettā).