The King Who Fed the World

The sages told the Pandavas of King Rantideva, whose name became, for all the ages after, the very byword for generosity - a king so selfless in his giving that he wished, in the end, not for heaven nor liberation nor any reward at all, but only to take upon himself the suffering of every living creature.

Rantideva was a great and righteous king, but he was famed above every other king for one thing: his boundless charity and compassion. He could not bear to see any creature suffer want while he had anything at all to give. He gave away his wealth as fast as it came to him, performing great sacrifices and feeding and clothing and sheltering all who came to his door, the high and the low alike, asking nothing in return. He made no store, kept no treasure, hoarded nothing; whatever he had passed at once through his hands to those who needed it. He counted his own comfort as nothing beside the relief of others' pain.