Queen Idaike was the consort of King Binbashara of the great country of Magda in ancient India.

King Binbashara was a devout Buddhist and well-known in Buddhist history for having constructed the first gathering place for Buddhists, known as Chikurin Temple. According to what is narrated in the sutras, the king and his queen had a very difficult time conceiving a child. Because he was so anxious for an heir, King Binbashara consulted a soothsayer, who told him that an ascetic living deep in the mountains would die in three years and be reborn as the king’s child.

King Binbashara was so anxious for an heir, however, that he could not wait three years. He therefore ordered certain of his followers to visit the ascetic and persuade him to end his life immediately. If the ascetic refused, King Binbashara ordered, they were to kill him. And because the ascetic did refuse to kill himself, the king’s followers killed the ascetic.

Just before he was killed, the ascetic said that when he was reborn as the king’s son, he would in turn kill the king. The king’s followers reported this threat to the king.

As the soothsayer had prophesied, Queen Idaike found herself pregnant the night of the ascetic’s death. King Binbashara was overjoyed. He called the soothsayer to ask whether the child would be male or a female. The soothsayer replied that it would be a male, and that this male successor would eventually injure the king.

At first King Binbashara did not feel threatened by the impending birth of his son. Finally, however, he became concerned enough that he ordered Queen Idaike to give birth from the top of a cliff, hoping the newly-born infant would be killed. Queen Idaike did so, but miraculously, the infant lived. All it received was a small cut in its baby finger.

The infant grew up to be Prince Ajase who rebelled against his father, imprisoned him in a jail with seven walls and finally killed him.

Daiba was Shakyamuni Buddha’s cousin. He is said to have been Anan’s (Shakyamuni Buddha’s closest disciple) older brother. Although Daiba was also a disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha, he gradually developed the ambition to become the leader of the fledgling Buddhist organi-zation.

To accomplish that end, he approached Prince Ajase, gained the prince’s trust, and proposed that Ajase become the political leader of the land by replacing his father as king of Magda. He then tried to take control of Shakya-muni Buddha’s organization.

After planning this intrigue, Daiba learned the details of Ajase’s birth, which played right into his hands. “Your father planned to kill you!” Daiba told Ajase. “Because he (King Binbashara) does not love you, he will not allow you to succeed him. That’s why you should do away with your father and assume the reigns of power yourself!”