| J.144 |
Na"ngu.t.tha Jaataka |
Once the bodhisatva was born in a brahmin family in the North Country, and on the
day of his birth, his parents lit a sacrificial fire for him. When he grew up, family
life had no attraction for him, so he took the fire to a forest and there tended
it. One day he was given a cow in lieu of a fee, and wishing to sacrifice it to the
lord of the fire, he left it by the fire and entered the village to look for salt.
When he returned, he found that thieves had eaten the cow leaving only the hide and
the tail. Disgusted that the lord of the fire could not even guard his own possessions,
he put out the fire and became a recluse. The story was related in reference to whether
the Ajivikas, some of whom lived behind Jetavana, obtained any merit as the result
of their difficult penances. |
56/574 |
Jaataka |
Khuddhaka |
J.i.493ff. |
fire worship, asceticism |