| J.359 |
Suva.n.namiga Jaataka |
The bodhisatva was once a golden stag who lived happily with a beautiful doe. The
stag was leader of eight myriads of deer. One day a hunter set a snare and the bodhisatvaís
foot got entangled therein. He gave a succession of warning cries and the herd fled.
The doe, however, came up to him and encouraged him to try to break the noose. However,
all his efforts were in vain, and when the hunter approached, the doe went up to
him and asked to be allowed to die in her mateís place. The hunter was so touched
that he set them both free and the stag gave him a magic jewel which he had found
on the feeding ground. The Jataka was told in reference to a girl of Savatthi who
belonged to a family devoted to the two chief disciples. She married an unbeliever
but was allowed to practise her own religion unmolested. She finally persuaded her
husband to hear a sermon by Sariputta and both husband and wife became sotapannas.
Later they joined the Order and became arahants. Channa (the husband) is identified
with the hunter while the woman was the doe. |
58/775 |
Jaataka |
Khuddhaka |
J.iii.182ff. |
loyalty |