| J.479 |
Kaali"ngabodhi Jaataka |
The Kalinga king of Dantapura had two sons, Maha Kalinga and Culla Kalinga. Soothsayers
foretold that the younger would be an ascetic but his son would be a universal Monarch.
Knowing of the prophecy, Culla Kalinga became so arrogant that Maha Kalinga, acceding
to the throne, ordered his arrest. Culla Kalinga fled and became an ascetic in the
Himavanta Forest. Near his hermitage lived the king and queen of Madda who had fled
with their daughter from the city of Sagala. Soothsayers predicted that the princesses’s
son would be a universal Monarch and all the kings of the Jambudipa sought her hand.
Her parents, not wishing to incur the enmity of any of the kings, fled with her from
the city. One day a wreath of mango-flowers which the princess dropped into the river
was picked up by Culla Kalinga who thereupon went in search of her. With his parents
consent, he married her and a son was born whom they called Kalinga. When the stars
revealed that Maha Kalinga had died, Kalinga was sent to Dantapura, to a courtier
who had been an ally of Culla Kalinga. The prince’s identity having duly been established,
he was crowned king and his chaplain, Kalinga-bharadvaja taught him the duties of
a universal Monarch. On the fifteenth day, the omens of universal Monarchhood. Later
making a journey through the air with his retinue, he found a bodhi tree where Buddhas
attain enlightenment. The elephant would go no further, so learning from his chaplain
the virtues of a Buddha, he paid great honour to the tree for seven days. The story
is told in reference to a bodhi tree planted at the entrance to Jetavana by Anathapindika
for people to venerate in the Buddha’s absence. |
60/264 |
Jaataka |
Khuddhaka |
J.iv.228ff. |
prediction |