| J.482 |
Rurumiga Jaataka |
Once in Benares there lived Mahadhanaka, son of a rich man. His parents didn’t teach
him anything and after their death he squandered all their wealth and fell into debt.
unable to escape his creditors, he summoned them and took them to the banks of the
Ganges promising to show them buried treasure. Arriving there, he jumped into the
river and lamented aloud as he was carried away by the stream. The bodhisatva was
born as a golden stag and hearing a man’s cry for help swam into the river and saved
Mahadhanaka. Having ministered to him, the stag set him on the right road for Benares,
asking him to tell no-one of the bodhisatva’s existence. The man reached Benares
just as a proclamation was being made of Queen Khema’s dream of hearing the preaching
of a golden stag. Mahadhanaka offered to take the king to such a stag and a hunt
was organized. When the bodhisatva saw the king with his retinue, he went up to the
king and told him the story of Mahadhanaka. The king denounced the traitor and gave
the bodhisatva a boon that thenceforth all creatures should be free from danger.
Afterwards the bodhisatva was taken to the city where he saw the queen. Flocks of
deer, now free from fear, devoured men’s crops but nonetheless, the king didn’ t
go back on his word. The bodhisatva begged his herds to desist from such damage.
The Jataka was told in reference to Devadatta’s ingratitude and wickedness. Devadatta
was Mahadhanaka and Ananda the king. The Jataka is included in the Jatakamala (No.26) |
60/313 |
Jaataka |
Khuddhaka |
J.iv.255ff. |
ingratitude |