| J.196 |
Valaahassa Jaataka |
Once in Tambannidipa was a yakkha city called Sirisavatthu inhabited by yakkhinis.
When shipwrecked sailors wre cast on the shore from the River Kalyani to Nagadipa,
the yakkhinis would assume human form and entice them, taking them as husbands. On
the arrival of new castaways, the old husbands would be eaten and replaced by the
new rivals. Once 500 merchants were cast ashore there and became the husbands of
the yakkhinis. In the night the yakkhinis left them and ate their former husbands.
The eldest merchant discovered this and warned the others, but only half of them
were willing to attempt an escape. The bodhisatva was a horse of the Valahaka race
and was flying through the air from the Himalayas to Tambapanni. There, as he passed
over the banks and the fields, he asked in a human voice ëwho wants to go home?í
The wise half of the traders, 250 in number, took him up on his offer and escaped.
The remainder were eaten by the yakkhinis. The story was told in reference to a monk
who had become a backslider from running after a beautifully dressed woman. |
57/251 |
Jaataka |
Khuddhaka |
J.ii.127ff. |
leadership, disobedience,women |