| J.449 |
Ma.t.taku.n.dali Jaataka |
There was once a miserly brahmin called Adinnapubbaka who had a son called Mattakundali.
He made a set of burnished ear-rings (mattakundali) for his son in ordered to save
the goldsmithís fee. At the age of sixteen, the son protracted jaundice -- but the
father tried to cure the son himself, unwilling to pay a doctor. Eventually the sonsí
illness became too serious to cure. He carried his dying son out onto the balcony,
laying him there, lest those coming to visit his son should see the wealth he had
inside the house. The Out of compassion, theBuddha came to the house as the boy lay
dying. The sight of the Buddha roused the boy to faith as he died and the son was
reborn among the gods with a golden mansion thirty leagues in extent. When surveying
his past life, he saw his father in the charnel ground lamenting his death. Mattakundali
appeared to his father in his original form and when questioned by Adinnapubbaka,
censured his father for his stinginess and persuaded his father to give up his grief.
The story was told in reference to a rich landowner of Savatthi, a devout follower
of the Buddha, who lost his son. The Buddha knowing of his great grief, visited him
in the company of Ananda and preached to him. At the conclusion of the sermon, the
landowner became a sotapanna. see also DhA.i.020ff., Vv.vii.9, VvA.322ff., Pv.ii.5,
PvA.92ff. |
59/903 |
Jaataka |
Khuddhaka |
J.iv.059ff. |
faith |