[14] Cf. Śukasaptati, 38th Night.—S. [↑]
[15] This appears to be a correct restoration of the Sanskrit name, though the parrot’s name is given further on as Māṭhara.—S. [↑]
[16] Śārikā, Gracula religiosa, Predigerkrähe.—S. [↑]
[17] Cf. Pabst, “Bunte Bilder, d. i. Geschichten in Ehstlands, &c.,” Reval, 1856, i. 14, and Mannhardt’s “Germanische Mythenforschungen,” Berlin, 1858, p. 39.—S. Also the burning of Lankā in the Rāmāyana, due to the attempt to punish the monkey-general Hanumat by setting his tail on fire. [↑]
[18] Cf. “Les Avadānas, trad. par Stan. Julien,” Paris, 1859, ii. 48.—S. [↑]
IX.
MAHĀKĀŚYAPA AND BHADRĀ.[1]
While Bhagavant was dwelling in the region of Tushita, there lived in the city of Nyagrodhika a highly respectable Brahman named Nyagrodha, whose means were so great that he rivalled Vaiśravaṇa in wealth. He possessed sixteen slave villages, thirty agricultural villages, sixty vegetable-garden villages, nine hundred and ninety-nine pair of plough oxen, six hundred millions of gold pieces, and eighty golden earrings capable of vying with those of King Mahāpadma. He had married a wife of birth like unto his own, but their union remained childless. In order to obtain offspring he appealed to all the gods, but without result.