In this story is [related] the manner in which a foolish King, taking the sovereignty, without considering exercised the sovereignty.
North-western Province.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xviii, p. 120, in a South Indian (Tamil) story by Pandit S. M. Naṭēśa Sāstrī, a Brāhmaṇa who had seven sons asked them one night what they would like to do. The elders expressed good wishes, but the youngest stated that he would like to spend the fine moonlight in a beautiful house with lovely girls. The father turned him out for saying this, and he had various adventures unlike those of this Sinhalese story.
In the same work, vol. xxvi, p. 109, in a Telugu story by G. R. Subramiah Pantulu, Divijakīrtti, King of Choḷamaṇḍala, had three sons, of each one of whom he inquired what he most desired. The first wished to be surrounded by learned men and to study the great Indian Epics and sacred books, the second wished to obtain wealth and visit sacred shrines, the third wanted to acquire a kingdom and gain a good reputation by making it prosperous. The King made over the sovereignty to the third one, giving the first one villages and the second one money to go on a pilgrimage.
In The Jātaka, No. 96 (vol. i, p. 234), the Bōdhisatta received a charmed thread and some charmed sand from Paccēka Buddhas as safe-guards on a journey. These preserved him, the sand placed on his head and the thread twisted round his brow, from an Ogress (Rākshasī) who, with others, devoured all in the palace.
In The Jātaka, No. 380 (vol. iii, p. 161) a “being of perfect merit” fell from Śakra’s heaven, and was re-born as a girl inside a lotus flower. “When the other lotuses grew old and fell, that one grew great and stood.” An ascetic opened it, found the girl inside, and reared her. Śakra created a crystal palace for her, provided her with divine clothing and food, and in the end the King of Benares married her.
In The Story of Madana Kāma Rāja (Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 81, when a King of Udayagiri one moonlight night asked his seven sons what they would like to be doing, the first suggested leading an army into an enemy’s country, the second wished to be irrigating some land, the third wished to be ploughing, the fourth to be walking from one village to another, the fifth to be hunting, the sixth to be a cooly. The seventh son wished to be the sole Emperor of the world, reclining on a couch, attended by four wives, the daughters of Indra, Agni, Varuṇa, and Ādiśēsha (the serpent-king). His mother, hearing that he was to be executed for this wish, sent him away secretly with a bag of money. Next morning the executioners showed the blood of an animal as that of the Prince. The Prince acquired the wished-for wives, induced a King who tried to kill him, to jump into a fire from which he himself had come successfully by Agni’s aid, and became King of a magic city. In the meantime his father had been driven out of Udayagiri, and with his wife and other sons got a living by selling firewood. The young King recognised them, gave the sovereignty to his father, and himself took the post of Minister. He had further adventures afterwards.
There are several Indian accounts of girls who made their appearance out of fruits or flowers, and one of a Prince, in addition to the deity in the tale numbered 153, and the sons of King Sāgara, mentioned in the note after it. In one old legend the Goddess Pattinī in one incarnation was produced from a Mango fruit, and in another from a Blue-lotus flower.
In Old Deccan Days (M. Frere), p. 96, a girl was found inside a Mango fruit.