Once the Bodhisatta was born as Bharata, King of Roruva, in the country of Sovīra. He was very righteous and much beloved, and his chief queen, Samuddavijayā, was wise and full of knowledge.

The king, wishing to give alms to Pacceka Buddhas instead of to others far less holy, consulted the queen, and acting on her advice, made proclamation to his people that they should keep the precepts. He himself observed all holy days and gave great gifts in charity. One day he offered flowers to the eastern quarter, and making obeisance, wished that any Pacceka Buddha in that quarter might come to accept his alms. His wish not being fulfilled, he repeated, on the following days, the same ceremony to the other quarters till, on the fourth day, seven Pacceka Buddhas came to him from the north where they lived in Nandamūlapabbhāra. The king and queen fed them for seven days and gave them robes and all the other requisites of an ascetic. The Pacceka Buddhas departed one by one, each expressing his thanks in a stanza and exhorting the king and queen to lead pure lives.

The story was related in reference to Pasenadi's Asadisadāna, to show that wise men of old also gave gifts to holy men, with discretion (J.iii.469-74).

This is evidently the story referred to as the Sucira Jātaka in the introduction to the Dasa Brāhmana Jātaka (J.iv.360) and again as the Sovīra Jātaka in the introductory story of the Sivi Jātaka (J.iv.401).


 Home Oben Zum Index Zurueck Voraus