The Bodhisatta was once born as Bhallātiya, king of Benares. Desirous of eating venison cooked on charcoal, he gave the kingdom in charge of his courtiers and went to the Himālaya on a hunting expedition. While wandering about near Gandhamādana, among pleasant streams and groves, he came across two kinnaras fondly embracing each other and then weeping and wailing most pitifully. The king quieted his hounds, laid down his weapons, and approached the kinnaras. In answer to his questions, the female told him that one day, while she was picking flowers on the opposite bank for a garland for her lover, it grew late and a storm arose. The stream which separated the two lovers swelled in flood and they had to spend the night apart from each other. The memory of one night, thus passed in separation, had filled them with sorrow for six hundred and ninety seven years, and they still wept whenever they thought of it.
The story was told in reference to a quarrel between Pasenadi and Mallikā about conjugal rights. They were sulky and refused to look at each other. The Buddha visited the palace and reconciled them. The two kinnaras were identified with the king and the queen. J.iv.437ff.