Jataka Tale Summaries #341-360

Kandari Jataka (#341)

(Told in Jataka #536) The Bodhisatta was once a king’s chaplain. The king caught his queen consort having an affair and ordered the Bodhisatta to cut off her head, but he told the king to spare her life because she was only doing what was women’s nature. To prove women’s inherent wickedness, he took the disguised king around India and arranged for him to have sex with many women.

Vanara Jataka (#342)

The Bodhisatta was once a monkey. A crocodile wanted to eat the Bodhisatta’s heart, so her husband offered to carry the Bodhisatta on his back to eat fruit on an island. When he began to sink into the river and learned the crocodile’s real intention, the Bodhisatta said he stored his heart in a tree and told the crocodile to take him there, where he escaped.

Kuntani Jataka (#343)

The Bodhisatta was once a king. He had a heron who carried messages for him. When two boys killed her two children, the heron got revenge by throwing them to a tiger, which ate them.

Ambacora Jataka (#344)

The Bodhisatta was once Indra, king of the gods. A wicked ascetic lived in a mango orchard and ate many mangoes. To punish him, the Bodhisatta made all the mangoes disappear. After the ascetic falsely accused four women of theft, the Bodhisatta took a terrible form and frightened him away.

Gajakumbha Jataka (#345)

The Bodhisatta was once a king’s advisor. The king was lazy, and when they saw a turtle, the Bodhisatta discussed its slowness as a way to get the king to change his ways.

Kesava Jataka (#346)

The Bodhisatta was once an ascetic. After spending a rainy season in the king’s park, the band’s elder master stayed behind when the rest of the group returned to the Himalayas. But he did not like living alone and got ill. He returned to the mountains, and when he saw his friend the Bodhisatta, his health was quickly restored.

Ayakuta Jataka (#347)

The Bodhisatta was once a king. He banned animal sacrifice, which angered the goblins, so one went to kill him. But Indra, king of the gods, stood over the savage goblin and scared him, so he changed his mind, and the goblins agreed to protect the Bodhisatta.

Aranna Jataka (#348)

The Bodhisatta was once an ascetic. After his wife died, he took his son and began a new religious life in the Himalayas. Many years later, a woman came upon their home and seduced the son. He intended to return to civilization with her, but when the Bodhisatta explained that it was difficult to find good people to rely on, the son changed his mind and remained an ascetic.

Sandhibheda Jataka (#349)

The Bodhisatta was once a king. A cow and a lion were friends. A jackal wanted to eat them, so he lied and said they each spoke poorly of the other. This caused them the fight to the death. The Bodhisatta had predicted this would happen.

Devatapanha Jataka (#350)

(Told in Jataka #546) The Bodhisatta was once a king’s advisor. He correctly answered four riddles from a goddess living in the royal parasol.

Manikundala Jataka (#351)

(Duplicate of Jataka #282) The Bodhisatta was once a king. A former advisor that the Bodhisatta had expelled convinced a rival king to conquer him because, in order to avoid any deaths, the Bodhisatta would not resist. While imprisoned, the Bodhisatta felt pity for his captor, which magically caused him pain, and this made him realize it was a mistake to conquer a man as virtuous as the Bodhisatta. So he returned to his own kingdom.

Sujata Jataka (#352)

The Bodhisatta was once a landowner. When his grandfather died, his father became depressed. To remind his father about impermanence, the Bodhisatta pretended to try to get a dead ox to eat and drink, and this cured his father’s sorrow.

Dhonasakha Jataka (#353)

The Bodhisatta was once a teacher. He warned one of his students, a cruel prince, to change his ways or he would suffer. When the prince became king, he killed most of the other kings of India. But before he could defeat the last king, he died and fell to hell.

Uraga Jataka (#354)

The Bodhisatta was once a farmer. When his son died, nobody in the family showed any sorrow because they understood that all things are impermanent. Indra, king of the gods, was impressed by this and gave the family treasure so they never needed to do physical labor again.

Ghata Jataka (#355)

(Duplicate of Jataka #282) The Bodhisatta was once a king. A former advisor that the Bodhisatta had expelled convinced a rival king to conquer him because, in order to avoid any deaths, the Bodhisatta would not resist. While imprisoned, the Bodhisatta felt pity for his captor, which magically caused him pain, and this made him realize it was a mistake to conquer a man as virtuous as the Bodhisatta. So he returned to his own kingdom.

Karandiya Jataka (#356)

The Bodhisatta was once a student. His teacher preached religion to everyone. To convince him to only preach to people who wanted to listen, the Bodhisatta threw rocks into a cave, saying he wanted to make the world level. Then his teacher realized that making all people accept his teachings was also impossible.

Latukika Jataka (#357)

The Bodhisatta was once an elephant. He protected a nest of quail chicks when his herd passed by, but later a rogue elephant intentionally stepped on them. Their mother vowed revenge. She got a crow to peck out its eyes and a frog to croak at the bottom of a cliff so the blind elephant followed the sound seeking water and fell to its death.

Culladhammapala Jataka (#358)

The Bodhisatta was once a prince. While the Bodhisatta was still an infant, his father, the king, grew madly jealous of the attention his queen gave their son, so he cut the Bodhisatta into little bits.

Suvannamiga Jataka (#359)

The Bodhisatta was once a deer. He got caught in a snare, and his wife begged the hunter to kill her instead. The hunter was impressed by her devotion and let them both live.

Sussondi Jataka (#360)

(Told in Jataka #536) The Bodhisatta was once a garuda king. While in human form playing dice with a human king, he and the queen consort fell in love and ran off to live on his remote island home. The king sent a minstrel to find her, and when he did, she took him as another lover, so the Bodhisatta gave her back to the king.

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