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INTERVENING STORIES
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wealth to the king and further pacified his younger brother. The elder was then reborn as the lord of the celestial beings while the younger one was reborn as a celestial being only. From there the younger one was reborn as Śrikantha and that Indra (celestial lord) enlightened Śrīkantha because of having regard for the younger
brother.
The PCR (6. 155-160) mentions that the younger brother lived the life of a hunter. The elder one through a test found out that the younger one had affection for him. Therefore, the elder one gave some wealth to the younger one and ameliorated the latter's
conditions.
29. The previous birth of Rakṣasa Taḍitkeśa or the story of Datta and a hunter:
It is narrated following the adoption of the figure of Vanara (monkey) as the state emblem by Amaraprabha. Once the wife of Taditkeśa, the Rākṣasa king of Lanka, was injured by a monkey while sporting in a garden. That monkey was killed by the king. The monkey then being reborn as Udadhikumāra, a celestial being again disturbed the king sporting there. When Taditka śa questioned the At this both of celestial being, the latter related the previous incident. them proceeded to a monk and enquired about the cause of their transmigration. The monk narrated the story illustrating the consequences of nursing the feeling of revenge (6.134-147). Having listened to the story Taditkeśa installed his son Sukeśa and himself renounced the world.
Two persons killing each other were reborn one as a hunter in Banaras and the other as Datta, the son of a minister in Śrāvasti, respectively. The latter became a monk and sojourned at Kasipura in a garden. When he was meditating, that hunter arrived there. He abused and beat the monk. As the monk became angry and thought of beating the hunter in his turn, he lost the valuable fruits of his penances and was reborn as an inferior celestial being. Therefrom he descended as Taditkeśa while the hunter was reborn as a monkey.
The PCR (6.227-328) and the PCS (6.10-16) agree with the PCV. The RPS (ch. 4) contains minor differences as regards the places of rebirth. The TSP (IV. p. 110) states that the hunter killed the mendicant. The hunter is said to have first passed through the hellish life and then was reborn as a monkey.
