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as simpletons and misfits, especially where sexual matters are concerned, while the tone is in fact far from gentle, but rather superior and patronizing. In order to clarify this some of the situations found in the Gathās will be considered more closely below. This should at the same time give a clearer picture of the circumstances, ideals and ambitions of the audience for whom the text was evidently intended.
1.2 The situations
A recurrent theme in the situations of the Gathās is the foolishness of the people depicted. Thus, the Pulindas, tribals living in the Vindhyamountains, mistake dark rain-clouds for elephants (116). Frequent references occur to the pāmara, a poor farmer." In 238 he barters his cloak for an ox because he is fooled into thinking that his wife's dark breasts, which remind him of heaps of smouldering ashes, will keep him warm during the winter. His stupidity furthermore consists of acquiring an ox when the ploughing-season is still far off. In fact his foolishness is almost proverbial. Compare Gāthā 643:
kamalan muata mahuara alekkhaladduaṁ pā-
darapikkakavitthagandha lohena maro vva chiviūna jānihisi.5"
Bee, if you abandon the lotus for the kapittha, attracted by the fragrance of their as yet half-ripe fruits, you will soon find out (your mistake) after you have touched them, like a pāmara touching a sweetmeat in a painting.
The halia or 'ploughman' is equally foolish. Compare Gathā 360:
ajjań mohaņasudhia daraphudiavetabhārā-
maa tti mottu palaie halie harāni hasian va phalah Thi.
When the ploughman ran away from his genteel wife (or mistress), who had fainted from love's extasy, thinking her dead, the cotton plants seemed to laugh with the lips of their bulky fruits slightly opened.
