Kathakoca or Treasury of Stories

Author(s): C H Tawney
Publisher: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation New Delhi

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turned home. At home they were on the best of terms, but in the field they were enemies. One day they asked & saint, who possessed absolute knowledge, the cause of this. The saint told them of what occurred in a former life. Thereupon both the brothers were converted, and took upon themselves a vow. When they died they went to the world of the gods.'
The hermit went on to say: 'Now, Çrípati, for the sake of such an unsubstantial thing as this wealth, who would die an evil death, and make his birth as a man of none effect ?' When Cripati heard this, his conversion took place. He received consecration, and having become a perfectly instructed monk, wandered about alone. After some time, owing to the power of his penance, he acquired limited knowledge. As he was wandering about, he came in some days to Northern Mathurá, and entered the house of Samșiddhidatta "to ask for. a dole. He saw all his own possessions, the bathing-tub, the lota, all the instruments used in the worship of the god, and the plate, the thirtytwo spoons, and the thirty-two cups. He observed that the merchant was at that moment eating off the broken plate. The hermit looked round in all directions and beheld his own property. The merchant said: 'Holy man, why do you look about you in all directions ?' The ascetic said :
Merchant, did you have these bathing utensils, and this plate, and these cups, and so on, made for you, or were they made by the orders of your ancestors ?' The merchant said: 'Reverend sir, they are inherited from my ancestors.' The hermit said: 'How can you eat out of one broken plate ?' The merchant answered : 'I have not got the fragment of the plate.' Thereupon Crípati took the fragment of the plate from his belt and put it near the plate.
The fragment adhered to the plate, and the plate was mended. The hermit prepared to depart. Samriddhidatta prostrated himself before the hermit, and asked for an explanation. The hermit said: 'How can I assert that your statement is not true? Samriddhidatta said: 'Inade