Kathakoca or Treasury of Stories

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

Page 86

very moment he died. Then the god, who presided over the city, made up his mind to kill all the citizens, but was propitiated by the king by means of great devotion. Then the god said: 'King, remove this city, and settle it somewhere else, in order that there may be security.' Then the city was settled on another site, and thus arose the town of Kshemapuri. Now, that god held the true faith, and so he went and dwelled in the temple of Rishabha, in the form of a lion, though that temple was in the forest. He would not allow wicked people even to enter the temple. Now, at this time a ploughman was driving his plough in front of the temple, and his wife was bringing him his dinner* from the city of Kshemapurí. In this way he passed his days. Now, one day a wandering hermit came there to worship the Jina. Seeing the hermit, the ploughman also entered the temple. He bowed before the hermit, and said : ‘Revered sir, how is it that I am so unhappy in this human birth ?' The hermit said: 'In a former birth you did not give gifts to hermits--you did not make an offering of food to the Jina ; it is for this reason that you are deprived of enjoyments. When the ploughman heard this, he took a vow in the presence of that hermit as follows: "From to-day I will set apart a portion of my own dinner, and, making it into a ball, will offer it as a foodoffering in front of the Jina. Moreover, I will give gifts to the hermits to the utmost of my power. The hermit said: 'My son, having taken the vow, do not neglect to perform it.' When the hermit had said this, he flew up into the air. Accordingly the ploughman every day, when his dinner came, presented a food-offering in front of the Jina. One day his food came late, when he was very hungry. He sat down to eat, and was lifting a morsel to his mouth, when suddenly he remembered his vow. Immediately he put down the morsel, and went into the temple of the Jina with the food-offering. As he was entering, he saw a great lion with a mouth terrible with teeth. Then the ploughman said to himself: 'How can I
* Bhaktam, probably boiled rice