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IV, 2, 19.
PIRIT.
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put her into a box, and swallowing it, carried her about in his stomach. And how a Vidyâdhara 1 entered his mouth, and played games with his wife. And how the Dânava when he became aware of it, vomited up the box, and opened it, and the moment he did so the Vidyadhara escaped whither he would ? ?'
'Yes, I have heard that. The fame of it too has gone throughout the world.'
"Well, did not the Vidyadhara escape capture by the power of Pirit?'
· Yes, that was so.'
*Then there must be power in Pirit. And have you heard of that other Vidyadhara who got into the harem of the king of Benares, and committed adultery with the chief queen, and was caught, and then became invisible, and got away?' • Yes, I heard that story.'
Well, did not he too escape capture by the power of Pirit?'
Yes, Sir.' Then, O king, there must be power in Pirit.' 19. Venerable Nâgasena, is Pirit a protection to everybody ?'
· They are a kind of genii, with magical powers, who are attendants on the god Siva (and therefore, of course, enemies of the Dânavas). They are not mentioned in the Pitakas.
? I don't know where this story comes from. It is not in the Pitakas anywhere. But Hinat-kumburê gives the fairy tale at full length, and in the course of it calls the Vidyâdharas by name Wâyassa-putra, 'Son of the Wind. He quotes also a gâthâ which he places, not in the mouth of the Bodisat, but of Buddha himself. I cannot find the tale either in the Gataka book, as far as published by Professor Fausböll, or in the Katha Sarit Sagara, though I have looked all through both.
s See last note.
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