| J.466 |
Samuddavaanija Jaataka |
Once one thousand carpenters, unable to meet their debts, built a ship and sailed
away until they came across a fertile island. There they found a castaway from whom
they learned that the island was safe and fertile. They stayed there and as time
went on, grew fat and began to drink toddy made of sugar cane. The deities, incensed
because the island was being fouled with their excrement, decided to send up a wave
and drown them all. A friendly deity, wishing to save them, gave them advance warning,
but another cruel deity advised them to pay no heed to her words. Five hundred of
the families led by a wise man, built a ship in which they placed all their belongings
in case the warning should prove true. No harm would be done should it prove false.
The others led by a fool, laughed at them. At the end of the dark fortnight, the
sea rose. The five hundred wise families escaped and the others drowned. The story
was told in reference to 500 families who were born in hell as a result of following
Devadatta. |
60/130 |
Jaataka |
Khuddhaka |
J.iv.158ff. |
discerning the wise |