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JÄtaka Stories of Past Lives 12
EkakanipÄta The Book of the Ones
SÄ«lavagga Ethics
2. NigrodhamigajÄtaka The Deer Named Banyan: a past life story
āNigrodhameva seveyya, Befriend only Banyan, The king was a meat-lover who hunted deer each day. The deer made a pact to offer one from each herd by lot. When the lot fell on a pregnant doe in Branchās herd, that wicked deer-king insisted she give herself up, but Banyan intervened and went himself. Seeing the noble deer-kingās self-sacrifice, the king spared his life, the lives of all deer, and even the lives of the fishes and birds. | This JÄtaka was analyzed by T.W. Rhys Davids in his Buddhist India, who pointed out that it is an instance where the verse is unintelligible without the story. The story is illustrated on the stupa at Barhut.
na sÄkhamupasaį¹vase; stay away from Branch.
Nigrodhasmiį¹ mataį¹ seyyo, Better is death with Banyan
yaƱce sÄkhasmi jÄ«vitanāti. than life with Branch.
NigrodhamigajÄtakaį¹ dutiyaį¹.