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Jātaka Stories of Past Lives 21

Ekakanipāta The Book of the Ones

Kuruṅgavagga The Four-horned Antelope

1. Kuruṅgamigajātaka The Four-horned Antelope: a past life story

“Ñātametaṁ kuruṅgassa, The four-horned antelope knows that A wary antelope spots a hunter hiding in a tree and seeks elsewhere for fruit. | The kuruṅga is the four-horned antelope (Sanskrit kuraṅga; Tetracerus quadricornis). The Mṛgapakṣiśāstra says they are short and red, with branched horns and wide eyes. They often graze grass and are shrewd and patient.

yaṁ tvaṁ sepaṇṇi siyyasi; it’s you who tosses fruit from the beechwood tree. The sepaṇṇi is the beechwood or gamhar (Gmelina arborea), a Sanskrit name of which is śriparṇi, “blessed leaf”. It has edible fruit and grows to a height of 30 metres.

Aññaṁ sepaṇṇi gacchāmi, I’ll go to another beechwood,

na me te ruccate phalan”ti. I don’t like your fruit.

Kuruṅgamigajātakaṁ paṭhamaṁ.
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