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JÄtaka Stories of Past Lives 41
EkakanipÄta The Book of the Ones
AtthakÄmavagga Wanting to Help
1. LosakajÄtaka About Losaka: a past life story
āYo atthakÄmassa hitÄnukampino, One who does not follow advice when instructed After an act of jealousy toward an arahant in a distant past life, so the story goes, Mittakaās bad character, as much as his bad kamma, resulted in a series of extravagant tragedies over many lives.
OvajjamÄno na karoti sÄsanaį¹; by an ally who desires their good,
AjiyÄ pÄdamolamba, grieves like Mittaka Mittaka is called Mittavindaka in the past life story and Losaka Tissa in the story of the present. The name Losaka, otherwise unattested in Pali, is a patronymic stemming from LuÅa DhÄnÄka of Rig Veda 10.35 and 10.36.
Mittako viya socatÄ«āti. hanging off a goatās foot. The details of how he came to be hanging off a goatās foot are absurd and too complex to relate here. The events collate several stories of the archetypal scapegoat type, subsuming this ancient mythic and ritual idea under the doctrine of kamma. In such cases, absurdity is used for humorous effect, but it also draws on the surreal and fantastical narratives that swirl around the Vedic ritual. The story likely began as an explanation for a detail of Vedic sacrifice.
LosakajÄtakaį¹ paį¹hamaį¹.