citta_sambhuuta_jat

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Citta-Sambhūta Jātaka (No.498)

The Bodhisatta was once born as a Caṇḍāla in Ujjeni in the kingdom of Avanti. He was called Citta and his brother Sambhūta. One day, when they were out sweeping, two rich women on their way to the park noticed them and turned back. Their followers, disappointed at their loss of a picnic, beat the two Caṇḍālas.

Then the brothers went to Takkasilā to study. Citta became very proficient, and was sent one day, in place of his teacher, to the house of a villager who had invited the teacher and his pupils. However, while there, in a moment of forgetfulness, the brothers used the Caṇḍāla dialect, and having thus disclosed their caste, were driven out of Takkāsilā.

In their next birth they became does and in a subsequent birth ospreys. They were always together and always met their death together. Later Citta was born as the son of the chaplain of Kosambī, and Sambhūta as son of the king of Uttarapañcāla. Citta, becoming an ascetic at the age of sixteen, remembered his past births. He waited till Sambhūta had reigned for fifty years, and knowing that he also had some recollection of his previous existences, taught a stanza to a lad and sent him to recite it before the king. Sambhūta heard the stanza, remembered his brother, and, after inquiry, visited Citta, who had then gone to the royal park. There Citta gave him counsel, and not long after Sambhūta renounced the world. After death they were both born in the Brahma world.

Ānanda is identified with Sambhūta. The story was told in reference to two monks, colleagues of Mahā-Kassapa, who were greatly devoted to each other. J.iv.390-401.

Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names • G.P. Malalasekera