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Niḷinikā Jātaka (No.526)

v.l. Naḷinikā, Nalini Jātaka.– The Bodhisatta was once an ascetic in Himavā. A doe drank water in which his semen had fallen and conceived a son, whom he adopted and named Isisiṅga.

Isisiṅga was a sage of such austerity that Sakka trembled at his power. In order to destroy his virtue, Sakka caused a drought in Kasī, lasting three years. When the inhabitants complained to the king, Sakka appeared before him and suggested that if the king’s daughter, Niḷinikā, would seduce Isisiṅga and destroy his virtue, rain would fall. Niḷinikā was, accordingly, sent to the Himavā and arrived in Isisiṅga’s hut dressed in the ascetic’s garb, when the Bodhisatta was absent. Pretending to have been wounded by a bear, she played on the simplicity of the guileless young man (much as Venus did on that of Adonis). Through her seductions his virtue was overcome and his mystic meditation broken off.

Delighted with the outcome of his plot, Sakka caused rain to fall on Kasī, and Niḷinikā left the hermitage. When the Bodhisatta returned and heard of the visit of the youthful ascetic and of all that followed, he admonished Isisiṅga and warned him for the future. The story was told in reference to a monk who was seduced by the wife of his worldly days. Isisiṅga is identified with the monk and Niḷinikā with his wife. (J.v.193‑209. It is probably a variation of the same story that is found in Mtu.iii.143 ff).