eS 5 
1923. | Identification of Four Jatakas at Bharaut. 351 
C. ‘* Miga samadaka chetiya.”’ 
‘* Dear and Lions eating together Chetiya.”’ (?)! 
H. ‘ Miga-samadaka(m) chetaya.”’ 
‘*The chaitya which gladdens the antelopes.” ? 
The sculpture itself is thus described by Cunningham : 
“In the middle of the bas-reliefs there is a tree. which must 
be the Chaitya mentioned in the label. Seated around are 
be e e eee 
It is difficult to ascertain whether the two up-lifted 
anima] heads to the left of the six deer around the tree in 
the middle of the bas-reliefs are those of two lions, or of two 
tigers, or of a lion and a tiger. But it seems certain that the 
sculpture under discussion depicts the scene of a Buddhist 
version of a story known as Vyaggha-Jataka (No. 272). The 
story relates that the Bodhisat was once born as a tree-spirit 
in a grassy woodland. Not far away was a flowerless big tree 
where another spirit took his abode. In that grassy woodland 
lions and tigers lived, killing and devouring the deer, who 
found there a pleasant feeding-ground. In fear of the lions 
and tigers men did not venture to enter the woodland. But. 
the woodland became so full of offensive smell that it was 
unfit for a spirit to dwell in. Seeing that the lions and tigers 
were the cause of such a state of things, the spirit living afar 
conceived a plan to drive them away and actually did so in 
Spite of the Bodhisat’s wise counsel that such a hasty step 
Should not be taken, as that would ultimately serve to drive 
also themselves away. Now, as the woodland was no longer 
Visited by the lions and tigers, men came in great numbers to 
cut down the trees and clear the jungles, with the result that 
the abodes of the tree-spirits themselves lay open to’ danger. 
The spirit who acted so rashly tried to avert the danger by 
bringing back the lions and tigers who flatly declined to 
return. Within a few days the trees were cut down and the 
jungles cleared up, compelling the spirits to shift elsewhere. 
Here closes the commentary or later prose version of the 
story. The supplication of the spirit asking the animals 
driven away to come back is embodied in a verse, quote 
from the Canonical Jataka-Book. The verse itself contains 
follows a prose version : 
Now coming back to the inscription, it wou 
ld seem that 
! The Stipa of Bharhut, p 13]. At pa 
reading—‘< Migasa i hy ny tiya ” : 
? LA, Vol. XXI, p. 228. As regards chetaya, Hultzsch says that a 1s 
& clerical mistake for i. 
’ Stipa of Bharhnt, p. 94. 
* Fausbdil’s Jataka, IT, p. 358 :— ; ae 
ha vyaggha nivattavho paccametna mah ave ’ : 
Ma vanam chindi nivyaggham, vyaggh4 ma hesu nibband tt. 
ge 94, we have another 

