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the treasure to his own house, and having lasted as long as his 

 time was to last, giving gifts and doing other acts of merit, at the 

 end of life he departed to fill a place in heaven. 



This religious discourse the teacher made on the words, " This 

 is not the first time, mendicant, that you have been obstinate ; for- 

 merly, too, you were obstinate, and by your obstinacy came to great 

 destruction and then he summed up the birth-story thus : " At 

 that time the Brahman Vedabbha was the obstinate mendicant, and 

 the pupil was I myself." 



(End of " Vedabbha" Birth-story.) 



49.— NAKKHATTA-JA'TAKA. 

 The Lucky Day.* 



" While the star-gazing Fool" fyc. 

 This the teacher told while residing in Jetavana on occasion of 

 a certain Hindu astrologer. It is said that a respectable man in 

 the country had secured for his son the daughter of a family in 

 Savatthi, and had fixed the day, saying " On such a day we will 

 comef for her." When the day came he asked the family astro- 

 loger : " Sir, we are going to hold a festival to-day ; is it a lucky 

 day (auspicuous constellation) ?" The other was angry, and said 

 to himself, " This man has fixed the day without asking me first, 

 now he comes and asks ! Never mind, I will teach him a lesson." 

 So he replied : " To-day is an inauspicious conjunction ; don't 

 hold your festival to-day ; if you do, it will be very disastrous." 

 The people of that family, relying on the astrologer, did not go 

 that day. The city people, who had made all preparations for the 

 festival, finding them not come, said : 4 'They fixed to-day, but 

 they are not come. We have gone to great expense ; what have 

 we to do with them ? We will give our daughter to some one 

 else," and so with the festival (preparations) as they were, they 

 gave their daughter to another man. The others came next day 

 and said, " G-ive us your daughter." Then the Savatthi people 

 abused them, and said : " You country people are a sinful folk ; 

 you fix a day, but you care nothing for that, and don't come ; go 



* Nakkhattam means " a constellation or lunar asterism," "a special conjunc- 

 tion" (as in 48), " a lucky day," " a festival," " a day of rejoicing." Meanwhile 

 its name puns with Attho, which means " luck," " cause," " meaning," and a 

 thousand other things. Hence this stanza- is untranslateable. It is a really witty 

 jingle. 



f " Ganhissamiti" B. would read " ganhissama 'ti," in accordance with idiom 

 throughout the story. 



