Dighanikaya 24.7_4

24.7_4

Kālakañcikāti tesaṃ asurānaṃ nāmaṃ. Tesaṃ kira tigāvuto attabhāvo appamaṃsalohito purāṇapaṇṇasadiso kakkaṭakānaṃ viya akkhīni nikkhamitvā matthake tiṭṭhanti, mukhaṃ sūcipāsakasadisaṃ matthakasmiṃyeva hoti, tena oṇamitvā gocaraṃ gaṇhanti. Bīraṇatthambaketi bīraṇatiṇatthambo tasmiṃ susāne atthi, tasmā taṃ bīraṇatthambakanti vuccati.

“Kālakañjikas” (kālakañcikā) is the name of those asuras. Their bodies, it is said, are three gāvutas [in height], with little flesh and blood, like withered leaves. Their eyes, like those of crabs, stick out and stand on top of their heads; their mouths, like the eye of a needle, are on the very top of their heads, and bending down with that, they take their food. “In the Bīraṇatthambaka” (bīraṇatthambake): there is a clump of bīraṇa grass in that charnel ground; therefore, it is called Bīraṇatthambaka.