Tribes in Ancient India c14.17

c14.17

The Buddhist Jātakas refer more than once to King Uśīnara.⁵ For instance, in one Jātaka we read that there once reigned a king named Uśīnara. His people were wicked and followed unrighteousness. During his reign, the religion of the Buddha began to disappear. Sakka (Sakra) observed the miserable plight of the people, due to the decadence of the religion of the Buddha. He turned the god Mātali, his charioteer, into the shape of a huge black hound and entered the city with him. The people were terrified by the loud barking of the hound. Sakka said that it was hungry; but even when all the food in the city was given to the hound, it did not stop barking. The king said that it must be a goblin, not a hound. Sakka then explained that he had come with the hound to revive the religion of the Buddha, and thus to establish the people in the virtues of liberality.⁶