A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t3.146

v2.c19.s6.t3.146

No. 36 is the legend of Maitrakanyaka, a version of the Pāli Jātaka of Mittavindaka. But in this case the story takes quite a different turn from the Pāli version, owing to the fact that the Bodhisattva is the hero. Here, too, he goes to hell as a punishment for having offended his mother, and a glowing iron wheel revolves on his head. But while he suffers the dreadful torments, and it is foretold to him that he will have to bear the wheel for 66,000 years, until another shall come who has committed a similar sin, he feels pity for the creatures, and in order that nobody else shall have to suffer the same pains, he determines to bear the wheel on his own head for all eternity. In consequence of this merciful thought, the wheel vanishes from his head.¹