Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c12.482

v1.c12.482

2. Kaṇha Jātaka (No. 440).—The story of Kaṇha-tāpasa. He was the only son of a brahmin in Benares and inherited great wealth; he was educated at Takkasilā. When his parents died he gave away all his wealth and retired to the Himālaya, where he practised rigid asceticism, never entering a village, eating the produce of only one tree, and living not even in a hut. He acquired great mystic powers, and Sakka’s throne was heated by his virtue. Sakka visited him and, having tested him and asked him various questions, granted him six boons. The ascetic chose only such things as pertained to the life of renunciation. Sakka decreed that the tree under which the ascetic lived should bear fruit perennially.