Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c21.130

v1.c21.130

**Taṇḍulanāli Jātaka** (No. 5).—Once the Bodhisatta was appraiser to the king of Benares, with whom he always dealt fairly. The king was greedy, and thinking that his appraiser paid too much for things bought for the palace, he appointed in his place a rustic, whom he happened to see passing. This man fixed prices according to his own fancy. One day a dealer brought five hundred horses from **Uttarāpatha**, and the appraiser valued the whole lot at a single measure of rice. The horse-dealer sought the Bodhisatta's advice, who suggested that the appraiser should be asked to value a measure of rice. The horse-dealer went to the king, and, in the presence of the court, asked the appraiser the value of one measure of rice. The man replied that it was worth all Benares and its suburbs. The ministers laughed, thus putting the king to shame. He dismissed the fool and reinstated the Bodhisatta.