Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c30.640

v2.c30.640

Some time later, while father and son were wandering about in the forest, having returned from stalking deer, they met a brahmin called Ālambāyana, who possessed a Nāga jewel. He was a poor man of Benares who had fled into the forest to escape his creditors. There he had met an ascetic, Kosiya, to whom a Garuḍa king had taught the Ālambāyana spell which was potent to tame Nāgas. The Garuḍa had torn up a banyan-tree which shaded the ascetic’s walk. A Nāga, which the Garuḍa had seized, coiled itself round the tree, but the Garuḍa carried the tree with the Nāga on it. When he discovered that he had done the ascetic an injury in pulling up the tree, he felt repentant and taught the ascetic the Ālambāyana spell by way of atonement. The ascetic, in turn, taught it to the poor brahmin, hoping it would help him. The brahmin, now called Ālambāyana, left the ascetic and, while wandering about, came across some Nāgas, carrying Bhūridatta’s jewel. They heard him recite the spell and fled in terror, leaving behind them the jewel, which he picked up.