Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c31.2574

v2.c31.2574

Mātaṅga Jātaka (No. 497).—The Bodhisatta was once born in a Caṇḍāla village outside Benares and was named Mātaṅga. One day, when Diṭṭhamaṅgalikā, the daughter of a rich merchant, was on her way to the park with a group of friends, she saw Mātaṅga coming towards the city, and thinking the sight inauspicious, washed her eyes with perfumed water and turned back home. Her companions, annoyed at being deprived of their fun, beat Mātaṅga and left him senseless. On recovering consciousness, he determined to get Diṭṭhamaṅgalikā as wife and lay down outside her father's house refusing to move. Seven days he lay thus until her relations, fearing the ignominy of having a caṇḍāla die at their door, gave Diṭṭhamaṅgalikā to him as wife.