Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c36.4788

v2.c36.4788

Sūkara Jātaka (No. 153).—The Bodhisatta was a lion living in a mountain cave; on the banks of a lake nearby lived many boars, and in the neighbourhood were some hermits. One day the lion, having eaten some game, went to the lake to drink; but after he had drunk, seeing a boar which he did not wish to frighten away, having the idea of eating it when food should be scarce, he slunk away. The boar saw this, and, thinking that the lion was afraid of him, challenged him to a fight. The lion agreed to fight a week later. The boar was overjoyed, and told his relations of this. But they all frightened him and advised him to spend the next seven days rolling in the hermits' dunghill. When the dirt was dry, he was to moisten his body with dew and go to the meeting-place early, standing well to windward. This he did, and when the lion arrived and smelt the filth, the boar was allowed to go away uninjured.