Tag Archives: The Ascetic And The Dead Elephant
25. The Ascetic And The Dead Elephant
Once upon a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was Sakka. A wealthy Brahmin, living in Benares, left the world, and became an ascetic in the Himalaya, living by picking up roots and fruits in the forest. One day, searching for wild fruits, he saw an elephant-calf, and took it to his hermitage; he made as if it were his own son, calling it Somadatta, and tended it with food of grass and leaves.
