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Kosiya Jātaka (No.130, 226, 470)

1. Kosiya Jātaka (No.130).– A brahmin of Bārāṇasī had a bad wife who lay in bed by day feigning sickness and spent her nights in enjoyment. The husband worked hard to supply her with dainties, and, in consequence, could not visit his teacher who was the Bodhisatta. When the latter discovered the truth, he advised the brahmin to prepare a mess of cow-dung and other things and to insist that his wife should either swallow this medicine or get up and work. She then knew that her shamming was discovered and abandoned her evil ways.

The story was told to a brahmin of Sāvatthi, a pious follower of the Buddha, whose wife behaved in a similar way. The Buddha told him this story of the past and asked him to try the same remedy, for, he said, the brahmin and his wife were identical with the couple of the story (J.i.463 f).

In the story of the past the woman is addressed as “Kosiyā.” The scholiast (J.i.465) adds that she belonged to the Kosiya-gotta.

2. Kosiya Jātaka (No.226).– The king of Bārāṇasī, making war at an unseasonable time while camping in the park, saw an owl (kosiya) being attacked by crows. The king asked his minister the reason for this; the minister, being the Bodhisatta, said the owl had left his hiding-place too early — that is, before sunset.

The story was told to Pasenadi, who visited Jetavana on his way to quell a border uprising; the time was unsuitable for such an enterprise. J.ii.208 f.

3. Kosiya Jātaka (No.470).– Given under the Sudhābhojana Jātaka.