Ja 127 The Story about the Slave Kalaṇḍuka
(Kalaṇḍukajātaka)
In the present a monk lies about his family, fortune and fame, until he is discovered. The Buddha tells a story of a past life, in which the same person, then called Kalaṇḍuka, had cheated his master’s friends and married into their family, putting on airs and graces, until his master discovered it and dragged him back to servitude (full story).
1. Te desā tāni vatthūni ahañ-ca vanagocaro,
Anuvicca kho taṁ gaṇheyyuṁ, piva khīraṁ Kalaṇḍukā ti.
Your district and your property, whose domain is the woods, I know, after enquiry you will be taken, drink your milk, Kalaṇḍuka.
In this connection, your district and your property, is said concerning your mother’s womb. This is the intention here: where you dwell is not the birth-place This word kucchidesa, and in the next line kucchivatthu only occur here, and are hard to interpret. Because of the context I think they must mean something like birthplace, and inheritance. of this noble woman and so on. Where you live and were established is not the inheritance of this noble woman and so on. But you live and were established in a slave’s womb.
I, whose domain is the woods, know, I, who am an animal, know this matter, this is the explanation.
After enquiry you will be taken, so going and living in a wrong way, being informed, after enquiry, after knowing, after being beaten by the master, and branded, you will be taken, and after taking, they will go, therefore, knowing your own true measure, after wiping the saliva from the head of the merchant’s daughter, drink your milk.