Sāketa Jātaka

1. Sāketa Jātaka (No. 68). Once, when the Buddha visited Sāketa, an old brahmin met him at the gate and fell at his feet, calling him his son, and took him home to see his "mother" -  the brahmin's wife -  and his "brothers and sisters" -  the brahmin's family. There the Buddha and his monks were entertained to a meal, at the end of which the Buddha preached the Jarā Sutta. Both the brahmin and his wife became Sakadāgāmins.

When the Buddha returned to Añjanavana, the monks asked him what the brahmin had meant by calling him his son. The Buddha told them how the brahmin had been his father in five hundred successive past births, his uncle in a like number, and his grandfather in another five hundred. The brahmin's wife had similarly been his mother, his aunt, and his grandmother. J.i.308f; cf. DhA.iii.317f.; SNA.ii.532f.

2. Sāketa Jātaka (No. 237). The story of the present is the same as in Jātaka (1) above. When the Buddha returned to the monastery he was asked how the brahmin had recognized him. He explained how' in those who have loved in previous lives, love springs afresh, like lotus in the pond. J.i.234f

Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, G P Malalasekera (1899-1973), which is available as printed version from