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Maccha Jātaka (No.34, 75, 216)

1. Maccha Jātaka (No.34).– Some fishermen once cast their net into a river, and a great fish, swimming along, playing amorously with his wife, was caught in the net, while his wife escaped. The fishermen hauled him up and left him on the sand while they proceeded to light a fire and whittle a spit whereon to roast him. The fish lamented, saying how unhappy his wife would be, thinking he had gone off with another. The Bodhisatta, who was the king’s priest, coming along to the river to bathe, heard the lament of the fish and obtained his freedom from the fishermen.

The story was related to a passion-tossed monk who longed for the wife of his lay days. The two fish were the monk and his seducer. J.i.210‑12.

2. Maccha Jātaka (No.75).– Once the Bodhisatta was born as a fish in a pond; there was a great drought, the crops withered, and water gave out in tanks and ponds and there was great distress. Seeing this, the Bodhisatta approached Pajjunna, god of rain, and made an Act of Truth, begging for rain. The request succeeded, and heavy rain fell.

The story was told in reference to a great drought in Kosala. Even the pond by the gate of Jetavana was dry, and the Buddha, touched by the universal suffering, resolved to obtain rain. On his way back from his almsround, he sent Ānanda to fetch the robe in which he bathed. As he was putting this on, Sakka’s throne was heated, and he ordered Pajjunna to send rain. The god filled himself with clouds, and then bending his face and mouth, deluged all Kosala with torrents of rain. The Pajjunna of the earlier story is identified with Ānanda. J.i.329‑32; cp. Cyp.iii.10.

3. Maccha Jātaka (No.216).– The story very much resembles Maccha Jātaka (1). J.ii.178 f.