#27. Mātṛpoṣaka.

Cave No. 17

Identification: Oldenburg (1895, narrative no. 8).—

A hunter told the king about an extraordinarily beautiful elephant he had spotted in the forest. Royal orders were issued to catch the elephant and train him. Hunters caught him and soon presented him to the king, who himself tended to the splendid-looking elephant. Surprisingly however, the elephant starved himself, grieving over his separation from his parents, who were alone in the forest. The king was moved by his filial loyalty and set the elephant free. The elephant trudged back to the forest and found his mother near the lotus pond, blind. He sprayed a trunkful of water over her and

—Source: Singh 2019, 31-33; Schlingloff 2013, I, 124

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