Illīsa untranslated

Illīsa. A seṭṭhi of Rājagaha. At the opening of the story the king of Benares is mentioned, but it is to Rājagaha that Sakka comes (see p.350), so Rājagaha was evidently Illīsa’s residence.

He was lame and hunch-backed and also had a squint. He was an infidel and a miser, never giving away any of his wealth nor enjoying it himself.

For seven generations his ancestors had been generous, but Illīsa burnt down the almonry and drove away the poor from his house.

Once, at the sight of a yokel drinking, with a piece of dried fish as a relish, Illīsa was sorely tempted to drink himself. For a long time he fought the temptation, but he sickened with longing, and having sent a slave with a single penny to the tavern, he got some toddy; he ordered the slave to put the jar of spirits in a thicket by the riverside so that he might drink unseen.

Meanwhile Illīsa’s father, who had been born as Sakka, having learnt, as a result of investigations, that his son had become a miser, came down to earth to wean him from his folly. Assuming in every detail the form of Illīsa, he entered the king’s palace and offered all the wealth of Illīsa to the king. On the offer being refused, he went to Illīsa’s house and gave orders to the servants to throw open all the treasure chambers and give the wealth to the poor. The servants took the disguised Sakka to be Illīsa himself, and Illīsa’s wife, believing her husband’s sudden generosity to be due to his drunkenness, acquiesced in the instructions.

Among those who profited by this unexpected good fortune was a countryman who had been Illīsa’s carriage-driver. Filling the carriage with seven things of value, he set out along the road, passing by the thicket wherein Illīsa lay drinking. The man was singing Illīsa’s praises, and at mention of his name Illīsa came out, and seeing the man going away with his belongings tried to stop him. But the man, not recognising him, knocked him down and went on his way. Illīsa hurried home but was turned out of his house by the porters, and at length he sought the king. The king, having heard his story, made enquiries and discovered the existence of two Illīsas, alike in every respect, down to the minutest detail, even to a wart on the head.

Not even Illīsa’s wife and children, not even his barber, could distinguish him from the second Illīsa.

Bereft of all hope, Illīsa swoons, Sakka reveals himself and tells Illīsa that the wealth is really his and not Illīsa’s, the latter not having earned it. He urges Illīsa to do good and practise generosity, or he would die, smitten by Indra’s thunderbolt.

Illīsa, taking heed of the warning, becomes a virtuous man (Ja.i.349ff).