Maṅgalajātaka draft

Maṅgalajātaka (Ja 87). The Bodhisatta was once an Udicca Brahmin who, having entered the ascetic life, lived in Himavā. He one day visited Rājagaha, and the king invited him to stay in the Royal Park. While he was there, a Brahmin who believed in omens as shown by clothes (Dussalakkhaṇa Brāhmaṇa) found a garment in his chest which had been gnawed by mice, and, fearing disaster, wished to have it thrown out into the charnel ground. Unwilling to entrust the job to anyone else, he gave the clothes to his son to throw away. The Bodhisatta saw the garment and picked it up in spite of the grave warnings of the old Brahmin, saying that no wise man should believe in omens.

The story was told in reference to a superstitious Brahmin of Rājagaha who had his clothes thrown away in the manner related above. The Buddha was waiting in the charnel field and picked up the garments. When the Brahmin protested, he related to him the story and preached to him on the folly of paying heed to superstitions. At the end of the sermon, father and son became Sotāpannas. The characters in both stories are the same. (Ja.i.371ff.)