Setaketujātaka untranslated

Setaketujātaka (Ja 377). The Bodhisatta was once a far-famed teacher, with five hundred pupils, chief among whom was Setaketu, an Udicca Brahmin, who prided himself on his high caste. One day, meeting a Caṇḍāla, Setaketu told him to pass on his leeward side, but the Caṇḍāla refused, challenging Setaketu to answer a question. Setaketu accepted the challenge, and he was asked what were the four “quarters.” Setaketu gave the usual answer, whereupon the Caṇḍāla forced him between his feet. When this was reported to the teacher, he told Setaketu that the four quarters were parents, teachers, generous householders, and deliverance from misery. Later, Setaketu left for Takkasilā, and, after finishing his studies there, went to Benares with five hundred ascetics. There they practised false penances and won the king’s approval; the king’s chaplain, however, warned him against them, saying that they possessed only false knowledge and had no morality. The chaplain persuaded Setaketu and his followers to become laymen and enter the king’s service.

The story was related in the same circumstances as the Uddālajātaka (q.v.). Setaketu is identified with the false priest, the Caṇḍāla with Sāriputta, and the king’s chaplain with the Bodhisatta. Ja.iii.232-7.