Vaṇṇupathajātaka
“Untiring, deep they dug.”—This discourse was delivered by the Blessed One whilst he was dwelling at Savatthi.
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral
1.1PTS 1.109“Akilāsuno vaṇṇupathe khaṇantā,Digging untiringly in a sandy waste,1.2Udaṅgaṇe tattha papaṁ avinduṁ;there at the underground stream he found water.11.3Evaṁ munī viriyabalūpapanno,In the same way, a sage with strength aroused1.4Akilāsu vinde hadayassa santin”ti.untiringly finds the peace of the heart.
2.1Vaṇṇupathajātakaṁ dutiyaṁ.
Resolve udaṅgaṇa as uda (“water”) and aṅgaṇa, from a root sense of “going”, from where we find the Sanskrit sense of “passage” (against the commentary, which says uda is a mere particle). In the prose story, the Bodhisatta, lost with his caravan in the desert, hears water rushing underground and urges a young man to dig.
