The Bodhisatta was once chaplain to King Brahmadatta. While the king was absent, quelling a frontier rebellion, his queen sinned with all the messengers sent by the king to inquire after her welfare. On the day of the king’s return, the chaplain, while decorating the palace, entered the queen’s apartments, and she asked him to satisfy her lust. When he refused the queen (feigning illness) charged him with having ill-treated her. Thereupon the king ordered that the chaplain be beheaded, but the latter begged to be brought before the king, where he protested his innocence and proved, by the testimony of the king’s messengers, the queen’s wickedness. The king wished to put to death the queen and all the messengers, but the chaplain interceded on their behalf and they were pardoned. He himself retired to the Himavā, where he became an ascetic.

The story was told in reference to the attempt of Ciñcā-māṇavikā to bring calumny upon the Buddha. The queen is identified with Ciñcā and the king with Ānanda. J.i.437 ff.