Note 1010 — Chapter XXXVIII · ROD NOT EMPLOYED IN SPITE OF CLOSE INTERCOURSE WITH EGYPT— REASONS SUGGESTED FOR ABSENCE

At the beginning of the world (Buddha tells the Monk of Jetavana) all the fishes chose Leviathan for their King. No hint as to what fish this Leviathan represented is given us: but the Leviathan conceived by the Talmudists seems to have been an indefinable sea-monster, of which the female lay coiled round the earth till God, fearing that her progeny might destroy the new globe, killed her and salted her flesh and put it away for the banquet which at the end awaits the pious of the earth. On that day Gabriel will kill the male also, and make a tent out of his skin for the Elect who are bidden to the banquet (Robinson, op. cit., p. 8). As Robinson is somewhat misleading, especially as regards the word Leviathan, I give the story as told by Buddha with reference to Anqulimāta from Jātaka, nv. 537, vol. V. p. 462. A certain king had been a Yakkha, and still wanted to eat human flesh. His commander-in-chief tells him a tale to warn him. “Once upon a time there were great fishes in the Ocean. One of them, Ānanda, was made king of all the fish, ate the other fish, and finally ate his own tail thinking it was a fish. The remaining fish smelling blood, devoured Ānanda’s tail until they reached his head, and all that was left of Ānanda was a heap of bones.” Leviathan is a gloss of Robinson’s, because the only word in the text which could in any degree correspond to Leviathan is Mahā Maccho = great fish. For the election of a King of fish, see also the Naĉĉa Jātaka, and the Ubrīda Jātaka.