Part 4: Kamaṭha’s second incarnation

Now, Kamaṭha, unappeased by the murder of Marubhūti, not being made to speak by the guru, blamed by the other ascetics, died, engaged in especially painful meditation; he became a kukkuṭa-serpent^[1] and roamed, destroying creatures like a winged Yama. One day as he roamed he saw the Marubhūti-elephant drinking pure water heated by the sun’s rays in a pool. He happened to be mired in mud at that time and was unable to get out because of his emaciation from penance and he was bitten on the boss by the kukkuṭa-serpent. Knowing his own death (at hand) from the stream of the poison, the elephant rejected the four kinds of food, engaged in concentrated meditation.