Linked Discourses 11.23

Chapter Three

The Sambari Sorcery

At Sāvatthī.

The Buddha said this:

“Once upon a time, mendicants, Vepacitti, lord of titans, was sick, suffering, gravely ill.

So Sakka went to see him to ask after his illness.

Vepacitti saw Sakka coming off in the distance,

and said to him,

‘Heal me, lord of gods!’

‘Teach me, Vepacitti, the Sambari sorcery.’

‘I can’t do that, good fellow, until I have consulted with the titans.’

Then Vepacitti, lord of titans, asked the titans,

‘Good fellows, may I teach the Sambari sorcery to Sakka, lord of gods?’

‘Do not, good fellow, teach the Sambari sorcery to Sakka!’

So Vepacitti addressed Sakka in verse:

‘O Maghavā, O Sakka,

king of gods, Sujā’s husband:

a sorceror like Sambara falls

into the terrible hell for a full century.’”