Pv 7Eater of Seven Sons

– PETAVATTHU

– THE SNAKE CHAPTER

1.7

BJT 35"Who are you, standing here, naked, ugly in form, foul-smelling, reeking of stench, and surrounded by flies?"

BJT 36"Venerable sir, I am a female peta who has fallen, belonging to the Yama realm. Having done evil deeds, from here I have gone to the world of petas.

BJT 37Having given birth to seven sons in the evening, and seven more in the morning, I ate them, yet they were still not enough for me.

BJT 38My heart is scorched and smouldering from hunger. I am tormented as if burned by fire; I find no relief."

BJT 39"Then what evil deed was done, by body, by speech, by mind? By the ripened fruit of what karma do you eat the flesh of your sons?"

BJT 40"I had two sons, both of whom had reached the age of youth. Having gained the added strength of those sons, I here had contempt for my husband.

BJT 41Because of that, my husband in anger brought home another wife. And she became pregnant; I then devised a wicked plan against her.

BJT 42With a malicious mind, I here caused her to miscarry. Her fetus of three months was aborted, with foul-smelling blood.

BJT 43Then her mother, enraged at me, gathered the relatives together. She made me swear an oath and had people rebuke me.

BJT 44I here uttered a terrible oath, which was a lie: 'If this was done by me, then may I eat the flesh of my sons.'

BJT 45By the ripened fruit of both — of that deed and of the false speech — I eat the flesh of my sons; I am defiled by blood and pus."

The story of the Peta Who Ate Her Seven Sons is the seventh.