Višnja Grabovac gave an interesting talk connected to this topic at last year's International Vedic Workshop: "Notes on Indra or Śakra in Buddhist texts"
Here's the abstract from the Programme (http://www.iuc.hr/IucAdmin/Server/downloads/7IVWProgrammeandAbstracts.pdf):
"Indra, one of the most prominent Vedic deities, is found in Buddhist texts as well. Commonly known as Sakka in Pāli and Śakra in Sanskrit Buddhist texts, this deity exhibits some different qualities than ones attributed to him in Vedic or later Brahmanical texts, though there are other features that clearly connect Indra and Buddhist Sakka/ Śakra. On the whole, the role of Indra or Śakra in Buddhism bears witness to the stage in the history of Hinduism in which new cults of Viṣṇu and Śiva did not as yet overshadow the cult of Indra, just as is the case in the older layers of the Sanskrit epics too, and it is still a form of the Vedic religion that Buddhism is addressing as its counterpart. With the focus on the mahāvastu, a work preserved in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit and belonging to Lokottaravāda subsect of the mahāsāṅghikas, the intention of the paper will be to present the role of Śakra in the biographical episodes of gautama Buddha and contained jātakas, to isolate his epithets, and to highlight some instances which complicate the understanding of the relationship between Indra and Śakra in the mahāvastu."
Best,
D. Haas
While not directly concerned with this jātaka, you might find this essay by Anālayo informative, esp. fn. 4.The trend seems to be, according to those sources, a domestication of Sakka from the fearsome Indra, slayer of the dragon Vṛtra in the Ṛg Veda, to a docile devotee of the Buddha. However, Buddhaghosa identified Sakka with Vajrapāṇi, the fearsome protector of the Dharma, who pummels those who threaten or bad-mouth the Dharma. So apparently even as late as Buddhaghosa's day (ca. 5th c CE), the 'terrible' form of Indra was still resonant with how Buddhists viewed Sakka/Śakra.best,Dan
On Mar 22, 2020, at 12:14 PM, Rolf Heinrich Koch via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
_______________________________________________Dear Listmembers,
the Sambulā-Jātaka (519) is illustrated at a monastery Sri Lanka. Sambulā takes care of her leprosy husband Sotthisena in the forest. A demon falls in love and tries to catch her but Śakra rescues her. The corresponding mural depicts Śakra as a terrible being holding a club in his hands. The Pali Jātaka provides no description of a disguised Śakra but in the Sinhalese Sambulā-Jātaka we can read, that Śakra saves Sambulā in the disguise of a terrible being (...Sakdevraja bhayānaka vēṣayak geṇa ...). I suppose this is recorded in a source of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-Vinaya tradition, written in Sanskrit or Tibetan.
Anyone of you came across a similar version of this story, where Śakra saves Sambulā in a terrible disguise?
Thank you
HeinerRolf Heinrich Koch
-- www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com
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