Kalandakanivāpa
Kalandakanivāpa:A woodland in Veluvana.
Here food (nivāpa) was regularly placed for the squirrels.It is said that once a certain raja went there for a picnic and,having over-drunk,fell asleep.His retinue,seeing him sleeping,wandered away,looking for flowers and fruits.A snake,attracted by the smell of liquor,approached the king from a neighbouring tree-trunk,and would have bitten him had not a tree-sprite,assuming the form of a squirrel,awakened him by her chirping.In gratitude the rājā gave orders that thenceforth the squirrels in that locality should be fed regularly.UdA.60; SnA.ii.419.
According to some,it was the gift of a merchant named Kalandaka (Beal:Romantic Legend,p.315); Tibetan sources identify the rājā withBimbisāra and say that the snake was a reincarnation of the owner whose land the king had confiscated.According to these same sources the name is Kalantaka and is described as the name of a bird (Rockhill:op.cit.,p.43).
Kalandakanivāpa was evidently a favourite resort of theBuddha and his monks.