• Mejjha

A king and his country. The sixteen thousand brahmins who had enjoyed the patronage of Mandavya (q.v.), after they had lost caste through having eaten the leavings of Mātanga, went to live in Meghiyarattha, and Mātanga himself proceeded thither that he might humble their pride. The brahmins saw him and reported to the king that Mātanga was a juggler and a mountebank. The king, therefore, sent messengers to seize him. They found him sitting on a bench eating, and, approaching him from behind, struck him dead with their swords. The gods were enraged, and pouring down hot ashes on the kingdom utterly destroyed it (J.iv.388f; MA.ii.613ff). The country became a wilderness known as Mejjhārañña (E.g., M.i.378; J. v.114, 267; Mil.130).

The scene of the Vighāsa Jātaka is said to have been in Mejjhārañña (J.iii.310). The wilderness was also known as Mātangārañña, being connected with Mātanga. MA.ii.615.