sn.11.23 Saṁyutta Nikāya (Linked Discourses)

The Sambari Sorcery

At Sāvatthī.
The Buddha said this:
“Once upon a time, mendicants, Vepacitti, lord of demons, 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 sir, until I have consulted with the demons.’
Then Vepacitti, lord of demons, asked the demons,
‘Good sirs, may I teach the Sambari sorcery to Sakka, lord of gods?’
‘Do not, good sir, teach the Sambari sorcery to Sakka!’
So Vepacitti addressed Sakka in verse:
‘O Maghavā, O Sakka,
king of gods, Sujā’s husband,
a sorceror falls into the terrible hell—
like Sambara, for a hundred years.’”