the four months of the rainy season in the rains-palace, ministered to by bands of female musicians 1; and not once did he come down (from the upper terrace) into the mansion.'

1. 'Now the young lord Vipassi, brethren, when many years, many centuries, many thousands of years had passed by 2, bade his charioteer make ready the state carriages, saying:-"Get ready the carriages, good charioteer, and let us go through the park to inspect the pleasaunce." "Yea, my lord," replied the charioteer, and harnessed the state carriages and sent word to Vipassi :-"The carriages are ready, my lord; do now what you deem to be fit." Then Vipassi mounted a state carriage, and drove out in state into the park.

2. Now the young lord Vipassi saw, brethren, as he was driving to the park, [22] an aged man as bent as a roof gable, decrepit, leaning on a staff, tottering as he walked, afflicted and long past his prime. And seeing him Vipassi said :-"That man, good charioteer, what has he done, that his hair is not like that of other men, nor his body?"

"He is what is called an aged man, my lord.”

1 Nippurisehi turiyehi. Both words are ambiguous. Childers, following B. R., who follow Wilson, renders turiya by musical instrument. It is very doubtful whether it ever means that. Music, or orchestra, seems to be required in such passages as I have noted. Nippurisa (only found as yet in this connexion) may be non-human (that is, fairy), or not male. See D. II, 171; M. I, 571; A. I, 145; Vin. I, 15; II, 180; J. I, 58, and Senart's note at Mahâvastu III, 486. The alternative rendering would therefore be 'fairy music.' But the commentator evidently takes the words in the meaning given above.

2 The legendary age of humans at the time of Vipassi was 80,000 years, so that we may reckon 1000 of his years as one of ours. When this legend is afterwards related of Gotama Buddha (in the Nidânakathâ), he is said to have reached his majority (sixteen years) when the drives begin.

1 Ca

"But why is he called aged?"

""He is called aged, my lord, because he has at much longer to live.", called an in inmate.

"But then, good charioteer, am I too subject to old age, one who has not got past old age?"

"You, my lord, and we too, we all are of a kind to grow old, we have not got past old age."

"Why then, good charioteer, enough of the park for to-day! Drive me back hence to my rooms'.'

"Yea, my lord," answered the charioteer, and drove him back. And he, brethren, going to his rooms sat brooding sorrowful and depressed, thinking:Shame then verily be upon this thing called birth, since to one born old age shows itself like that! "Sfic anticnly.

3. Thereupon Bandhuman râja, brethren, sent for the charioteer and asked him :-"Well, good charioteer, did the boy take pleasure in the park? was he pleased with it?"

"No, my lord, he was not."

re

"What then did he see on his drive?'

[23] '[And the charioteer told the râja all.]

4. Then the râja, brethren, thought thus:

We

must not have Vipassi declining to rule. We must not have him going forth from the House into the Homeless state. We must not let what the brahmin soothsayers spoke of come true.

So, that these things might not come to pass, he let the youth be still more surrounded by sensuous pleasures. And thus Vipassi continued to live amidst the pleasures of sense.

5. Now after many years, many centuries, many thousands of years had passed by, the young lord Vipassi, brethren, again bade his charioteer make ready, and drove forth as once before 2.

6. [24] ‘And Vipassi, brethren, (saw as he was driving

Antepuram, or harem. Tradition adds that he 'dismissed his womenfolk, and sat alone in his bedchamber, pierced in heart by this first dart.'

2 Text repeats in full as in § 1.

to ! "fall

677

to the park, a sick man, (suffering and very ill, fallen and weltering in his own water, by some being lifted up, by others being dressed. Seeing this, Vipassi asked, "That man, good charioteer, what has he done that his eyes are not like others' eyes, nor his voice like the voice of other men?"

"He is what is called ill, my lord."

"But what is meant by ill'?"

"It means, my lord, that he will hardly recover from his illness.'

But am I too then, good charioteer, subject to fall ill; have not I got out of reach of illness?" "You, my lord, and we too, we all are subject to fall ill, we have not got beyond the reach of illness."

6.66

Why then, good charioteer, enough of the park for to-day! Drive me back hence to my rooms." "Yea, my lord," answered the charioteer, and drove him back. And he, brethren, going to his rooms sat brooding sorrowful and depressed, thinking:-"Shame then verily be upon this thing called birth, since to one born decay shows itself like that, disease shows itself like that.' fis on the..

7. Thereupon Bandhuman râja, brethren, sent for the charioteer and asked him:-"Well, good charioteer, did the young lord take pleasure in the park) and was he pleased with it?

"No, my lord, he was not.'

"What did he see then on his drive?"

'[And the charioteer told the râja all.]

8. [25] Then the râja, brethren, thought thus :— "We must not have Vipassi declining to rule; we must not have him going forth from the House to the Homeless state; we must not let what the brahmin soothsayers spoke of come true."

So, that these things might not come to pass, he (let the young man be still more abundantly surrounded by sensuous pleasures. And thus Vipassi continued to live amidst the pleasures of sense.

9. Now once again after many years. . . the young lord Vipassi... drove forth.

D. ii. 27.

10. And he saw, brethren, as he was driving to the park, a great concourse of people clad in garments of different colours constructing a funeral pyre. And seeing them he asked his charioteer :-" Why now are all those people come together in garments of different colours, and making that pile?"

[26] "It is because some one, my lord, has ended his days."

"Then drive the carriage close to him who has ended his days.' you the fing and age "Yea, my lord," answered the charioteer, and did so. And Vipassi saw the corpse of him who had ended his days and asked:-"What, good charioteer, is ending one's days?"

It means, my lord, (that neither mother, nor father, nor other kinsfolk will see him any more) nor will he ever again see them."

got

"But am I too then subject to death, have I not beyond the reach of death? Will neither the râja, nor the ranee, nor any other of my kin see me more, or I ever again see them?

You, my lord and we too, we all are subject to death, we have not passed beyond the reach of death. Neither the râja, nor the ranee, nor any other of your kin would see you any more, nor would you ever again see them."

الداء

"Why then, good charioteer, (enough of the park up) for to-day! Drive me back hence to my rooms."

"Yea, my lord," replied the charioteer, and drove him back.

'And he, brethren, going to his rooms, sat brooding sorrowful and depressed, thinking "Shame then verily be upon this thing called birth, since to one born the decay of life, since disease, since death shows itself like that!"

11-12. Thereupon Bandhuman râja, brethren, [questioned the charioteer as before [27], and as before let Vipassi be still more surrounded by sensuous enjoyments]. And thus Vipassi continued to live amidst the pleasures of sense.

He has a divine voice like the karavîka-bird's 1.

His eyes are intensely blue,

He has the eyelashes of a cow 3.

it it with

to End Between the eyebrows appears a hairy mole, white and like soft cotton down.

His [18] head is like a royal turban 1.

This too counts to him as one of the marks of a Great

A Man 5.

33. "Endowed, my lord, as is this babe with these two-and-thirty marks of the Great Man, two careers and none other are open to him. . ." [as above, § 31]... Thereupon Bandhuman the râja, brethren, let the brahmin soothsayers be invested with new robes and gratified their every desire

34. And Bandhuman the râja, brethren, engaged nurses for the babe Vipassi. Some suckled him, some washed him, some nursed him, some carried him about on their hip. And a white canopy was held over him day and night, for it was commanded :-"Let not cold or heat or straws or dust or dew annoy him!" And the boy Vipassi, brethren, became the darling and the beloved of the people, [20] even as a blue or red or white lotus is dear to and beloved of all, so that he was literally carried about from lap to lap.

35. And when the boy Vipassi was born, brethren, he had a lovely voice, well modulated and sweet and

1 According to Childers, the Indian cuckoo. The Great Man's voice is very clear and pure-toned, neither worn nor broken nor harsh. Cy. Yoga-culture is to-day held to yield, as one result, a pleasant musical voice.

3

2 Like flax-blossom. Cy. Perhaps a tradition of Aryan origin. Completely surrounding the eyes, thick like a black cow's; bright and soft like a new-born red calf's. Cy.

Unhîsa-sîso. This expression, says the Cy., refers to the fullness either of the forehead or of the cranium. In either case the rounded highly-developed appearance is meant, giving to the unadorned head the decorative dignified effect of a crested turban, and the smooth symmetry of a water-bubble.

"In the text this refrain occurs after the naming of each mark.

• Literally by hip to hip; women passing him from arm to arm, men from one shoulder to another, explains the Cy.