head, and the clod of earth that was upon it split into seven fragments; and the Rishi, thus escaping his dreadful doom, crossed, as he had been told, to the opposite side of the tank, and fled away.'

When the sun rose, and the light again appeared, all the people of the country were greatly rejoiced.

Para Taken, at the close of the story, said, "Beloved Rahans, the people whom I have mentioned in my story, and who lived long ago, are this day among us. The King is now Ananda, the Rishi Devala is this Rahan Tissa, the Rishi Narada is myself the Para; you see, then, that this is not the first time that this Tissa has been obstinate and deaf to admonition; his obstinacy was quite as great in times that have long gone by." Then he called Tissa to him, and said, "Rahans should never bear a grudge against any man, saying 'this man was angry with me, this one oppressed me, or this one took away my property,' for in this way hatred is fostered; but they should bear no grudge, and should say 'let him do this to me' or 'let him say that to me,' for in this manner all angry feelings die away."

When Para Taken had finished this discourse, a hundred thousand Rahans obtained the reward of Sotapatti, and Tissa, so obstinate before, became docile and gentle.

1

END OF THE STORY OF TISSA-THERA.

This story bears a curious resemblance to the "Leech of Folkestone" in the Ingoldsby Legends,' where exactly the same expedient is adopted to evade the effects of witchcraft.

CHAPTER IV.

THE STORY OF KULLAKALA AND MAHAKALA.

AT another time, while Parā Taken was living in the ebony forest near the city of Setavya, he preached a discourse about Kullakāla and Mahākāla. These, Kullakāla and Mahākāla, used to travel about with carts laden with merchandise, and trade in the different places they came to. On one occasion they reached the Savatthi country with 500 carts full of goods, and rested midway between the city of Savatthi and the Getavana monastery. Mahākāla, seeing the people of the country carrying sweet-scented flowers to the monastery, asked them whither they were going; and on being told that they were on their road to the monastery to hear the law preached, he resolved to accompany them; and, giving over all the property to the care of his younger brother Kullakāla, he provided himself with sweet-scented flowers, and, following the crowd, came into the presence of Para Taken, and heard his exposition of the law, regarding the vileness of lust and the rewards to be obtained hereafter by Rahans. At the conclusion of the discourse, Mahākāla begged Parā Taken to make him a Rahan. Parā Taken told him that if there was any one whose leave

he ought first to ask, he should go and obtain his permission. Accordingly Mahākāla went to his younger brother, and told him that he was about to become a Rahan, and that he gave up to him the whole of their joint property. His brother endeavoured earnestly to dissuade him from his project, but seeing that he was not to be deterred, he at last gave way, and accorded his permission. Mahākāla then returned to Para Taken, and became a Rahan. Some time afterwards Kullakāla also, in company with his elder brother, practised the duties of a Rahan.

Mahākāla, when he had reached the stage of a Pañkanga, addressed Para Taken thus: "Lord and master, in your church how many religious duties are there?" Para Taken replied, "There are two: viz., Gandhadhura and Vipassanadhūra." Mahākāla said, "Lord and master, I entered the priesthood at too advanced an age to acquire the Gandhadhūra; give me the Vipassanādhūra." Para Taken, seeing that Mahākāla would become a Rahanda, gave him the duty of Susana,1 which has the power of conducting to the state of a Rahanda.

Mahākāla having thoroughly acquired the Susana duty, when the evening watch was passed, and every one was asleep, went to the burial-place, and remained there engaged in this observance; at daybreak, before any one was stirring, he returned to the monastery. This practice he continued every day.

One day, the woman who watched the cemetery and burned the bodies, seeing the Rahan Mahākāla walk

1 Susana means a cemetery, where bodies are either buried or burnt.

ing to and fro repeating the Kammaṭṭhāna,1 began to consider who it could be who came to her place, and accordingly meeting him at the midnight watch, she addressed him thus: "Lord and master, the Rahans who perform Susana have a preparatory duty to execute." Mahākāla said, "Darakāma, what duty is this?"—"Lord and master," replied the woman, "they should ask the permission of the keeper of the burial ground and the owner of the village."—" Why so ?" said Mahākāla. "Because thieves, when they have committed a robbery, often flee for refuge to a burial-ground; and the owners of the property pursuing them thither, finding the property sometimes abandoned in the graveyard, if they saw Rahans there, would ill-treat them seriously; but if the burial-ground keepers and the owners of villages were to say that such a Rahan had asked permission of them, he would be known to be guiltless." The Rahan Mahākāla then said to her, "Besides what you have already said, have you anything else to tell me?" She replied, "Lord and master, the Rahans who remain in burial-grounds must abstain from fish, curry stuff, bread, oil, and treacle, and they must never sleep in the daytime. They must employ themselves energetically, and by means of these energetic efforts in the repetition of the Vipassana, they secure the completion of a Rahan's duties." Mahākāla said to her, "How are the funeral rites performed to the corpses which are brought here?" She replied, "My lord

Forty short sentences.

2 Dārakā (masc.) and Dārakāma (fem.) are titles used by the priests when addressing the laity; the meaning is, supporter of the priesthood.

and master, rich people are placed in a coffin, adorned with a red woollen cloth, and then burnt; with regard to poor people, a heap of wood is piled up and set on fire, then they are cut in pieces with the edge of a spade, so as to burn easily, and are so consumed." When Mahākāla heard this, he said to the burial-ground keeper, "Tagāma,1 let me know when the changing of the form of a human body shall take place, that I may recite a Kammatthana over it." The woman agreed to do so, and Mahākāla remained engaged in the Rahan's duty of Susana.

About this time, Mahākāla, the Rahan, having worldly thoughts, began to regret his family, his wife and children. One day, while he was performing his dutics in the burial-ground, the parents of a very beautiful girl who had died suddenly brought the body, together with the necessary firewood, to the cemetery, and, delivering it to the burial-ground keeper, gave instructions for her to burn it; then, after giving her the customary fee, they went away. The body-burner, on removing the numerous garments which covered the body, seeing how very beautiful she was, thought that she was worthy of having a Kammatṭhāna said over her, and accordingly went and told Mahākāla. Mahākāla looked at the corpse on the pyre, and examined it from the soles of the fect to the ends of the hair; then he said a Kammatthāna over the body, which had the beautiful colour of gold, and withdrew, saying to the body-burner, "Let me know when the features are becoming destroyed." The body-burner, as soon as the features were chang

1 Tāgā (masc.) and Tagāma (fem.) are used in the same way as Dārakā, and mean a man or woman of the laity.