BURLINGAME. — BUDDHAGHOSa's DHAMMAPADA COMMENTARY. 543 



and proclaimed Vidudabha king. That night Pasenadi died, and 

 when the news was brought to Vidudabha, the latter ordered the 

 funeral rites to be performed. (355-6) 



Vidudabha remembered the oath he had sworn against the Sakyans, 

 and set out with a large force, intending to kill them all. The Teacher, 

 aware of the impending destruction of his kinsmen, seated himself 

 under a small tree near Kapilavatthu. Vidudabha was surprised to 

 see him there, and said to him, " Why do you sit here rather than 

 under the great banyan tree that grows in my kingdom 1 " " The 

 shade of my kinsmen refreshes me," replied the Teacher. Then 

 Vidudabha knew that the Teacher had gone there to protect his 

 kinsmen, and immediately returned to Savatthi. The Teacher rose 

 and returned to Jetavana. Three times this happened. Then the 

 Teacher, realizing that his kinsmen must needs be slain through the 

 effect of the evil deed they committed in a previous existence when 

 they threw poison into the water, went no more to the tree. So 

 Vidudabha went forth to slay his enemies. The Sakyans, as kinsmen 

 of the Buddha, were unwilling to kill any of their enemies, and there- 

 fore made only a show of resistence, with the result that Vidudabha 

 destroyed them utterly, and washed his bench with their blood. 

 (357-9) 



Mahanama, rather than eat with Vidudabha, attempted suicide ; 

 but such was the effect of the merit he had accumulated, that he 

 was translated to the palace of the Nagas, where he remained for 

 twelve years. Vidudabha searched for him in vain, and then set out 

 on his return journey. At nightfall Vidudabha pitched his camp in 

 the bed of the river Aciravati ; during the night a violent storm arose, 

 the river bed was filled with a raging torrent, and Vidudabha and his 

 retinue perished in the waters. (359-360) 



When the monks referred to the destruction of the Sakyans, the 

 Teacher told them that it was the effect of their throwing poison into 

 the river in a previous existence. When they commented on the fact 

 that Vidudabha was swept away in the height of his glory the Teacher 

 pronounced Stanza 47, establishing many in the Fruits. (360-362) 



Book IV. Story 4. Patipujika. 



• ILLUSTRATING STANZA 5 = 48. 



Once upon a time, while the god Malabhari was amusing himself in 

 the company of a thousand celestial nymphs in the Garden of the 

 Thirty-three, one of the nymphs fell from that existence, and was 

 reborn in a noble family of Savatthi. Remembering her former es- 



