800 Tali Buddhislical Annals. [Sept. 



princess Ma'ya': she is destined to be my mother.' And on inquiring how long 

 she had yet to live, he found that was only ten months nnd seven days. 



" Having thus meditated on the five principal points, he signified his acquiescence 

 in the prayer of the dewatd in those words. ' Blessed ! the time has arrived for my 

 assuming Buddhohood ;' adding ' do ye depart,' he sent away those dewatd ; and 

 attended by the dewatd of Tusitapum, he entered the Nandana grove in Tusitapura. 



" In all the Deivaloka, there is, most certainly, a Nandana grove (in each) wherein 

 dewatd, hover about, thus invoking (such of the dewatd as are about to die) : ' by 

 meditating on the reward of thy former acts of piety, when translated from hence 

 by death, may ye attain a happy destiny.' He (the Buddho elect) in like manner 

 surrounded by the dfaoatd who were calling his former acts of piety to his recollec- 

 tion, while wandering there, expired ; and was conceived in the womb of the great 

 Ma'ya', under the asterism of Uttrdsalhd. At the instant of this great personage 

 being conceived in the womb of his mother, the whole of the ten thousand Chakka- 

 waldni simultaneously quaked, and thirty -two miraculous indications were manifest- 

 ed. For the protection as well of the Buddho elect, who had been thus conceived, 

 as of his mother, four dewatds with sword in hand, mounted guard. 



" Unto the mother of the elect carnal passion was extinguished : she became ex- 

 alted by the gift vouchsafed to her. Enjoying the most perfect health, and free 

 from fainting fits, (usual in pregnancy) she was endowed with the power of seeing 

 the elect in her womb, as it were a thread which is past through a transparent 

 gem. 



•' A womb in which a Buddho elect has reposed is as the sanctuary (in which the 

 relic is enshrined) in a chetiyo. No human beiug can again occupy it, or use it. On 

 that account the mother of a Buddho elect, dying on the seventh day after the birth 

 of the elect, is regenerated in Tusitapura. Other women give birth to their offspring, 

 some before the completion of ten months, and some after their completion, seated 

 or lying down. With the mother of a Buddho elect, it is not so. She is delivered, 

 after having cherished the elect in her womb for precisely ten months. Such is the 

 peculiarity of the mother of a Buddho elect. 



" The great princess Ma'ya' having cherished the elect ten months in her womb, 

 in her pregnant state, longing to repair to the city of her own family, thus applied to 

 the raja Suddhodano' (her husband) ' Lord ! I long to repair to the city of Dewa- 

 dahd.' The raja signifying his consent by saying ' sadhu,' and ordering the road to 

 be smoothened from Kapilapura to Dewadahanagardn, and to be decorated with 

 arches of plantain trees and areca flowers, and with foot cloths, &c. ; and placing 

 the queen in a newly gilt palanquin, with great splendour and prestige, dispatch- 

 ed her. 



" Between those two cities there is a hall of recreation situated in the Subini wil- 

 derness, resorted to by the inhabitants of both cities. At this time, the whole of 

 the forest trees, from the stem to the top of the branches, were covered with blos- 

 som. On beholding this blooming forest, resembling the Nandana grove of the 

 dewatd, ringing with the melody of the sweet-toned Kdkila, which enchant the 

 senses, from amidst the branches and clustering fruit of the forest, like unto the 

 chants of the celestial songstresses, the queen became desirous of besporting in that 

 wilderness. The officers of state having reported (this wish) to the raja, (by his 

 command) escorting the queen, they entered the wilderness. She, repairing to the 

 foot of the sal tree, at which sports are usually held, was seized with the desire to 

 lay hold of a branch of that tree, which was straight, smooth, round, and garnished 

 with blossom, fruit and young sprouts. That branch, as if powerless, yet gifted 

 with compassion, bending down of its own accord, placed itself near the palm of her 

 baud. She then laid hold of that branch with her beauteous hand, which was re 



