1838.] Pali Buddhistkal Annals. 803 



" Thereupon the brahmans, returning to their homes and assembling their s<5ns, 

 thus addressed them. ' We are advanced in years : it is doubtful whether we shall, 

 or shall not, witness the attainment of the state of Buddhohood of the son of maha 

 raja Suddho'dano. Do ye, however, when he attains the state of omniscience, 

 having previously entered the sacerdotal order, also become members of his frater- 

 nity.' Thereafter seven of them, in due course of nature, were disposed of accord- 

 ing to their deserts (by death). The youth Kondanno alone (survived) free from 

 all maladies. 



" On hearing however, the aforesaid prediction, the said raja thus interrogated 

 them: ' By what manifestation is it, that ye will be able to ascertain when my son 

 will become a minister of religion ?' ' On his beholding the four predictive signs,' 

 (ptibbanimitfdni.) 'What! what are they ?' (asked the king impatiently). 'The 

 decaying,' * the diseased,' ' the dead' and ' the ordained person.' 



" Among the eighty thousand allied tribes who assembled on the day (of conferring 

 the name) each undertook to devote a son (to the prince) saying : ' Whether he be- 

 comes a Buddho or a king, we will each assign him a youth. Should he become a 

 Buddho, attended by a retinue of royal disciples, he will perform his pilgrimage ; 

 and should he become a monarch, still surrounded by a suite of princes, he will 

 fulfil his destiny.' 



" Thereafter the raja assigned to this great personage wet nurses of surpassing 

 personal beauty, and free from all bodily infirmity ; and the great elect grew up in 

 the midst of sumptuous splendour, attended by a great suite ; (but secluded from all 

 other worldly intercourse in order that he might not meet the aforesaid predictive 

 signs ) 



" Subsequently, on a certain occasion, the raja had to celebrate the sowing festi- 

 val. On that day, the raja departed for this sowing festival, clad in splendour and 

 attended by a magnificent cortege. He took into his own hand the golden plough 

 of the illustrious festival. The officers of state and others used silver and other de- 

 scriptions of ploughs. On such a day, a thousand ploughs are prepared. The wet 

 nurses attendant on the Buddho elect (who formed with their charge a part of this 

 suite), saying among themselves ' let us also witness the magnificence of our sove- 

 reign' — came out from within the curtain that screened them. The elect then looking 

 in all directions, and not perceiving any one, quickly rising and seating himself 

 upright in his canopy, indulged in the dnap&nasati meditation ; and acquired the 

 patamajjhinan. The wet-nurses delayed a short while and partook of food and 

 beverage, and the shadows cast by the other trees past off in another direction : 

 but the shadow of the tree (under which the elect was) remained stedfast in a cir- 

 cular form. His wet-nurses, exclaiming: ' is not our lord's son quite alone ?' rushed 

 in abruptly ; and on raising the curtain, and beholding the miracle of witnessing 

 him seated in his royal canopy, they reported the circumstance to the raja. The 

 king, quickly approaching, bowed down to him, saying, ' Beloved ! this is my second 

 act of reverence to thee.' 



"Thereafter, in due course, this great personage, acquired the age of sixteen, 

 and the raja built for him three palaces adapted for the three seasons. The Rammd, 

 Surammd and Subhd, one of nine, another of seven, and the other of five stories. 

 The edifices nevertheless were of the same height, but the stories were constructed 

 on different plans. 



" The raja then thus thought, ' my son is come of age ; raising him to the sove- 

 reignty, let me behold his regal prosperity,' and dispatched leaves (dispatches) to 

 the Sakya princes, announcing 'my son is of age : I am causing him to be installed 

 in the sovereignty. Let them all send, from their own homes, their grown-up 

 daughters to this house.' Those princes on hearing that message, replied ' Although 



