18 JOURNAL R, A. g. (CEYLON). [Vol. ill, 



office.* Thus, according to Hindu writers, when he saw that 

 Nara and Narayana had devoted themselves to ascetic exer- 

 cises, he was greatly alarmed, and sent Kama * love,' and 

 Vasanta ' spring,' with the nymphs of heaven, to inflame the 

 sages with passion, and thus end their penance. He however 

 failed ir^ his attempts* ; for Narayana, inviting the tempt- 

 ers with much civility, created out of a flower-stalk placed 

 on his thigh, a nymph, the superiority of whose charms 

 covered the Apsarasas of heaven with shame, and induced 

 them to return to Indra, with the newly-created goddess as a 

 present.f Numerous instances of this jealousy and treachery 

 towards men, are also related in the Buddhistical annals. In 

 the legend of Lomasa Kdsyapa, Sakra is represented in the* 

 character of the devil, tempting the Rishi to commit a forbid- 

 den sin, from which he was only deterred by the power of a 

 miracle. But, where he apprehended no danger to himself 

 from the superior merits of others, he appears as their guard- 

 ian, benefactor, and friend. Numerous also are the in- 

 stances in which he is said to have helped Gautama, (when 

 Bodhisat) out of difficulty and misfortune. Thus, when 

 Gautama was a squirrel, and lost his young ones, Sakra 

 caused them to be found ; when Yess mtara, he prevented 

 the king's being deprived of his " help-mate," and nourished 

 his children on the top of a tree ; when Guttila, he taught 

 the minstrel to defeat his ungrateful pupil ; when Gautama 

 became Buddha, and overcame Mara, he shouted forth his 

 hallelujahs throughout the universe. In his last moments 

 the " Mahavansa" relates, Buddha placed Lanka under the 

 protection of Sakra : (see " Mahavansa'' p. 47 ;) and when 

 Gautama died, Sakra sang a hymn, consoling himself under 

 the reflection, that " All living beings relinquish their ex- 

 istence in this world, and that in like manner the Teacher of 

 the world, the incomparable, the being of felicitious advent 

 and of power, the supreme Buddha also dies \ n 



* See Pr. Monier William's Sakuntald, p. 7, notes. 

 f Hindu Plays, by Pr. H. H. Wilson. 



