120 
[No. 2, 
Sarat Chandra Das —Life of Nagarjuna. 
took vows o£ meeting a common lot, i. e., to live and die together. Nagar¬ 
juna being a saint, no messenger of death ever ventured to approach him. 
The friends therefore attained to unusual longevity, during which time the 
king witnessed successively the death of his many wives, children and grand¬ 
children. In his old age the king got a son who alone fortunately survived 
him. Once the mother of this prince (named in Tibetan Zon-nu-den-chye, i. e., 
“ the throat-cutting young prince”) prepared a handsome robe which she de¬ 
sired him to wear. The prince did not use it, saying, that he would use the 
robe when he became a king. The mother, with a deep sigh, exclaimed— 
“Son, how vain is that hope ! Thickest thou, my darling, that the king 
thy father will ever die. He has obtained immunity from death, which awaits 
all mortal beings but himself.” The prince replied,—“ Mother, must I not 
rule as a king since I am born as a prince ? Live or die, I shall be a 
king.” Seeing the son’s resolution, the mother revealed to him the secret 
of her husband’s death and said,—“ Go and beg Nagarjuna’s head, and that 
shall quicken thy succession to the throne.” The prince accordingly 
went oft at once in search of Nagarjuna and found him on the top of 
Sriparvata. Approaching the venerable Sham ana, he asked him to present 
him with his head. Nagarjuna, knowing what brought him there, con- 
sented. 
The prince tried several strokes of his sword to cut the saint’s throat, 
but in vain. Nagarjuna, seeing the ignorance of the prince, shewed him 
the secret which could effect the cutting off of his head, by saying,—“ Prince, 
hundreds of such swords would not sever my head from the body, but go 
and bring that husa grass, which alone will effect it.” In one of his 
former births Nagarjuna is said to have killed a worm by cutting its 
throat with a husa grass. On account of the inevitable consequences 
of Karma in this life, that very worm was born as the prince who severed 
his head from his trunk with the Jcusa grass. At the time of death 
Nagarjuna told the prince that he would rise again in a future time and 
his head would again be one with his body. As the prince was carrying off 
the head, it was snatched away by a Yaksha who threw it to a distance of 
five miles, where the saint’s remains turned to stone. It is mentioned in the 
Book of Prophecies that the head is now in the course of drawing every day 
nearer the trunk to effect its junction. Verily it may be said of Nagarjuna 
that when the junction takes place, the city of Gaya will be blown up by 
Gayasura or the demon of Gaya. It is said that Nagarjuna will again 
appear in India, and live one hundred years, to teach the sacred Dliarma to 
men and gods. 
