E. H., P. 41.

[2] This is told so as to make us think that he was in danger of being drowned; but this does not appear in the only other account of the incident I have met with, - in "The Life of the Buddha," p. 31.

And he was not yet Buddha, though he is here called so; unless indeed the narrative is confused, and the incidents do not follow in the order of time.

[3] An incident similar to this is told, with many additions, in Hardy's M. B., pp. 166-168; "The Life of the Buddha," p. 30; and the "Buddhist Birth Stories," pp. 91, 92; but the name of the ministering girl or girls is different. I take Gramika from a note in Beal's revised version; it seems to me a happy solution of the difficulty caused by the {.} {.} of Fa-hien.

[4] Called "the tree of leaves," and "the tree of reflection;" a palm tree, the /borassus flabellifera/, described as a tree which never loses its leaves. It is often confounded with the pippala. E. H., p. 92.

[5] The kusa grass, mentioned in a previous note.

[6] See the account of this contest with Mara in M. B., pp. 171-179, and "Buddhist Birth Stories," pp. 96-101.

[7] See chap. xiii, note 7.

[8] Called also Maha, or the Great Muchilinda. Eitel says: "A naga king, the tutelary deity of a lake near which Sakyamuni once sat for seven days absorbed in meditation, whilst the king guarded him." The account (p. 35) in "The Life of the Buddha" is: - "Buddha went to where lived the naga king Muchilinda, and he, wishing to preserve him from the sun and rain, wrapped his body seven times round him, and spread out his hood over his head; and there he remained seven days in thought." So also the Nidana Katha, in "Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 109.

[9] This was Brahma himself, though "king" is omitted. What he requested of the Buddha was that he would begin the preaching of his Law. Nidana Katha, p. 111.

[10] See chap. xii, note 10.

[11] The other accounts mention only two; but in M. B., p. 182, and the Nidana Katha, p. 110, these two have 500 well-laden waggons with them.

[12] These must not be confounded with Mahakasyapa of chap. xvi, note 17. They were three brothers, Uruvilva, Gaya, and Nadi-Kasyapa, up to this time holders of "erroneous" views, having 500, 300, and 200 disciples respectively. They became distinguished followers of Sakyamuni; and are - each of them - to become Buddha by-and-by. See the Nidana Katha, pp. 114, 115.

[13] This seems to be the meaning; but I do not wonder that some understand the sentence of the benevolence of the monkish population to the travellers.

CHAPTER XXXII

LEGEND OF KING ASOKA IN A FORMER BIRTH, AND HIS NARAKA.

When king Asoka, in a former birth,[1] was a little boy and played on the road, he met Kasyapa Buddha walking. (The stranger) begged food, and the boy pleasantly took a handful of earth and gave it to him. The Buddha took the earth, and returned it to the ground on which he was walking; but because of this (the boy) received the recompense of becoming a king of the iron wheel,[2] to rule over Jambudvipa. (Once) when he was making a judicial tour of inspection through Jambudvipa, he saw, between the iron circuit of the two hills, a naraka[3] for the punishment of wicked men. Having thereupon asked his ministers what sort of a thing it was, they replied, "It belongs to Yama,[4] king of demons, for punishing wicked people." The king thought within himself: - "(Even) the king of demons is able to make a naraka in which to deal with wicked men; why should not I, who am the lord of men, make a naraka in which to deal with wicked men?" He forthwith asked his ministers who could make for him a naraka and preside over the punishment of wicked people in it. They replied that it was only a man of extreme wickedness who could make it; and the king thereupon sent officers to seek everywhere for (such) a bad man; and they saw by the side of a pond a man tall and strong, with a black countenance, yellow hair, and green eyes, hooking up the fish with his feet, while he called to him birds and beasts, and, when they came, then shot and killed them, so that not one escaped. Having got this man, they took him to the king, who secretly charged him, "You must make a square enclosure with high walls. Plant in it all kinds of flowers and fruits; make good ponds in it for bathing; make it grand and imposing in every way, so that men shall look to it with thirsting desire; make its gates strong and sure; and when any one enters, instantly seize him and punish him as a sinner, not allowing him to get out. Even if I should enter, punish me as a sinner in the same way, and do not let me go. I now appoint you master of that naraka."

Soon after this a bhikshu, pursuing his regular course of begging his food, entered the gate (of the place). When the lictors of the naraka saw him, they were about to subject him to their tortures; but he, frightened, begged them to allow him a moment in which to eat his midday meal. Immediately after, there came in another man, whom they thrust into a mortar and pounded till a red froth overflowed. As the bhikshu looked on, there came to him the thought of the impermanence, the painful suffering and insanity of this body, and how it is but as a bubble and as foam; and instantly he attained to Arhatship. Immediately after, the lictors seized him, and threw him into a caldron of boiling water.

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