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BUDDHA
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BUDDHA . According to the Buddhist theory (see See also:BUDDHISM), a " Buddha " appears from See also:time to time in the See also:world and preaches the true See also:doctrine. After a certain See also:lapse of time this teaching is corrupted and lost, and is not restored till a new Buddha appears. In See also:Europe, Buddha is used to designate the last See also:historical Buddha, whose See also:family name was Gotama, and who was the son of Suddhodana, one of the chiefs of the tribe of the Sakiyas, one of the republican clans then still existent in See also:India.
We are accustomed to find the legendary and the miraculous gathering, like a See also:halo, around the See also:early See also:history of religious leaders, until the sober truth runs the See also:risk of being altogether neglected for the glittering and edifying falsehood. The Buddha has not escaped the See also:fate which has befallen the founders of other religions; and as See also:late as the See also:year 1854 See also:Professor See also: The first figure, that of the date of Asoka, is arrived at by the mention in one of his edicts of certain See also:Greek See also:kings, as then living. The See also:dates of these last are approximately known; and arguing from these dates the date of Asoka's accession has been fixed by various scholars (at dates varying only by a difference of five years more or less) at about 270 B.C. The second figure, the See also:total interval between Asoka's accession and the Buddha's death, is given in the See also:Ceylon See also:Chronicles as 218 years. Adding these two together, the date of the Buddha's death would be 488 B.c., and, as he was eighty years old at the time of his death, the date of his birth would be 568 B.c. The dates for his death and birth accepted in See also:Burma, See also:Siam and Ceylon are about See also:half a century earlier, namely, 543 and 623 B.C., the difference being in the elate of Asoka's accession. It will be seen that the dates as adopted in Europe are approximate only, and liable to correction if better data are obtainable. The details of this See also:chronological question are discussed at length in Professor Rhys Davids' See also:Ancient Coins and See also:Measures of Ceylon (London, 1877), where the previous discussions are referred to. 11 religions, and still survives even in See also:England.' The inspiriting See also:wars against the enemies of the Aryan See also:people, the infidel deniers of the Aryan gods, had given See also:place to a See also:succession of internecine feuds between the chiefs of neighbouring clans. In literature an age of poets had long since made way for an age of commentators and grammarians, who thought that the old poems must have been the See also:work of gods. But the darkest See also:period was succeeded by the See also:dawn of a See also:reformation; travelling logicians were willing to maintain these against all the world; whilst here and there ascetics strove to raise themselves above the gods, and hermits earnestly sought for some satisfactory See also:solution of the mysteries of life. These were the teachers whom the people chiefly delighted to See also:honour. Though the ranks of the priesthood were for ever firmly closed against intruders, a See also:man of See also:lay birth, a Kshatriya or Vaisya, whose mind revolted against the orthodox creed, and whose See also:heart was stirred by mingled zeal and ambition, might find through these irregular orders an entrance to the career of a religious teacher and reformer. The Sakiya See also:clan was then seated in a See also:tract of country probably two or three thousand square See also:miles in extent, the See also:chief See also:town of which was Kapilavastu, situate about 27° 37' N. by 83° E., some days' See also:journey See also:north of See also:Benares. Their territory stretched up into the See also:lower slopes of the mountains, and was mostly in what is now See also:Nepal, but it included territory now on the See also:British See also:side of the frontier. It is in this See also:part of the Sakiya country that the interesting See also:discovery was made of the See also:monument they erected to their famous clansman. From their well-watered See also:rice-See also:fields, the See also:main source of their See also:wealth, they could see the See also:giant Himalayas looming up against the clear See also:blue of the See also:Indian See also:sky. Their supplies of See also:water were See also:drawn from the See also:river Rohini, the See also:modern Kohana; and though the use of the river was in times of drought the cause of disputes between the Sakiyas and the neighbouring Koliyans, the two clans were then at See also:peace; and two daughters of a chieftain of Koli, which was only 11 m. See also:east of Kapilavastu, were the See also:principal wives of Suddhodana. Both were childless, and See also:great was the rejoicing when, in about the See also:forty-fifth year of her age, the See also:elder See also:sister, Maha See also:Maya, promised her See also:husband a son. In due time she started with the intention of being confined at her parents' See also:home, but the party halting on the way under the shade of some lofty satin-trees, in a pleasant See also:garden called See also:Lumbini on the river-side, her son, the future Buddha, was there unexpectedly born. The exact site of this garden has been recently rediscovered, marked by an inscribed See also:pillar put up by Asoka (see J.R.A.S., 1898). He was in after years more generally known by his family name of Gotama, but his individual name was Siddhattha. When he was nineteen years old he was married to his See also:cousin Yasodhara, daughter of a Koliyan chief, and gave himself up to a life of luxury. This is the solitary See also:record of his youth; we hear nothing more till, in his twenty-ninth year, it is related that, See also:driving to his See also:pleasure-grounds one See also:day, he was struck by the sight of a man utterly broken down by age, on another occasion by the sight of a man suffering from a loathsome disease, and some months after by the horrible sight of a decomposing See also:corpse. Each time his charioteer, whose name was Channa, told him that such was the fate of all living beings. Soon after he saw an ascetic walking in a See also:calm and dignified manner, and asking who that was, was told by his charioteer the See also:character and aims of the Wanderers, the travelling teachers, who played so great a part in the intellectual life of the time. The different accounts of these visions vary so much as to See also:cast great doubts on their accuracy; and the See also:oldest one of all (Anguttara, i. 145) speaks of ideas only, not of actual visions. It is, however, clear from what follows, that about this time the mind of the See also:young See also:Rajput must, from some cause or other, have been deeply stirred. Many an See also:earnest heart full of disappointment or See also:enthusiasm has gone through a similar struggle, has learnt to look upon all earthly gains and hopes as worse than vanity, has envied the calm life of the See also:cloister, troubled by none of these things, and has longed for an opportunity of entire self-surrender to See also:abstinence and meditation. ' See See also:report of Rex. v. Neuhaus, See also:Clerkenwell Sessions, See also:September 15, 1906. Subjectively, though not objectively, these visions may be supposed to have appeared to Gotama. After seeing the last of them, he is said, in the later accounts, to have spent the afternoon in his pleasure-grounds by the river-side; and having bathed, to have entered his See also:chariot in See also:order to return home. Just then a messenger arrived with the See also:news that his wife Yasodhara had given birth to a son, his only child. " This," said Gotama quietly, " is a new and strong tie I shall have to break." But the people of Kapilavastu were greatly delighted at the birth of the young See also:heir, the See also:raja's only See also:grandson. Gotama's return became an See also:ovation; musicians preceded and followed his chariot, while shouts of joy and See also:triumph See also:fell on his See also:ear. Among these sounds one especially attracted his See also:attention. It was the See also:voice of a young girl, his cousin, who sang a See also:stanza, saying, " Happy the See also:father, happy the See also:mother, happy the wife of such a son and husband." In the word " happy " lay a See also:double meaning; it meant also freed from the chains of rebirth, delivered, saved. Grateful to one who, at such a time, reminded him of his highest hopes, Gotama, to whom such things had no longer any value, took off his See also:collar of pearls and sent it to her. She imagined that this was the beginning of a courtship, and began to build day-dreams about becoming his principal wife, but he took no further See also:notice of her and passed on. That evening the dancing-girls came to go through the Natch dances, then as now so See also:common on festive occasions in many parts of India; but he paid them no attention, and gradually fell into an uneasy slumber. At See also:mid-See also:night he awoke; the dancing-girls were lying in the ante-See also:room; an overpowering loathing filled his soul. He arose instantly with a mind fully made up—" roused into activity," says the Sinhalese See also:chronicle, " like a man who is told that his See also:house is on See also:fire." He called out to know who was on guard, and finding it was his charioteer Channa, he told him to See also:saddle his See also:horse. While Channa was gone Siddhattha gently opened the See also:door of the room where Yasodhara was sleeping, surrounded by See also:flowers, with one See also:hand on the See also:head of their child. He had hoped to take the babe in his arms for the last time before he went, but now he stood for a few moments irresolute on the See also:threshold looking at them. At last the fear of awakening Yasodhara prevailed; he tore himself away, promising himself to return to them as soon as his mind had become clear, as soon as he had become a Buddha,—i.e. Enlightened,—and then he could return to them not only as husband and father, but as teacher and saviour. It is said to have been broad moonlight on the full See also:moon of the See also:month of See also:July, when the young chief, with Channa as his See also:sole See also:companion, leaving his father's home, his wealth and social position, his wife and child behind him, went out into the See also:wilderness to become a penniless and despised student, and a homeless wanderer. This is the circumstance which has given its name to a See also:Sanskrit work, the Mahabhinishkramana Sutra, or Sutra of the Great Renunciation.
Next is related an event in which we may again see a subjective experience given under the See also:form of an See also:objective reality. See also:Mara, the great tempter, appears in the sky, and urges Gotama to stop, promising him, in seven days, a universal See also:kingdom over the four great continents if he will but give up his enterprise.2 When his words fail to have any effect, the tempter consoles himself by the confident See also:hope that he will still overcome his enemy, saying, Sooner or later some lustful or malicious or angry thought must arise in his mind; in that moment I shall be his See also:master"; and from that See also:hour, adds the See also:legend, " as a See also:shadow always follows the See also:body, so he too from that day always followed the Blessed One, striving to throw every obstacle in his way towards the Buddhahood." Gotama rides a long distance that night, only stopping at the See also:banks of the Anoma beyond the Koliyan territory. There, on the sandy See also:bank of the river, at a spot where later piety erected a dagaba (a solid See also:dome-shaped relic See also:shrine), he cuts off with his See also:sword his long flowing locks, and, taking off his ornaments, sends them and the horse back in See also:charge of the unwilling Channa to Kapilavastu. The next seven days were spent alone in a See also: To us, now taught by the experiences of centuries how weak such exaggerations are compared with the effect of a See also:plain unvarnished See also:tale, these legends may appear childish or absurd, but they have a See also:depth of meaning to those who strive to read between the lines of such See also:rude and inarticulate attempts to describe the indescribable. That which (the previous and subsequent career of the teacher being. See also:borne in mind) seems to be possible and even probable, appears to be somewhat as follows. Disenchanted and dissatisfied, Gotama had given up all that most men value, to seek peace in secluded study and self-denial. Failing to attain his See also:object by learning the See also:wisdom of others, and living the See also:simple life of a student, he had devoted himself to that intense meditation and penance which all philosophers then said would raise men above the gods. Still unsatisfied, longing always for a certainty that seemed ever just beyond his grasp, he had added See also:vigil to vigil, and penance to penance, until at last, when to the wondering view of others he had become more than a See also:saint, his bodily strength and his indomitable See also:resolution and faith had together suddenly and completely broken down. Then, when the sympathy of others would have been most welcome, he found his See also:friends falling away from him, and his disciples leaving him for other teachers. Soon after, if not on the very day when his followers had See also:left him, he wandered out towards the banks of the Neranjara, receiving his See also:morning See also:meal from the hands of Sujata, the daughter of a neighbouring villager, and set himself down to eat it under the shade of a large See also:tree (a Ficus religiosa), to be known from that time as the sacred Bo tree or tree of wisdom. There he remained through the long See also:hours of that day debating with himself what next to do. All his old temptations came back upon him with renewed force. For years he had looked at all earthly good through the See also:medium of a philosophy which taught htm that it,, without exception, contained within itself the seeds of bitterness, and was altogether worthless and impermanent; but now to his wavering faith the sweet delights of home and love, the charms of wealth and See also:power, began to show themselves in a different light, and glow again with attractive See also:colours. He doubted, and agonized in his doubt; but as the See also:sun set, the religious side of his nature had won the victory, and seems to have come out even purified from the struggle. He had attained to See also:Nirvana, had become clear in his mind, a Buddha, an Enlightened One. From that night he not only did not claim any merit on See also:account of his self-See also:mortification, but took every opportunity of declaring that from such penances Bigandet, p. 49; and compare See also:Jataka, p. 67, See also:line 27.739 no See also:advantage at all would be derived. All that night he is said to have remained in deep meditation under the Bo tree; and the orthodox Buddhists believe that for seven times seven nights and days he continued See also:fasting near the spot, when the See also:archangel Brahma came and ministered to him. As for himself, his heart was now fixed,—his mind was made up,—but he realized more than he had ever done before the power of temptation, and the difficulty, the almost impossibility, of understanding and holding to the truth. For others subject to the same temptations, but without that earnestness and insight which he felt himself to possess, faith might be quite impossible, and it would only be See also:waste of time and trouble to try to show to them " the only path of peace." To one in his position this thought would be so very natural, that we need not hesitate to accept the fact of its occurrence as related in the oldest records. It is quite consistent with his whole career that it was love and pity for others—otherwise, as it seemed to him, helplessly doomed and lost—which at last overcame every other See also:consideration, and made Gotama resolve to announce his doctrine to the world. The teacher, now 35 years of age, intended to proclaim his new See also:gospel first to his old teachers Alara and Udraka, but finding that they were dead, he determined to address himself to his former five disciples, and accordingly went to the See also:Deer-See also:forest near Benares where they were then living. An old gatha, or hymn (translated in Vinaya Texts, i. 90) tells us how the Buddha, rapt with the See also:idea of his great See also:mission, meets an acquaintance, one Upaka, a wandering sophist, on the way. The latter, struck with his expression, asks him whose See also:religion it is that makes him so glad, and yet so calm. The reply is striking. " I am now on my way," says the Buddha, " to the See also:city of Benares, to See also:beat the See also:drum of the See also:Ambrosia (to set up the light of the doctrine of Nirvana) in'the darkness of the world!" and he proclaims himself the Buddha who alone knows, and knows no teacher. Upaka says: " You profess yourself, then, friend, to be an Arahat and a conqueror?" The Buddha says: " Those indeed are conquerors who, as I have now, have conquered the intoxications (the See also:mental See also:intoxication arising from See also:ignorance, sensuality or craviag after future life). Evil dispositions have ceased in me; therefore is it that I am conqueror I" His acquaintance rejoins: " In that See also:case, See also:venerable Gotama, your way lies yonder ! " and he himself, shaking his head, turns in the opposite direction. Nothing daunted, the new See also:prophet walked on to Benares, and in the cool of the evening went on to the Deer-forest where the five ascetics were living. Seeing him coming, they resolved not to recognize as a See also:superior one who had broken his vows; to address him by his name, and not as " master " or " teacher "; only, he being a Kshatriya, to offer him a seat. He understands their See also:change of manner, calmly tells them not to See also:mock him by calling him " the venerable Gotama "; that he has found the ambrosia of truth and can See also:lead them to it. They object, naturally enough, from the ascetic point of view, that he had failed before while he was keeping his body under, and how can his mind have won the victory now, when he serves and yields to his body. Buddha replies by explaining to them the principles of his new gospel, in the form of See also:noble truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path (see BuDnIusM). It is nearly certain that Buddha had a commanding presence, and one of those deep, See also:rich, thrilling voices which so many of the successful leaders of men have possessed. We know his deep earnestness, and his thorough conviction of the truth of his new gospel. When we further remember the relation which the five students mentioned above had long borne to him, and that they had passed through a similar culture, it is not difficult to under-stand that his persuasions were successful, and that his, old disciples were the first to acknowledge him in his new character. The later books say that they were all converted at once; but, according to the most ancient See also:Pali record—though their old love and reverence had been so rekindled when the Buddha came near that their See also:cold resolutions quite See also:broke down, and they vied with each other in such acts of See also:personal attention as an Indian See also:disciple loves to pay to his teacher,—yet it was only after the Buddha had for five days talked to them, sometimes separately, sometimes together, that they accepted in its entirety his See also:plan of salvation.' The Buddha then remained at the Deer-forest near Benares until the number of his personal followers was about threescore, and that of the outside believers somewhat greater. The principal among the former was a rich young man named Yasa, who had first come to him at night out of fear of his relations, and afterwards shaved his head, put on the yellow robe, and succeeded in bringing many of his former friends and companions to the teacher, his mother and his wife being the first See also:female disciples, and his father the first lay devotee. It should be noticed in passing that the idea of a priesthood with mystical See also:powers is altogether repugnant to Buddhism; every one's salvation is entirely dependent on the modification or growth of his own inner nature, resulting from his own exertions. The life of a recluse is held to be the most conducive to that state of sweet serenity at which the more ardent disciples aim; but that of a layman, of a believing householder, is held in high honour; and a believer who does not as yet feel himself able or willing to cast off the ties of home or of business, may yet " enter the paths," and by a life of rectitude and kindness ensure for himself a rebirth under more favourable conditions for his growth in holiness. After the See also:rainy See also:season Gotama called together those of his disciples who had devoted themselves to the higher life, and said to them: " I am free from the five hindrances which, like an immense See also:net, hold men and angels in their power; you too (owing to my teaching) are set free. Go ye now, brethren, and wander for the gain and welfare of the many, out of compassion for the world, to the benefit of gods and men. Preach the doctrine, beauteous in inception, beauteous in continuation, beauteous in its end. Proclaim the pure and perfect life. Let no two go together. I also go, brethren, to the See also:General's See also:village in the wilds of Uruvela."2 Throughout his career, Gotama yearly adopted the same plan, See also:collecting his disciples round him in the rainy season, and after it was over travelling about as an itinerant preacher; but in subsequent years he was always accompanied by some of his most attached disciples. In the solitudes of Uruvela there were at this time three See also:brothers, fire-worshippers and See also:hermit philosophers, who had gathered round them a number of scholars, and enjoyed a considerable reputation as teachers. Gotama settled among them, and after a time they became believers in his See also:system,—the elder See also:brother, Kassapa, taking henceforth a principal place among his followers. His first set See also:sermon to his new disciples is called by See also:Bishop Bigandet the Sermon on the See also:Mount. Its subject was a jungle-fire which broke out on the opposite hillside. He warned his hearers against the fires of concupiscence, anger, ignorance, birth, death, decay and anxiety; and taking each of the senses in order he compared all human sensations to a burning See also:flame which seems to be something it is not, which produces pleasure and See also:pain, but passes rapidly away, and ends only in destruction.'
Accompanied by his new disciples, the Buddha walked on to Rajagaha, the capital of See also: 99, with See also:Hardy, M.B. p. 191. The Pali name is aditta-pariyaya : the sermon on the lessons to be drawn from burning. The See also:text is Vinaya, i. 34 = Samyutta, iv. 19. A literal See also:translation will be found in Vinaya Texts, i. 134, 135.way of salvation. The raja invited him and his disciples to eat their simple mid-day meal at his house on the following morning; and then presented the Buddha with a garden called Veluvana or See also:Bamboo-grove, afterwards celebrated as the place where the Buddha spent many rainy seasons, and preached many of his most See also:complete discourses. There he taught for some time, attracting large numbers of hearers, among whom two, See also:Sariputta and Moggallana, who afterwards became conspicuous leaders in the new crusade, then joined the Sangha or Society, as the Buddha's order of mendicants was called. Meanwhile the prophet's father, Suddhodana, who had anxiously watched his son's career, heard that he had given up his See also:asceticism, and had appeared as a Wanderer, an itinerant preacher and teacher. He sent therefore to him, urging him to come home, that he might see him once more before he died, The Buddha accordingly started for Kapilavastu, and stopped according to his See also:custom in a grove outside the town. His father and uncles and others came to see him there, but the latter were angry, and would pay him no reverence. It was the custom to invite such teachers and their disciples for the next day's meal, but they all left without doing so. The next day, therefore, Gotama set out at the usual hour, carrying his bowl to beg for a meal. As he entered the city, he hesitated whether he should not go straight to his father's house, but determined to adhere to his custom. It soon reached his father's ears that his son was walking through the streets begging. Startled at such news he See also:rose up, seizing the end of his See also:outer robe, and hastened to the place where Gotama was, exclaiming, " Illustrious Buddha, why do you expose us all to such shame ? Is it necessary to go from door to door begging your food? Do you imagine that I am not able to See also:supply the wants of so many mendicants?" " My noble father," was the reply, " this is the custom of all our See also:race." " How so ? " said his father. " Are you not descended from an illustrious line? no single See also:person of our race has ever acted so indecorously." My noble father," said Gotama, " you and your family may claim the privileges of Kshatriya descent; my descent is from the prophets (Buddhas) of old, and they have always acted so; the customs of the See also:law (Dharma) are good both for this world and the world that is to come. But, my father, when a man has found a treasure, it is his See also:duty to offer the most See also:precious of the jewels to his father first. Do not delay, let me See also:share with you the treasure I have found." Suddhodana, abashed, took his son's bowl and led him to his house. Eighteen months had now elapsed since the turning-point of Gotama's career—his great struggle under the Bo tree. Thus far all the accounts follow chronological order. From this time they simply narrate disconnected stories about the Buddha, or the persons with whom he was brought into contact,—the same See also:story being usually found in more than one account, but not often in the same order. It is not as yet possible, except very partially, to arrange chronologically the snatches of See also:biography to be gleaned from these stories. They are mostly told to show the occasion on which some memorable See also:act of the Buddha took place, or some memorable saying was uttered, and are as exact as to place as they are indistinct as to time. It would be impossible within the limits of this See also:article to give any large number of them, but space maybe found for one or two.
A See also:merchant from Sunaparanta having joined the Society was desirous of See also:preaching to his relations, and is said to have asked Gotama's permission to do so. " The people of Sunaparanta," said the teacher, " are exceedingly violent. If they revile you what will you do ?" "I will make no reply," said the mendicant. " And if they strike you?" " I will not strike in return," was the reply. " And if they try to kill you ?" " Death is no evil in itself; many even See also:desire it, to See also:escape from the vanities of life, but I shall take no steps either. to hasten or to delay the time of my departure." These answers were held satisfactory, and the See also: The farmer, a wealthy brahmin, said to him, Why do you come and beg? I plough and sow and See also:earn my food; you should do the same." " I too, 0 brahmin," said the See also:beggar, " plough and sow; and having ploughed and sown I eat." You profess only to be a farmer; no one See also:sees your ploughing, what do you mean?" said the brahmin. " For my cultivation," said the beggar, " faith is the See also:seed, self-combat is the fertilizing See also:rain, the weeds I destroy are the cleaving to existence, wisdom is my plough, and its guiding-See also:shaft is modesty; perseverance draws my plough, and I See also:guide it with the See also:rein of my mind; the field I work is in the law, and the harvest that I reap is the never-dying See also:nectar of Nirvana, Those who reap this harvest destroy all the weeds of sorrow." On another occasion he is said to have brought back to her right mind a young mother whom sorrow had for a time deprived of See also:reason. Her name was Kisagotaml. She had been married early, as is the custom in the East, and had a child when she was still a girl. When the beautiful boy could run alone he died. Tne young girl in her love for it carried the dead child clasped to her bosom, and went from house to house of her pitying friends asking them to give her See also:medicine for it. But a Buddhist convert thinking " she does not understand," said to her, " My good girl, I myself have no such medicine as you ask for, but I think I know of one who has." " Oh, tell me who that is?" said Kisagotaml. " The Buddha can give you medicine; go to him," was the See also:answer. She went to Gotama; and doing See also:homage to him said, " See also:Lord and master, do you know any medicine that will be good for my child?" " Yes, I know of some," said the teacher. Now it was the custom for patients or their friends to provide the herbs which the doctors required; so she asked what herbs he would want. " I want some See also:mustard-seed," he said; and wheri the poor girl eagerly promised to bring some of so common a See also:drug, he added, " you must get it from some house where no son, or husband, or See also:parent or slave has died." " Very good," she said; and went to ask for it, still carrying her dead child with her. The people said, " Here is mustard-seed, take it "; but when she asked, " In my friend's house has any son died, or a husband, or a parent or slave?" They answered, " See also:Lady! what is this that you say? the living are few, but the dead are many." Then she went to other houses, but one said " I have lost a son," another " We have lost our parents," another " I have lost my slave." At last, not being able to find a single house where no one had died, her mind began to clear, and summoning up resolution she left the dead body of her child in a forest, and returning to the Buddha paid him homage. He said to her, " Have you the mustard-seed?" " My lord," she replied, " I have not; the people tell me that the living are few, but the dead are many." Then he talked to her on that essential part of his system, the impermanency of all things, till her doubts were cleared away, she accepted her See also:lot, became a disciple, and entered the " first path." For forty-five years after entering on his mission Gotama itinerated in the valley of the Ganges, not going farther than about 25o M. from Benares, and always spending the rainy months at one spot—usually at one of the viharas,l or homes, which had been given to the society. In the twentieth year his cousin See also:Ananda became a mendicant, and from that time seems to have attended on the Buddha, being constantly near him, and delighting to render him all the personal service which love and reverence could suggest. Another cousin, See also:Devadatta, the son of the raja of Koli, also joined the society, but became envious of the teacher, and stirred up Ajatasattu (who, having killed his fatherBimbisara, had become king of Rajagaha) to persecute Gotama. The ac-See also:count of the manner in which the Buddha is said to have over-come the wicked devices of this apostate cousin and his See also:parricide See also:protector is quite legendary; but the general fact of Ajatasattu's opposition to the new See also:sect and of his subsequent See also:conversion may be accepted. The confused and legendary notices of the journeyings of 1 These were at first simple huts, built for the mendicants in some grove of See also:palm-trees as a See also:retreat during the rainy season; but they gradually increased in splendour and magnificence till the decay of Buddhism set in. See the authorities quoted in Buddhist India, pp. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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