6 • to . Uf , 0 i tiw 81 <*>%«# PRINCETON, N. J. Presented by cW><=, <$. mOa^nok . PR 4012 . L 3 2 1882 Arnold, Edwin, 1832-1904. The light of Asia Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/lightofasiabeing00arno_0 LIGHT OF ASIA BEING THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF GAUTAMA, Prince of India and Founder of Buddhism. BY \r, EDWIN ARNOLD, M.A. WITH NOTE 8 By MRS. I. L. HAUSER.' New York: THE USEFUL KNOWLEDGE PUBLISHING COMPANY, John B. Alden, Business Agent. 1882. THIS VOLUME IS DUTIFULLY INSCRIBED TO THE SOVEREIGN, GRAND MASTER, AND COMPANIONS OF Mont (Eralleb CDrbrr of tl)o Star of Sttbia . BY THE AUTHOR. 8 PREFACE. — O — In the following Poem I have sought, by the medium of an imaginary Buddhist votary, to depict the life and character and indicate the philosophy of that noble hero and reformer, Prince Gautama of India, the founder of Buddhism. A generation ago little or nothing was known in Europe of this great faith of Asia, which had nevertheless existed during twenty-four centuries, and at this day surpasses, in the number of its followers and the area of its prevalence, any other form of creed. Four hundred and seventy mil- lions of our race live and die in the tenets of Gautama ; and the spiritual dominions of this ancient teacher extend, at the present time, from Nepaul and Ceylon over the whole Eastern Peninsula to China, Japan, Thibet, Central Asia, Siberia, and even Swedish Lapland. India itself might fairly be included in this magnificent empire of be- lief, for though the profession of Buddhism has for the most part passed away from the lanfl of its birth, the mark of Gautama’s sublime teaching is stamped inefface- ably upon modern Brahmanism, and the most characteris- tic habits and convictions of the Hindus are clearly due to the benign influence of Buddha’s precepts. More than a third of mankind, therefore, owe their moral and relig- v vi PREFACE. ious ideas to this illustrious prince, whose personality, though imperfectly revealed in the existing sources of in- formation, cannot but appear the highest, gentlest, holiest, and most beneficent, with one exception, in the history of Thought. Discordant in frequent particulars, and sorely overlaid by corruptions, inventions, and misconceptions, the Buddhistical books yet agree in the one point of re- cording nothing — no single act or word — which mars the perfect purity and tenderness of this Indian teacher, who united the truest princely qualities with the intellect of a sage and the passionate devotion of a martyr. Even M. Barthelemy St. Hilaire, totally misjudging, as he does, many points of Buddhism, is well cited by Professor Max Muller as saying of Prince Siddartha, “ Sa vie n’a point de 'cache. Son constant heroisme £gale sa conviction ; et si la theorie qu’il preconise est fausse, les exemples person- nels qu’il donne sont irreprochables. II est le modele acheve de toutes les vertus qu’il preche ; son abnegation, sa charite, son inalterable douceur ne se d^mentent point un seul instant. ... II prepare silencieusement sa doc- trine par six annees de retraite et de meditation ; il la pro- page par la seule puissance de la parole et de la persua- sion pendant plus d’un demi-siecle, et quand il meurt entre les bras de ses disciples, c’est avec la syenite d’un sage qui a pratique le bien toute sa vie, et qui est assure d’avoir trouve le vrai.” To Gautama has consequently been given this stupendous conquest of humanity ; and — • though he discountenanced ritual, and declared himself, even when on the threshold of Nirvana, to be only what all other men might become — the love and gratitude of Asia, disobeying his mandate, have given him fervent PREFACE. vn worship. Forests of flowers are daily laid upon his stain- less shrines, and countless millions of lips daily repeat the formula, “ I take refuge in Buddha ! ” The Buddha of this poem — if, as need not be doubted, he really existed — was born on the borders of Nepaul, about 620 B.c., and died about 543 b.c. at Kusinagara in Oudh. In point of age, therefore, most other creeds are youthful compared with this venerable religion, which has in it the eternity of a universal hope, the immortality of a boundless love, an indestructible element of faith in final good, and the proudest assertion ever made of human freedom. The extravagances which disfigure the record and practice of Buddhism are to be referred to that in- evitable degradation which priesthoods always inflict upon great ideas committed to their charge. The power and sublimity of Gautama’s original doctrines should be es- timated by their influence, not by their interpreters ; nor by that innocent but lazy and ceremonious church which has arisen on the foundations of the Buddhistic Brother- hood or “ Sangha.” I have put my poem into a Buddhist’s mouth, because, to appreciate the spirit of Asiatic thoughts, they should be regarded from the Oriental point of view ; and neither the miracles which consecrate this record, nor the phi- losophy which it embodies, could have been otherwise so naturally reproduced. The doctrine of Transmigration, for instance — startling to modern minds — was established and thoroughly accepted by the Hindus of Buddha’s time ; that period when Jerusalem was being taken by Nebu- chadnezzar, when Nineveh was falling to the Medes, and Marseilles was founded by the Phocaeans. The exposi- Vlll PREFACE. tion here offered of so antique a system is of necessity incomplete, and — in obedience to the laws of poetic art — passes rapidly by many matters philosophically most im- portant, as well as over the long ministry of Gautama. But my purpose has been obtained if any just conception be here conveyed of the lofty character of this noble prince, and of the general purport of his doctrines. As to these there has arisen prodigious controversy among the erudite, who will be aware that I have taken the imper- fect Buddhistic citations much as they stand in Spence Hardy’s work, and have also modified more than one passage in the received narratives. The views, however, here indicated of “ Nirvana,” “ Dharma,” “ Karma," and the other chief features of Buddhism, are at least the fruits of considerable study, and also of a firm conviction that a third of mankind would never have been brought to believe in blank abstractions, or in Nothingness as the issue and crown of Being. Finally, in reverence to the illustrious Promulgator of this “ Light of Asia,” and in homage to the many eminent scholars who have devoted noble labors to his memory, for which both repose and ability are wanting to me, I beg that the shortcomings of my too hurried study may be forgiven. It has been composed in the brief intervals of days without leisure, but is inspired by an abiding desire to aid in the better mutual knowledge of East and West. The time may come, I hope, when this book and my “ Indian Song of Songs ” will preserve the memory of one who loved India and the Indian peoples. EDWIN ARNOLD, C.S.I. London, July, 1879. THE LIGHT OF ASIA. o Book tl)c iFirst. The Scripture of the Saviour of the World \ Lord Buddha 1 — Prince Siddartha 2 styled on earth- In Earth and Heavens and Hells Incomparable, All-honored, Wisest, Best, most Pitiful ; The Teacher of Nirvana and the law. Thus came he to be born again for men. Below the highest sphere four Regents sit 3 Who rule our world, and under them are zones Nearer, but high, where saintliest spirits dead Wait thrice ten thousand years , 4 then live again ; And on Lord Buddha, waiting in that sky, Came for our sakes the five sure signs of birth 5 So that the Devas 6 knew the signs, and said “Buddha will go again to help the World.” “ Yea ! ” spake He, “now I go to help the World 9 IO THE LIGHT OF ASIA. This last of many times ; for birth and death End hence for me and those who learn my Law. I will go down among the Sakyas , 7 Under the southward snows of Himalay, Where pious people live and a just King.” That night the wife of King Suddhodana , 8 Maya the Queen , 9 asleep beside her Lord, Dreamed a strange dream ; dreamed that a star from heaven — Splendid, six-rayed, in color rosy-pearl, Whereof the token was an Elephant 10 Six-tusked and whiter than Vahuka’s 11 milk — Shot through the void and, shining into her, Entered her womb upon the right. Awaked, Bliss beyond mortal mother’s filled her breast, And over half the earth a lovely light Forewent the mom. The strong hills shook ; the waves Sank lulled ; all flowers that blow by day came forth As ’twere high noon ; down to the farthest hells Passed the Queen’s joy, as when warm sunshine thrills Wood-glooms to gold, and into all the deeps A tender whisper pierced . 19 “Oh ye,” it said, “ The dead that are to live, the live who die, Uprise, and hear, and hope ! Buddha is come ! ” Whereat in Limbos numberless much peace Spread, and the world’s heart throbbed, and a wind blew With unknown freshness over lands and seas. And when the morning dawned, and this was told, The gray dream-readers 13 said “ The dream is good ! The Crab is in conjunction with the Sun ; 14 BOOK THE FIRST. The Queen shall bear a boy, a holy child Of wondrous wisdom, profiting all flesh, Who shall deliver men from ignorance, Or rule the world, if he will deign to rule.” In this wise was the holy Buddha born. Queen Maya stood at noon, her days fulfilled, Under a Paisa 16 in the Palace-grounds, A stately trunk, straight as a temple-shaft, With crown of glossy leaves and fragrant blooms : And, knowing the time come — for all things knew — The conscious tree bent down its boughs to make A bower about Queen Maya’s majesty, And Earth put forth a thousand sudden flowers To spread a couch, while, ready for the bath, The rock hard by gave out a limpid stream Of crystal flow. So brought she forth her child Pangless — he having on his perfect form The marks, thirty and two, of blessed birth ; Of which the great news to the Palace came. But when they brought the painted palanquin 16 To fetch him home, the bearers of the poles Were the four Regents of the Earth, come down From Mount Sumer u n — they who write men’s deeds On brazen plates — the Angel of the East, Whose hosts are clad in silver robes, and bear Targets of pearl : the Angel of the South, Whose horsemen, the Kumbhandas , 18 ride blue steeds, With sapphire shields : the Angel of the West, By N&gas followed, riding steeds blood-red, 12 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. With coral shields : the Angel of the North, Environed by his Yakshas , 19 all in gold, On yellow horses, bearing shields of gold. These, with their pomp invisible, came down And took the poles, in caste and outward garb Like bearers, yet most mighty gods ; and gods Walked free with men that day, though men knew not For Heaven was filled with gladness for Earth’s sake , 90 Knowing Lord Buddha thus was come again. But King Suddhodana wist not of this ; The portents troubled, till his dream-readers Augured a Prince of earthly dominance, A Chakravartin , 91 such as rise to rule Once in each thousand years ; seven gifts he has — The Chakra-ratna," disc divine ; the gem ; The horse, the Aswa-ratna , 93 that proud steed Which tramps the clouds ; a snow-white elephant, The Hasti-ratna , 94 born to bear his King ; The crafty Minister, the General Unconquered, and the wife of peerless grace, The Istrl-ratna , 95 lovelier than the Dawn. For which gifts looking with this wondrous boy, The King gave order that his town should keep High festival ; therefore the ways were swept , 96 Rose-odors sprinkled in the street, the trees Were hung with lamps and flags , 97 while merry crowds Gaped on the sword-players 93 and posturers, The jugglers , 99 charmers, swingers, rope-walkers, The nautch-girls in their spangled skirts and bells 30 BOOK THE FIRST. 13 That chime light laughter round their restless feet ; The masquers wrapped in skins of bear and deer. The tiger-tamers, wrestlers, quail-fighters, Beaters of drum and twanglers of the wire, Who made the people happy by command. Moreover from afar came merchant-men, Bringing, on tidings of this birth, rich gifts In golden trays ; 31 goat-shawls, 3S and nard 33 and jade, Turkises , 34 “evening sky” tint, woven webs — So fine twelve folds hide not a modest face — Waist-cloths sewn thick with pearls, and sandal-wood ; Homage from tribute cities ; so they called Their Prince Savarthasiddh, “ All- Prospering,” Briefer, Siddartha. ’Mongst the strangers came A gray-haired saint, Asita , 36 one whose ears, Long closed to earthly things, caught heavenly sounds, And heard at prayer beneath his peepul-tree The Devas singing songs at Buddha’s birth. Wondrous in lore he was by age and fasts ; Him, drawing nigh, seeming so reverend, The King saluted, and Queen Maya made To lay her babe before such holy feet ; But when he saw the Prince the old man cried “ Ah, Queen, not so ! ” and thereupon he touched Eight times the dust , 36 laid his waste visage there, Saying, “ O Babe ! I worship ! Thou art He ! I see the rosy light , 37 the foot-sole marks , 38 The soft-curled tendril of the Swastika , 39 The sacred primal signs thirty and two, The eighty lesser tokens . 40 Thou art Buddh, *4 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And thou wilt preach the Law and save all flesh Who learn the Law, though I shall never hear, Dying too soon, who lately longed to die ; Howbeit I have seen Thee. Know, O King ! This is that Blossom on our human tree Which opens once in many myriad years 41 — But opened, fills the world with Wisdom’s scent And Love’s dropped honey ; from thy royal root A Heavenly Lotus springs : Ah, happy House ! Yet not all-happy, for a sword must pierce Thy bowels for this boy 43 — whilst thou, sweet Queen Dear to all gods and men for this great birth, Henceforth art grown too sacred for more woe, And life is woe, therefore in seven days Painless thou shalt attain the close of pain.” 43 Which fell : for on the seventh evening Queen Maya smiling slept, and waked no more, Passing content to Trayastrinshas-Heaven , 44 Where countless Devas worship her and wait Attendant on that radiant Motherhead. But for the Babe they found a foster-nurse, Princess Mahiprajdpati 45 — her breast Nourished with noble milk the lips of Him Whose lips comfort the Worlds. When th’ eighth year passed 44 The careful King bethought to teach his son All that a Prince should learn, for still he shunned The too vast presage of those miracles, The glories and the sufferings of a Buddh. So, in full council of his Ministers,, BOOK THE FIRST. 15 “ Who is the wisest man, great sirs,” he asked, “ To teach my Prince that which a Prince should know ? ” Whereto gave answer each with instant voice “ King ! Viswamitra 47 is the wisest one, The farthest-seen in Scriptures, and the best In learning, and the manual arts, and all.” Thus Viswamitra came and heard commands ; And, on a day found fortunate, the Prince Took up his slate of ox-red sandal-wood, All-beautified by gems around the rim, And sprinkled smooth with dust of emery, These took he, and his writing-stick, and stood With eyes bent down before the Sage, who said, “Child, write this Scripture,” speaking slow the verse “ Gdyatri" 48 named, which only High-born hear: — Om, tatsaviturvarenyam Bhargo devasya dhimahi Dhiyo yo na prachodayat. “ Acharya , 49 I write,” meekly replied The Prince, and quickly on the dust he drew — Not in one script, but many characters — The sacred verse ; Nagri 60 and Dakshin , 51 Ni . 69 Mangal , 63 Parusha , 54 Yava , 56 Tirthi , 66 Uk , 57 Darad , 58 Sikhyani , 59 Mana , 60 Madhyachar , 61 The pictured writings and the speech of signs, Tokens of cave-men and the sea-peoples, Of those who worship snakes beneath the earth, And those who flame adore and the sun’s orb , 69 The Magians and the dwellers on the mounds ; Of all the nations all strange scripts he traced One after other with his writing-stick, 1 6 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Reading the master’s verse in every tongue ; And Viswamitra said, “ It is enough, Let us to numbers. After me repeat Your numeration till we reach the Lakh . 63 One, two, three, four, to ten, and then by tens To hundreds, thousands.” After him the child Named digits, decads, centuries ; nor paused, The round lakh reached, but softly murmured on “ Then comes the koti, nahut, ninnahut, Khamba, viskhamba, abab, attata, To kumuds, gundhikas, and utpalas, By pundarikas unto padumas, Which last is how you count the utmost grains Of Hastagiri ground to finest dust ; But beyond that a numeration is, The Katha, used to count the stars of night ; The Koti-Kdtha, for the ocean drops ; Ingga, the caculus of circulars ; Sarvanikchepa, by the which you deal With all the sands of Gunga, till we come To Antah-Kalpas , 64 where the unit is The sands of ten crore 65 Gungas. If one seeks More comprehensive scale, th’ arithmic mounts By the Asankya, which is the tale Of all the drops that in ten thousand years Would fall on all the worlds by daily rain ; Thence unto Maha Kalpas, by the which The Gods compute their future and their past.” “ ’Tis good,” the Sage rejoined, “ Most noble Prince, If these thou know’st, needs it that I should teach BOOK THE FIRST. 17 The mensuration of the lineal ? ” Humbly the boy replied, “ Acharya ! ” “ Be pleased to hear me. Paramanus 66 ten A parasukshma 67 make ; ten of those build The trasarene , 68 and seven trasarenes One mote’s-length floating in the beam, seven motes The whisker-point of mouse, and ten of these One likhya ; 69 likhyas ten a yuka, ten Yukas 70 a heart of barley, which is held Seven times a wasp-waist ; so unto the grain Of mung 71 and mustard and the barley-corn, Whereof ten give the finger-joint, twelve joints The span, wherefrom we reach the cubit, staff, Bow-length, lance-length ; while twenty lengths of lance Mete what is named a ‘breath ,’ 72 which is to say Such space as man may stride with lungs once filled, Whereof a gov / 73 is forty, four times that A ydjana ; 74 and, Master ! if it please, I shall recite how many sun-motes lie From end to end within a ydjana.” Thereat, with instant skill, the little Prince Pronounced the total of the atoms true. But Yiswamitra heard it on his face Prostrate before the boy ; “For thou,” he cried, “ Art Teacher of thy teachers — thou, not I, Art Gfirfi . 75 Oh, I worship thee, sweet Prince ! That comest to my school only to show Thou knowest all without the books, and know’st Fair reverence besides.” Which reverence Lord Buddha kept to all his schoolmasters, i8 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Albeit beyond their learning taught ; in speech Right gentle, yet so wise ; princely of mien, Yet softly-mannered ; modest, deferent, And tender-hearted, though of fearless blood ; No bolder horseman in the youthful band E’er rode in gay chase of the shy gazelles ; No keener driver of the chariot In mimic contest scoured the Palace-courts ; Yet in mid-play the boy would ofttimes pause, Letting the deer pass free ; would ofttimes yield His half-won race because the laboring steeds Fetched painful breath ; or if his princely mates Saddened to lose, or if some wistful dream Swept o’er his thoughts. And ever with the years Waxed this compassionateness of our Lord, Even as a great tree grows from two soft leaves To spread its shade afar ; but hardly yet Knew the young child of sorrow, pain, or tears. Save as strange names for things not felt by kings, Nor ever to be felt. But it befell In the Royal garden on a day of spring, A flock of wild swans passed, voyaging north To their nest-places on Himala’s breast. Calling in love-notes down their snowy line The bright birds flew, by fond love piloted ; And Devadatta , 16 cousin of the Prince, Pointed his bow, and loosed a willful shaft Which found the wide wing of the foremost swan Broad-spread to glide upon the free blue road, So that it fell, the bitter arrow fixed, Bright scarlet blood-gouts staining the pure plumes. BOOK THE FIRST. 1 9 Which seeing, Prince Siddartha took the bird Tenderly up, rested it in his lap — Sitting with knees crossed, as Lord Buddha sits — And, soothing with a touch the wild thing’s fright, Composed its ruffled vans, calmed its quick heart, Caressed it into peace with light kind palms As soft as plantain-leaves an hour unrolled ; And while the left hand held, the right hand drew The cruel steel forth from the wound and laid Cool leaves and healing honey on the smart. Yet all so little knew the boy of pain That curiously into his wrist he pressed The arrow’s barb, and winced to feel it sting, And turned with tears to soothe his bird again. Then some one came who said, “ My Prince hath shot A swan, which fell among the roses here, He bids me pray you send it. Will you send ? ’ “Nay,” quoth Siddartha, “if the bird were dead To send it to the slayer might be well, But the swan lives ; my cousin hath but killed The god-like speed which throbbed in this white wing.” And Devadatta answered, “ The wild thing, Living or dead, is his who fetched it down ; ’Twas no man’s in the clouds, but fall’n ’tis mine, Give me my prize, fair Cousin.” Then our Lord Laid the swan’s neck beside his own smooth cheek And gravely spake, “ Say no ! the bird is mine, The first of myriad things which shall be mine By right of mercy and love’s lordliness. For now I know, by what within me stirs, That I shall teach compassion unto men 20 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And be a speechless world’s interpreter, Abating this accursed flood of woe, Not man’s alone ; but, if the Prince disputes, Let him submit this matter to the wise And we will wait their word.” So was it done ; In full divan ” the business had debate, And many thought this thing and many that, Till there arose an unknown priest who said, “If life be aught, the savior of a life Owns more the living thing than he can own Who sought to slay — the slayer spoils and wastes, The cherisher sustains, give him the bird : ” Which judgment all found just ; but when the King Sought out the sage for honor, he was gone ; And some one saw a hooded snake 18 glide forth, — The gods come ofttimes thus ! So our Lord Buddh Began his works of mercy. Yet not more Knew he as yet of grief than that one bird’s, Which, being healed, went joyous to its kind. But on another day the King said, “ Come, Sweet son ! and see the pleasaunce of the spring, And how the fruitful earth is wooed to yield Its riches to the reaper ; how my realm — Which shall be thine when the pile flames for me 79 — Feeds all its mouths and keeps the King s chest filled. Fair is the season with new leaves, bright blooms, Green grass, and cries of plough-time.” So they rode Into a land of wells and gardens, where, All up and down the rich red loam, the steers Strained their strong shoulders in the creaking yoke BOOK THE FIRST. 22 Dragging the ploughs ; the fat soil rose and rolled In smooth dark waves back from the plough ; who drove Planted both feet upon the leaping share To make the furrow deep ; among the palms The tinkle of the rippling water rang, And where it ran the glad earth ’broidered it With balsams and the spears of lemon-grass. Elsewhere were sowers who went forth to sow ; And all the jungle laughed with nesting-songs, And all the thickets rustled with small life Of lizard, bee, beetle, and creeping things Pleased at the spring-time. In the mango-sprays 80 The sun-birds 81 flashed ; alone at his green forge Toiled the loud coppersmith ; bee-eaters hawked Chasing the purple butterflies ; beneath, Striped squirrels raced, the mynas 82 perked and picked, The nine brown sisters chattered in the thorn, The pied fish-tiger hung above the pool, The egrets 83 stalked among the buffaloes, The kites sailed circles in the golden air ; About the painted temple peacocks flew , 84 The blue doves cooed from every well, far off 85 The village drums 86 beat for some marriage-feast ; All things spoke peace and plenty, and the Prince Saw and rejoiced. But, looking deep, he saw The thorns which grow upon this rose of life : How the swart peasant sweated for his wage, Toiling for leave to live ; and how he urged The great-eyed oxen through the flaming hours, Goading their velvet flanks : then marked he, too, How lizard fed on ant, and snake on him, 22 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And kite on both ; and how the fish-hawk robbed The fish-tiger of that which it had seized ; The shrike chasing the bulbul , 87 which did chase The jeweled butterflies ; till everywhere Each slew a slayer and in turn was slain, Life living upon death. So the fair show Veiled one vast, savage, grim conspiracy Of mutual murder, from the worm to man, Who himself kills his fellow ; seeing which — The hungry ploughman and his laboring kine, Their dewlaps blistered with the bitter yoke, The rage to live which makes all living strife — The Prince Siddartha sighed. “ Is this,” he said, “ That happy earth they brought me forth to see ? How salt with sweat the peasant’s bread ! how hard The oxen’s service ! in the brake how fierce The war of weak and strong ! i’ th’ air what plots ! No refuge e’en in water. Go aside A space, and let me muse on what ye show.” So saying, the good Lord Buddha seated him Under a jambu-tree , 83 with ankles crossed — As holy statues sit — and first began To meditate this deep disease of life, What its far source and whence its remedy. So vast a pity filled him, such wide love For living things, such passion to heal pain, That by their stress his princely spirit passed To ecstasy, and, purged from mortal taint Of sense and self, the boy attained thereat Dhy&na , 89 first step of “the path.” There flew BOOK THE FIRST. 23 High overhead that hour five holy ones, Whose free wings faltered as they passed the tree. “What power superior draws us from our flight ? ” They asked, for spirits feel all force divine, And know the sacred presence of the pure. Then, looking downward, they beheld the Buddh Crowned with a rose-hued aureole, intent On thoughts to save ; while from the grove a voice Cried, “ Rishis ! 90 this is He shall help the world, Descend and worship.” So the Bright Ones came And sang a song of praise, folding their wings, Then journeyed on, taking good news to Gods. But certain from the King seeking the Prince Found him still musing, though the noon was past, And the sun hastened to the western hills : Yet, while all shadows moved, the jambu-tree's Stayed in one quarter, overspreading him, Lest the sloped rays should strike that sacred head ; And he who saw this sight heard a voice say, Amid the blossoms of the rose-apple, “ Let be the King’s son ! till the shadow goes Forth from his heart my shadow will not shift.” 3Book tl)c Secottb. Now, when our Lord was come to eighteen years, The King commanded that there should be built Three stately houses, one of hewn square beams With cedar lining, warm for winter days ; One of veined marbles, cool for summer heat ; And one of burned bricks, with blue tiles bedecked, Pleasant at seed-time, when the champaks 1 bud — Subha,* Suramma , 3 Ramma , 4 were their names. Delicious gardens round about them bloomed, Streams wandered wild and musky thickets stretched, With many a bright pavilion and fair lawn In midst of which Siddartha strayed at will, Some new delight provided every hour ; And happy hours he knew, for life was rich, With youthful blood at quickest ; yet still came The shadows of his meditation back, As the lake’s silver dulls with driving clouds. Which the King marking, called his Ministers : “ Bethink ye, sirs ! how the old Rishi spake,” He said, “ and what my dream-readers foretold. This boy, more dear to me than mine heart’s blood, 24 BOOK THE SECOND. 25 Shall be of universal dominance, Trampling the neck of all his enemies, A King of kings — and this is in my heart ; — Or he shall tread the sad and lowly path Of self-denial and of pious pains, Gaining who knows what good, when all is lost Worth keeping ; and to this his wistful eyes Do still incline amid my palaces. But ye are sage, and ye will counsel me ; How may his feet be turned to that proud road Where they should walk, and all fair signs come true Which gave him Earth to rule, if he would rule ? ” The eldest answered, “ Maharaja ! 6 love Will cure these thin distempers ; weave the spell Of woman’s wiles about his idle heart. What knows this noble boy of beauty yet, Eyes that make heaven forgot, and lips of balm ? Find him soft wives and pretty playfellows ; The thoughts ye cannot stay with brazen chains A girl’s hair lightly binds.” And all thought good, But the King answered, “ If we seek him wives, Love chooseth ofttimes with another eye ; And if we bid range Beauty’s garden round, To pluck what blossom pleases, he will smile And sweetly shun the joy he knows not of.” Then said another, “ Roams the barasingh 6 Until the fated arrow flies ; for him, As for less lordly spirits, some one charms, Some face will seem a Paradise, some form Fairer than pale Dawn when she wakes the world. THE LIGHT OF ASIA. a6 This do, my King ! Command a festival Where the realm’s maids shall be competitors In youth and grace , 1 and sports that Sakyas use. Let the Prince give the prizes to the fair, And, when the lovely victors pass his seat, There shall be those who mark if one or two Change the fixed sadness of his tender cheek ; So we may choose for Love with Love’s own eyes, And cheat his Highness into happiness.” This thing seemed good ; wherefore upon a day The criers bade the young and beautiful Pass to the palace, for ’twas in command To hold a court of pleasure, and the Prince Would give the prizes, something rich for all, The richest for the fairest judged. So flocked Kapilavastu’s 8 maidens to the gate, Each with her dark hair newly smoothed and bound, Eyelashes lustred with the soorma-stick , 9 Fresh-bathed and scented ; all in shawls and cloths Of gayest ; slender hands and feet new-stained With crimson , 10 and the tilka-spots 11 stamped bright. Fair show it was of all those Indian girls Slow-pacing past the throne with large black eyes Fixed on the ground, for when they saw the Prince More than the awe of Majesty made beat Their fluttering hearts, he sate so passionless, Gentle, but so beyond them. Each maid took With down-dropped lids her gift, afraid to gaze ; And if the people hailed some lovelier one Beyond her rivals worthy royal smiles, She stood like a scared antelope to touch BOOK THE SECOND. 27 The gracious hand, then fled to join her mates Trembling at favor, so divine he seemed, So high and saint-like and above her world. Thus filed they, one bright maid after another, The city’s flowers, and all this beauteous march Was ending and the prizes spent, when last Came young Yasddhara , 12 and they that stood Nearest Siddartha saw the princely boy Start, as the radiant girl approached. A form Of heavenly mold ; a gait like Parvati’s ; 13 Eyes like a hind’s in love-time, face so fair Words cannot paint its spell ; and she alone Gazed full — folding her palms across her breasts — On the boy’s gaze, her stately neck unbent. ' “ Is there a gift for me ? ” she asked, and smiled. “The gifts are gone,” the Prince replied, “yet take This for amends, dear sister, of whose grace Our happy city boasts ; ” therewith he loosed The emerald necklet from his throat, and clasped Its green beads round her dark and silk-soft waist ; And their eyes mixed, and from the look sprang love. Long after — when enlightenment was full — Lord Buddha — being prayed why thus his heart Took fire at first glance of the Sdkya girl, Answered, “ We were not strangers, as to us And all it seemed ; in ages long gone by A hunter’s son, playing with forest girls By Yamun’s 14 springs, where Nandadevi 15 stands, Sate umpire while they raced beneath the firs Like hares at eve that run their playful rings ; 28 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. One with flower-stars crowned he, one with long plumes Plucked from eyed pheasant and the jungle-cock, One with fir-apples ; but who ran the last Came first for him, and unto her the boy Gave a tame fawn and his heart’s love beside. And in the wood they lived many glad years, And in the wood they undivided died. Lo ! as hid seed shoots after rainless years, So good and evil, pains and pleasures, hates And loves, and all dead deeds, come forth again Bearing bright leaves or dark, sweet fruit or sour. Thus I was he and she Yasodhara ; And while the wheel of birth and death turns round, That which hath been must be between us two.” But they who watched the Prince at prize-giving Saw and heard all, and told the careful King How sate Siddartha heedless, till there passed Great Suprabuddha’s child, Yasodhara ; And how — at sudden sight of her — he changed, And how she gazed on him and he on her, And of the jewel-gift, and what beside Passed in their speaking glance. The fond King smiled “ Look ! we have found a lure ; take counsel now To fetch therewith our falcon from the clouds. Let messengers be sent to ask the maid In marriage for my son.” But it was law With Sakyas, when any asked a maid Of noble house, fair and desirable, He must make good his skill in martial arts BOOK THE SECOND. 29 Against all suitors who should challenge it ; Nor might this custom break itself for kings. Therefore her father spake : “ Say to the King, The child is sought by princes far and near ; If thy most gentle son can bend the bow, Sway sword, and back a horse better than they, Best would he be in all and best to us : But how shall this be, with his cloistered ways ? ” Then the King’s heart was sore, for now the Prince Begged sweet Yasodhara for wife — in vain, With Devadatta foremost at the bow, Ardjuna 16 master of all fiery steeds, And Nanda 17 chief in sword-play ; but the Prince Laughed low and said, “ These things, too, I have learned ; Make proclamation that thy son will meet All comers at their chosen games. I think I shall not lose my love for such as these.” So ’twas given forth that on the seventh day The Prince Siddartha summoned whoso would To match with him in feats of manliness, The victor’s crown to be Yasodhara. Therefore, upon the seventh day, there went The Sdkya lords and town and country round Unto the maidan ; 18 and the maid went too Amid her kinsfolk, carried as a bride, With music , 19 and with litters gayly dight, And gold-horned oxen, flower-caparisoned . 20 Whom Devadatta claimed, of royal line, And Nanda and Ardjuna, noble both, The flower of all youths there, till the Prince came 3 ° THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Riding his white horse Kantaka, which neighed, Astonished at this great strange world without : Also Siddartha gazed with wondering eyes On all those people born beneath the throne, Otherwise housed than kings, otherwise fed, And yet so like — perchance — in joys and griefs. But when the Prince saw sweet Yasodhara, Brightly he smiled, and drew his silken rein, Leaped to the earth from Kantaka’ s broad back, And cried, “ He is not worthy of this pearl Who is not worthiest ; let my rivals prove If I have dared too much in seeking her.” Then Nanda challenged for the arrow-test And set a brazen drum six gows away, Ardjuna six and Devadatta eight ; But Prince Siddartha bade them set his drum Ten gows 51 from off the line, until it seemed A cowry-shell 22 for target. Then they loosed, And Nanda pierced his drum, Ardjuna his, And Devadatta drove a well-aimed shaft Through both sides of his mark, so that the crowd Marveled and cried ; and sweet Yasodhara Dropped the gold sari 23 o’er her fearful eyes, Lest she should see her Prince’s arrow fail. But he, taking their bow of lacquered cane, With sinews bound, and strong with silver wire, Which none but stalwart arms could draw a span, Thrummed it — low laughing — drew the twisted string Till the horns kissed, and the thick belly snapped : “ That is for play, not love,” he said ; “ hath none A bow more fit for Sakya lords to use ? ” BOOK THE SECOND. 31 And one said, “ There is Sinhahanu’s bow , 24 Kept in the temple since we know not when, Which none can string, nor draw if it be strung.” “ Fetch me,” he cried, “ that weapon of a man ! ” They brought the ancient bow, wrought of black steel, Laid with gold tendrils on its branching curves Like bison-horns ; and twice Siddartha tried Its strength across his knee, then spake — “ Shoot now With this, my cousins ! ” but they could not bring The stubborn arms a hand’s-breadth nigher use ; Then the Prince, lightly leaning, bent the bow , 25 Slipped home the eye upon the notch, and twanged Sharply the cord, which, like an eagle’s wing Thrilling the air, sang forth so clear and loud That feeble folk at home that day inquired “ What is this sound ? ” and people answered them, “ It is the sound of Sinhahanu’s bow, Which the King’s son has strung and goes to shoot ; ” Then fitting fair a shaft, he drew and loosed, And the keen arrow clove the sky, and drave Right through that farthest drum, nor stayed its flight But skimmed the plain beyond, past reach 01 eye. Then Devadatta challenged with the sword, And clove a Talas-tree 26 six fingers thick ; 27 Ardjuna seven ; and Nanda cut through nine ; But two such stems together grew, and both Siddartha’s blade shred at one flashing stroke, Keen, but so smooth that the straight trunks upstood. And Nanda cried, “ His edge turned ! ” and the maid Trembled anew seeing the trees erect, 3 2 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Until the Devas of the air, who watched, Blew light breathg from the south, and both green crowns Crashed in the sand, clean-felled. Then brought they steeds, High-mettled, nobly-bred, and three times scoured Around the maidan, but white Kantaka Left even the fleetest far behind — so swift, That ere the foam fell from his mouth to earth Twenty spear-lengths he flew ; but Nanda said, “We too might win with such as Kantaka ; Bring an unbroken horse, and let men see Who best can back him.” So the syces 28 brought A stallion dark as night, led by three chains, Fierce-eyed, with nostrils wide and tossing mane, Unshod, unsaddled, for no rider yet Had crossed him. Three times each young Sakya Sprang to his mighty back, but the hot steed Furiously reared, and flung them to the plain In dust and shame ; only Ardjuna held His seat awhile, and, bidding loose the chains, Lashed the black flank, and shook the bit, and held The proud jaws fast with grasp of master-hand, So that in storms of wrath and rage and fear The savage stallion circled once the plain Half-tamed ; but sudden turned with naked teeth, Gripped by the foot Ardjuna, tore him down, And would have slain him, but the grooms ran in Fettering the maddened beast. Then all men cried, “ Let not Siddartha meddle with this Bhut , 29 Whose liver is a tempest, and his blood Red flame ; ” but the Prince said, “ Let go the chains, BOOK THE SECOND. 33 Give me his forelock only,” which he held With quiet grasp, and, speaking some low word, Laid his right palm across the stallion's eyes, And drew it gently down the angry face, And all along the neck and panting flanks, Till men astonished saw the night-black horse Sink his fierce crest and stand subdued and meek, As though he knew our Lord and worshiped him. Nor stirred he while Siddartha mounted, then Went soberly to touch of knee and rein Before all eyes, so that the people said, “Strive no more, for Siddartha is the best.” And all the suitors answered “ He is best ! ” And Suprabuddha, father of the maid, Said, “ It was in our hearts to find thee best, Being dearest, yet what magic taught thee more Of manhood ’mid thy rose-bowers and thy dreams Than war and chase and world’s work bring to these ? But wear, fair Prince, the treasure thou hast won.” Then at a word the lovely Indian girl Rose from her place above the throhg, and took A. crown of mogra-flowers 30 and lightly drew The veil of black and gold across her brow, Proud pacing past the youths, until she came To where Siddartha stood in grace divine, New lighted from the night-dark steed, which bent Its strong neck meekly underneath his arm. Before the Prince lowly she bowed, and bared Her face celestial beaming with glad love ; Then on his neck she hung the fragrant wreath, a 34 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And on his breast she laid her perfect head, And stooped to touch his feet with proud glad eyes, Saying, “ Dear Prince, behold me, who am thine ! ” And all the throng rejoiced, seeing them pass Hand fast in hand, and heart beating with heart, The veil of black and gold drawn close again. Long after — when enlightenment was come — They prayed Lord Buddha touching all, and why She wore this black and gold, and stepped so proud. And the World-honored answered, “ Unto me This was unknown, albeit it seemed half known ; For while the wheel of birth and death turns round, Past things and thoughts, and buried lives come back I now remember, myriad rains ago, What time I roamed Himala’s hanging woods, A tiger, with my striped and hungry kind ; I, who am Buddh, couched in the kusa grass 31 Gazing with green blinked eyes upon the herds Which pastured near and nearer to their death Round my day-lair ; or underneath the stars I roamed for prey, savage, insatiable, Sniffing the paths for track of man and deer. Amid the beasts that were my fellows then, Met in deep jungle or by reedy jheel , 32 A tigress, comeliest of the forest, set The males at war ; her hide was lit with gold, Black-broidered like the veil Yasodhara Wore for me ; hot the strife waxed in that wood With tooth and claw, while underneath a neem 33 The fair beast watched us bleed, thus fiercely wooed. BOOK THE SECOND. 35 And I remember, at the end she came Snarling past this and that torn forest-lord Which I had conquered, and with fawning jaws Licked my quick-heaving flank, and with me went Into the wild with proud steps, amorously. The wheel of birth and death turns low and high.” Therefore the maid was given unto the Prince A willing spoil ; and when the stars were good — Mesha , 34 the Red Ram, being Lord of heaven — The marriage feast was kept, as Sakyas use, The golden gadi 35 set, the carpet spread, The wedding garlands hung, the arm-threads tied, 3 ® The sweet cake broke, the rice and attar thrown , 37 The two straws floated on the reddened milk, Which, coming close, betokened “ love till death ; ” The seven steps taken thrice around the fire, The gifts bestowed on holy men, the alms And temple offerings made, the mantras 38 sung, The garments of the bride and bridegroom tied. Then the gray father spake : “ Worshipful Prince, She that was ours henceforth is only thine ; Be good to her, who hath her life in thee.” Wherewith they brought home sweet Yasodhara, With songs and trumpets, to the Prince’s arms, And love was all in all. Yet not to love Alone trusted the King ; love’s prison-house Stately and beautiful he bade them build, So that in all the earth no marvel was Like Vishramvan, the Prince’s pleasure-place. 3 6 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Midway in those wide palace-grounds there rose A verdant hill whose base Rohini 39 bathed, Murmuring adown from Himalay’s broad feet, To bear its tribute into Gunga’s 40 waves. Southward a growth of tamarind trees and sd.1, 4 ' Thick set with pale sky-colored ganthi flowers, 49 Shut out the world, save if the city’s hum Came on the wind no harsher than when bees Hum out of sight in thickets. Northwards soared The stainless ramps of huge Himala’s wall, 43 Ranged in white ranks against the blue — untrod, Infinite, wonderful — whose uplands vast, And lifted universe of crest and crag, Shoulder and shelf, green slope and icy horn, Riven ravine, and splintered precipice Led climbing thought higher and higher, until It seemed to stand in heaven and speak with gods. Beneath the snows dark forests spread, sharp laced With leaping cataracts and veiled with clouds : Lower grew rose-oaks and the great fir groves Where echoed pheasant’s call and panther’s cry, Clatter of wild sheep on the stones, and scream Of circling eagles : under these the plain Gleamed like a praying-carpet at the foot Of those divinest altars. Fronting this The builders set the bright pavilion up, Fair-planted on the terraced hill, with towers On either flank and pillared cloisters round. Its beams were carved with stories of old time — Radha and Krishna and the sylvan girls — 44 Sita 45 and Hanuman and Draupadi j 46 BOOK THE SECOND. 37 And on the middle porch God Ganesha, With disc and hook — to bring wisdom and wealth — Propitious sate, wreathing his sidelong trunk . 47 By winding ways of garden and of court The inner gate was reached, of marble wrought, White with pink veins ; the lintel lazuli, The threshold alabaster, and the doors Sandal-wood, cut in pictured paneling ; Whereby to lofty halls and shadowy bowers Passed the delighted foot, on stately stairs, Through latticed galleries, ’neath painted roofs And clustering columns, where cool fountains — fringed With lotus and nelumbo 48 — danced, and fish Gleamed through their crystal, scarlet, gold, and blue. Great-eyed gazelles in sunny alcoves browsed The blown red roses ; birds of rainbow wing Fluttered among the palms ; doves, green and gray, Built their safe nests on gilded cornices ; Over the shining pavements peacocks drew The splendors of their trains, sedately watched By milk-white herons and the small house-owls. The plum-necked parrots swung from fruit to fruit ; The yellow sun-birds whirred from bloom to bloom, The timid lizards on the lattice basked Fearless, the squirrels ran to feed from hand, For all was peace : the shy black snake, that gives Fortune to households, sunned his sleepy coils Under the moon-flowers, where the musk-deer played. And brown-eyed monkeys chattered to the crows. And all this house of love was peopled fair With sweet attendance, so that in each part 38 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. With lovely sights were gentle faces found, Soft speech and willing service, each one glad To gladden, pleased at pleasure, proud to obey ; Till life glided beguiled, like a smooth stream Banked by perpetual flow’rs, Yasbdhara Queen of the enchanting Court. But innermost, Beyond the richness of those hundred halls, A secret chamber lurked, where skill had spent All lovely fantasies to lull the mind. The entrance of it was a cloistered square — Roofed by the sky, and in the midst a tank — Of milky marble built, and laid with slabs Of milk-white marble ; bordered round the tank And on the steps, and all along the frieze With tender inlaid work of agate-stones. Cool as to tread in summer-time on snows It was to loiter there ; the sunbeams dropped Their gold, and, passing into porch and niche, Softened to shadows, silvery, pale, and dim, As if the very Day paused and grew Eve In love and silence at that bower’s gate ; For there beyond the gate the chamber was, Beautiful, sweet ; a wonder of the world ! Soft light from perfumed lamps through windows fell Of nakre 49 and stained stars of lucent film On golden cloths outspread, and silken beds, And heavy splendor of the purdah’s 50 fringe, Lifted to take only the loveliest in. Here, whether it was night or day none knew, For always streamed that softened light, more bright BOOK THE SECOND. 39 Than sunrise, but as tender as the eve’s ; And always breathed sweet airs, more joy-giving Than morning’s, but as cool as midnight’s breath ; And night and day lutes sighed, and night and day Delicious foods were spread, and dewy fruits, Sherbets new chilled with snows of Himalay, And sweetmeats made of subtle daintiness, With sweet tree-milk in its own ivory cup. And night and day served there a chosen band Of nautch girls, cup-bearers, and cymbalers, Delicate, dark-browed ministers of love, Who fanned the sleeping eyes of the happy Prince, And when he waked, led back his thoughts to bliss With music whispering through the blooms, and charm Of amorous songs and dreamy dances, linked By chime of ankle-bells and wave of arms And silver vina-strings ; 51 while essences Of musk and champak and the blue haze spread From burning spices soothed his soul again To drowse by sweet Yasodhara ; and thus Siddartha lived forgetting. Furthermore, The King commanded that within those walls No mention should be made of death or age, Sorrow, or pain, or sickness. If one drooped In the lovely Court — her dark glance dim, her feet Faint in the dance — the guiltless criminal Passed forth an exile from that Paradise, Lest he should see and suffer at her woe. Bright-eyed intendants watched to execute Sentence on such as spake of the harsh world 40 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Without, wnere aches and plagues were, tears and fears, And wail of mourners, and grim fume of pyres. ’Twas treason if a thread of silver strayed In tress of singing-girl or nautch-dancer ; And every dawn the dying rose was plucked, The dead leaves hid, all evil sights removed : For said the King, “ If he shall pass his youth Far from such things as move to wistfulness, And brooding on the empty eggs of thought, The shadow of this fate, too vast for man, May fade, belike, and I shall see him grow To that great stature of fair sovereignty 52 When he shall rule all lands — if he will rule — The King of kings and glory of his time.” Wherefore, around that pleasant prison-house — Where love was jailer and delights its bars, But far removed from sight — the King bade build A massive wall, and in the wall a gate With brazen folding-doors, which but to roll Back on their hinges asked a hundred arms ; Also the noise of that prodigious gate Opening, was heard full half a yojana. And inside this another gate he made, And yet within another — through the three Must one pass if he quit that Pleasure-house. Three mighty gates there were, bolted and barred, And over each was set a faithful watch ; And the King’s order said, “ Suffer no man To pass the gates, though he should be the Prince : This on your lives — even though it be my son.” Book tlje (Ehirir. In which calm home of happy life and love Ligged our Lord Buddha, knowing not of woe, Nor want, nor pain, nor plague, nor age, nor death, Save as when sleepers roam dim seas in dreams, And land awearied on the shores of day, Bringing strange merchandise from that black voyage. Thus ofttimes when he lay with gentle head Lulled on the dark breasts of Yasodhara, Her fond hands fanning slow his sleeping lids, He would start up and cry, “ My world ! Oh, world ! I hear ! I know ! I come ! ” And she would ask, “ What ails my Lord ? ” with large eyes terror-struck ; For at such times the pity in his look Was awful, and his visage like a god’s. Then would he smile again to stay her tears, And bid the vinas sound ; but once they set A stringed gourd on the sill, there where the wind Could linger o’er its notes and play at will — Wild music makes the wind on silver strings — And those who lay around heard only that ; But Prince Siddartha heard the Devas play, And to his ears they sang such words as these 41 42 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. We are the voices of the wandering wind, Which moan for rest and rest can never find ; Lo ! as the wind is so is mortal life, A moan, a sigh, a sob, a storm, a strife. Wherefore and whence we are ye cannot know , Nor where life springs nor whither life doth go ; We are as ye are, ghosts from the inane, What pleasure have we of our changeful pain ? What pleasure hast thou of thy changeless bliss ? Nay, if love lasted, there were joy in this j But life's way is the wind's way, all these things Are but brief voices breathed on shifting strings. O Maya s son ! because we roam the earth Moan we upon these strings ; we make no mirth, So many woes we see in many lands, So many streaming eyes and wringing hands. Yet mock we while we wail, for, could they blow. This life they cling to is but empty show j ’ Twere all as well to bid a cloud to stand, Or hold a running river with the hand. But thou that art to save, thine hour is nigh ! The sad world waiteth in its misery, The blind world stumbleth on its round of pain ; Rise, Maya's child ! wake ! slumber not again ! We are the voices of the wandering wind : Wander thou, too, O Brince, thy rest to find t BOOK THE THIRD. 43 Leave love for love of lovers , for woe's sake Quit state for sorrow , and deliverance make. So sigh we, passing o'er the silver strings, To thee who know' st not yet of earthly things ; So say we j ?nocking, as we pass away, These lovely shadows wherewith thou dost play. Thereafter it befell he sate at eve Amid his beauteous Court, holding the hand Of sweet Yasbdhara, and some maid told — With breaks of music when her rich voice dropped — An ancient tale to speed the hour of dusk, Of love, and of a magic horse, and lands Wonderful, distant, where pale peoples dwelled, And where the sun at night sank into seas. Then spake he, sighing, “ Chitra 1 brings me back The wind’s song in the strings with that fair tale. Give her, Yasodhara, thy pearl for thanks. But thou, my pearl ! is there so wide a world ? Is there a land which sees the great sun roll Into the waves, and are there hearts like ours, Countless, unknown, not happy — it may be — Whom we might succor if we knew of them ? Ofttimes I marvel, as the Lord of day Treads from the east his kingly road of gold, Who first on the world’s edge hath hailed his beam, The children of the morning ; oftentimes, Even in thine arms and on thy breasts, bright wife, Sore have I panted, at the sun’s decline, To pass with him into that crimson west 44 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And see the peoples of the evening. There must be many we should love — how else ? Now have I in this hour an ache, at last, Thy soft lips cannot kiss away : oh, girl ! O Chitra ! you that know of fairyland ! Where tether they that swift steed of the tale ? My palace for one day upon his back, To ride and ride and see the spread of the earth ! Nay, if I had yon callow vulture’s plumes — The carrion heir of wider realms than mine — How would I stretch for topmost Himalay, Light where the rose-gleam lingers on those snows, And strain my gaze with searching what is round ! Why have I never seen and never sought ? Tell me what lies beyond our brazen gates.” Then one replied, “ The city first, fair Prince ! The temples, and the gardens, and the groves, And then the fields, and afterwards fresh fields, With nullahs , 2 maidans , 3 jungle, koss on koss ; 4 And next King Bimbsara’s realm, and then The vast flat world, with crores on crores 5 of folk.” “Good,” said Siddartha, “let the word be sent That Channa yoke my chariot — at noon To-morrow I shall ride and see beyond.” Whereof they told the King : “ Our Lord, thy son, Wills that his chariot be yoked at noon, That he may ride abroad and see mankind.” “Yea ! ” spake the careful King, “ ’tis time he see ! BOOK THE THIRD. 45 But let the criers go about and bid My city deck itself, so there be met No noisome sight ; and let none blind or maimed, None that is sick or stricken deep in years, No leper, and no feeble folk come forth.” Therefore the stones were swept, and up and down The water-carriers sprinkled all the streets From spirting skins , 6 the housewives scattered fresh Red powder on their thresholds, strung new wreaths, And trimmed the tulsi-bush 7 before their doors. The paintings on the walls were heightened up With liberal brush, the trees set thick with flags, The idols gilded ; in the four-went ways Suryadeva 8 and the great gods shone ’Mid shrines of leaves ; so that the city seemed A capital of some enchanted land. Also the criers passed, with drum and gong, Proclaiming loudly, “ Ho ! all citizens, The King commands that there be seen to-day No evil sight : let no one blind or maimed, None that is sick or stricken deep in years, No leper, and no feeble folk go forth. Let none, too, burn his dead nor bring them out Till nightfall. Thus Suddhodana commands.” So all was comely and the houses trim Throughout Kapilavastu, while the Prince Came forth in painted car, which two steers drew , 9 Snow-white, with swinging dewlaps and huge humps Wrinkled against the carved and lacquered yoke. Goodly it was to mark the people’s joy 46 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Greeting their Prince ; and glad Siddartha waxed At sight of all those liege and friendly folk Bright-clad 10 and laughing as if life were good. “ Fair is the world,” he said, “ it likes me well ! And light and kind these men that are not kings, And sweet my sisters here, who toil and tend ; What have I done for these to make them thus ? Why, if I love them, should those children know ? I pray take up yon pretty Sakya boy Who flung us flowers, and let him ride with me. How good it is to reign in realms like this ! How simple pleasure is, if these be pleased Because I come abroad ! How many things I need not if such little households hold Enough to make our city full of smiles ! Drive, Channa ! through the gates, and let me see More of this gracious world I have not known.” So passed they through the gates, a joyous crowd Thronging about the wheels, whereof some ran Before the oxen, throwing wreaths, some stroked Their silken flanks, some brought them rice and cakes All crying, “ Jai ! jai / 11 for our noble Prince ! ” Thus all the path was kept with gladsome looks And filled with fair sights — for the King’s word was That such should be — when midway in the road, Slow tottering from the hovel where he hid, Crept forth a wretch in rags, haggard and foul, An old, old man, whose shriveled skin, sun-tanned, Clung like a beast’s hide to his fleshless bones. Bent was his back with load of many days, BOOK THE THIRD. 47 His eyepits red with rust of ancient tears, His dim orbs blear with rheum, his toothless jaws Wagging with palsy and the fright to see So many and such joy. One skinny hand Clutched a worn staff to prop his quavering limbs, And one was pressed upon the ridge of ribs Whence came in gasps the heavy painful breath. “ Alms !” moaned he, “give, good people ! for I die To-morrow or the next day ! ” then the cough Choked him, but still he stretched his palm, and stood Blinking, and groaning ’mid his spasms, “ Alms ! ” Then those around had wrenched his feeble feet Aside, and thrust him from the road again, Saying, “ The Prince ! dost see ? get to thy lair ! ” But that Siddartha cried, “ Let be ! let be ! Channa ! what thing is this who seems a man, Yet surely only seems, being so bowed, So miserable, so horrible, so sad ? Are men born sometimes thus ? What meaneth he Moaning ‘ to-morrow or next day I die ? ’ Finds he no food that so his bones jut forth ? What woe hath happened to this piteous one ? ” Then answer made the charioteer, “ Sweet Prince ! This is no other than an aged man. Some fourscore years ago his back was straight, His eye bright, and his body goodly : now The thievish years have sucked his sap away, Pillaged his strength and filched his will and wit ; His lamp has lost its oil, the wick bums black ; What life he keeps is one poor lingering spark Which flickers for the finish : such is age ; 48 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Why should your Highness heed ? ” Then spake the Prince — “ But shall this come to others, or to all, Or is it rare that one should be as he ?” “ Most noble,” answered Channa, “ even as he. Will all these grow if they shall live so long.” “But,” quoth the Prince, “ if I shall live as long Shall I be thus ; and if Yasbdhara Live fourscore years, is this old age for her, Jalim , 12 little Hasta , 13 Gautami , 14 And Gunga , 15 and the others ?” “Yea, great Sir ! " The charioteer replied. Then spake the Prince : “ Turn back, and drive me to my house again ! I have seen that I did not think to see.” Which pondering, to his beauteous Court returned Wistful Siddartha, sad of mien and mood ; Nor tasted he the white cakes nor the fruits Spread for the evening feast, nor once looked up While the best palace-dancers strove to charm : Nor spake — save one sad thing — when wofully Yasodhara sank to his feet and wept, Sighing, “ Hath not my Lord comfort in me ? ” “ Ah, Sweet ! ” he said, “ such comfort that my soul Aches, thinking it must end, for it will end , 16 And we shall both grow old, Yasbdhara ! Loveless, unlovely, weak, and old, and bowed. Nay, though we locked up love and life with lips So close that night and day our breaths grew one, Time would thrust in between to filch away My passion and thy grace, as black Night steals BOOK THE THIRD. 49 The rose-gleams from yon peak, which fade to gray And are not seen to fade. This have I found, And all my heart is darkened with its dread, And all my heart is fixed to think how Love Might save its sweetness from the slayer, Time, Who makes men old.” So through that night he sate Sleepless, uncomforted. And all that night The King Suddhodana dreamed troublous dreams. The first fear of his vision was a flag Broad, glorious, glistening with a golden sun, The mark of Indra ; 17 but a strong wind blew, Rending its folds divine, and dashing it Into the dust ; whereat a concourse came Of shadowy Ones, who took the spoiled silk up And bore it eastward from the city gates. The second fear was ten huge elephants, With silver tusks and feet that shook the earth, Trampling the southern road in mighty march ; And he who sate upon the foremost beast Was the King’s son — the others followed him. The third fear of the vision was a car, Shining with blinding light, which four steeds drew, Snorting white smoke and champing fiery foam ; And in the car the Prince Siddartha sate. The fourth fear was a wheel which turned and turned, With nave of burning gold and jeweled spokes, And strange things written on the binding tire, Which seemed both fire and music as it whirled. The fifth fear was a mighty drum, set down Midway between the city and the hills, 5 ® THE LIGHT OF ASIA. On which the Prince beat with an iron mace, So that the sound pealed like a thunder-storm, Rolling around the sky and far away. The sixth fear was a tower, which rose and rose High o’er the city till its stately head Shone crowned with clouds, and on the top the Prince Stood, scattering from both hands, this way and that, Gems of most lovely light, as if it rained Jacinths and rubies ; and the whole world came, Striving to seize those treasures as they fell Towards the four quarters. But the seventh fear was A noise of wailing, and behold six men Who wept and gnashed their teeth, and laid their palms Upon their mouths, walking disconsolate. These seven fears made the vision of his sleep, But none of all his wisest dream-readers Could tell their meaning. Then the King was wroth, Saying, “ There cometh evil to my house, And none of ye have wit to help me know What the great gods portend sending me this.” So in the city men went sorrowful Because the King had dreamed seven signs of fear Which none could read ; but to the gate there came An aged man, in robe of deer-skin clad, By guise a hermit, known to none ; he cried, “ Bring me before the King, for I can read The vision of his sleep ; ” who, when he heard The sevenfold mysteries of the midnight dream, Bowed reverent and said, “ O Mahardj ! I hail this favored House, whence shall arise BOOK THE THIRD. 51 A wider-reaching splendor than the sun’s ! Lo ! all these seven fears are seven joys, Whereof the first, where thou didst see a flag — Broad, glorious, gilt with Indra’s badge — cast down And carried out, did signify the end Of old faiths and beginning of the new, For there is change with gods not less than men, And as the days pass kalpas pass at length. The ten great elephants that shook the earth The ten great gifts of wisdom signify , 18 In strength whereof the Prince shall quit his state And shake the world with passage of the Truth. The four flame-breathing horses of the car' Are those four fearless virtues 19 which shall bring Thy son from doubt and gloom to gladsome light ; The wheel that turned with nave of burning gold Was that most precious Wheel of perfect Law Which he shall turn in sight of all the world. The mighty drum whereon the Prince did beat, Till the sound filled all lands, doth signify The thunder of the preaching of the Word Which he shall preach ; the tower that grew to heaven The growing of the Gospel of this Buddh Sets forth ; and those rare jewels scattered thence The untold treasures are of that good Law To gods and men dear and desirable. Such is the interpretation of the tower ; But for those six men weeping with shut mouths, They are the six chief teachers whom thy son Shall, with bright truth and speech unanswerable, Convince of foolishness. O King ! rejoice ; The fortune of my Lord the Prince is more 52 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Than kingdoms, and his hermit-rags will be Beyond fine cloths of gold. This was thy dream ! And in seven nights and days these things shall fall.” So spake the holy man, and lowly made The eight prostrations, touching thrice the ground ; Then turned and passed ; but when the King bade send A rich gift after him, the messengers Brought word, “We came to where he entered in At Chandra’s temple , 20 but within was none Save a gray owl which fluttered from the shrine.” The gods come sometimes thus. But the sad King Marveled, and gave command that new delights Be compassed to inthrall Siddartha’s heart Amid those dancers of his pleasure-house, Also he set at all the brazen doors A doubled guard. Yet who shall shut out Fate ? For once again the spirit of the Prince Was moved to see this world beyond his gates, This life of man, so pleasant if its waves Ran not to waste and woful finishing In Time’s dry sands. “ I pray you let me view Our city as it is,” such was his prayer *To King Suddhodana. “Your Majesty In tender heed hath warned the folk before To put away ill things and common sights, And make their faces glad to gladden me, And all the causeways gay ; yet have I learned This is not daily life, and if I stand BOOK THE THIRD. 53 Nearest, my father, to the realm and thee, Fain would I know the people and the streets, Their simple usual ways, and work-day deeds, And lives which those men live who are not kings. Give me good leave, dear Lord ! to pass unknown Beyond my happy gardens ; I shall come The more contented to their peace again, !' Or wiser, father, if not well content. Therefore, I pray thee, let me go at will To-morrow, with my servants, through the streets.” And the King said, among his Ministers, “ Belike this second flight may mend the first. Note how the falcon starts at every sight New from his hood, but what a quiet eye Cometh of freedom ; let my son see all, And bid them bring me tidings of his mind.” Thus on the morrow, when the noon was come, The Prince and Channa passed beyond the gates, Which opened to the signet of the King ; Yet knew not they who rolled the great doors back It was the King’s son in that merchant’s robe , 51 And in the clerkly dress 22 his charioteer. Forth fared they by the common way afoot, Mingling with all the Sakya citizens, Seeing the glad and sad things of the town : The painted streets alive with hum of noon, The traders cross-legged ’mid their spice and grain ,* 8 The buyers with their money in the cloth , 24 The war of words to cheapen this or that , 25 The shout to clear the road , 26 the huge stone wheels, The strong slow oxen and their rustling loads, 54 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. The singing bearers with the palanquins,” The broad-necked hamals 28 sweating in the sun, The housewives bearing water from the well With balanced chatties, and athwart their hips The black-eyed babes ; 29 the fly-swarmed sweetmeat shops , 30 The weaver at his loom , 31 the cotton-bow Twanging , 32 the millstones grinding meal, the dogs Prowling for orts, the skillful armorer With tong and hammer linking shirts of mail, The blacksmith with a mattock and a spear Reddening together in his coals, the school Where round their Gurti, in a grave half-moon, The Sakya children sang the mantras through, And learned the greater and the lesser gods ; 33 The dyers stretching waistcloths in the sun 34 Wet from the vats — orange, and rose, and green ; The soldiers clanking past with swords and shields, The camel-drivers rocking on the humps, The Brahmin proud , 35 the martial Kshatriya , 36 The humble toiling Sudra ; 37 here a throng Gathered to watch some chattering snake-tamer Wind round his wrist the living jewelry Of asp and nag , 38 or charm the hooded death To angry dance with drone of beaded gourd ; 39 There a long line of drums and horns, which went With steeds gay painted and silk canopies, To bring the young bride home ; and here a wife Stealing with cakes and garlands to the god To pray her husband’s safe return from trade, Or beg a boy next birth j 40 hard by the booths BOOK THE THIRD. 55 Where the swart potters beat the noisy brass For lamps and lotas ; 41 thence, by temple walls And gateways, to the river and the bridge Under the city walls. These had they passed When from the roadside moaned a mournful voice, “ Help, masters ! lift me to my feet ; oh, help ! Or I shall die before I reach my house ! ” A stricken wretch it was, whose quivering frame, Caught by some deadly plague, lay in the dust Writhing, with fiery purple blotches specked ; The chill sweat beaded on his brow, his mouth Was dragged awry with twitchings of sore pain, The wild eyes swam with inward agony. Gasping, he clutched the grass to rise, and rose Half-way, then sank, with quaking feeble limbs And scream of terror, crying, “ Ah, the pain ! Good people, help ! ” whereon Siddartha ran, Lifted the woful man with tender hands, With sweet looks laid the sick head on his knee, And while his soft touch comforted the wretch, Asked, “ Brother, what is ill with thee ? what harm Hath fallen ? wherefore canst thou not arise? Why is it, Channa, that he pants and moans, And gasps to speak and sighs so pitiful ? ” Then spake the charioteer : “ Great Prince ! this man Is smitten with some pest ; his elements Are all confounded ; in his veins the blood, Which ran a wholesome river, leaps and boils A fiery flood ; his heart, which kept good time, Beats like an ill-played drum-skin, quick and slow ; THE LIGHT OF ASIA. S<5 His sinews slacken like a bow-string slipped ; The strength is gone from ham, and loin, and neck, And all the grace and joy of manhood fled : This is a sick man with the fit upon him. See how he plucks and plucks to seize his grief, And rolls his bloodshot orbs, and grinds his teeth, And draws his breath as if ’twere choking smoke. Lo ! now he would be dead, but shall not die Until the plague hath had its work in him, Killing the nerves which die before the life ; Then, when his strings have cracked with agony And all his bones are empty of the sense To ache, the plague will quit and light elsewhere. Oh, sir ! it is not good to hold him so ! The harm may pass, and strike thee, even thee.” But spake the Prince, still comforting the man, “ And are there others, are there many thus ? Or might it be to me as now with him ?” “ Great Lord ! ” answered the charioteer, “ this comes In many forms to all men ; griefs and wounds, Sickness and tetters, palsies, leprosies, Hot fevers, watery wastings, issues, blains Befall all flesh and enter everywhere.” * “ Come such ills unobserved ? ” the Prince inquired. And Channa said, “ Like the sly snake they come That stings unseen ; like the striped murderer , 42 Who waits to spring from the Karunda bush ,” 43 Hiding beside the jungle path ; or like The lightning, striking these and sparing those, As chance may send.” “ Then all men live in fear ? ” BOOK THE THIRD. 57 “ So live they, Prince ! ” “ And none can say, 1 1 sleep Happy and whole to-night, and so shall wake ? ’ ” None say it.” “ And the end of many aches, Which come unseen, and will come when they come, Is this, a broken body and sad mind, And so old age ? ” “Yea, if men last as long.” “ But if they cannot bear their agonies, Or if they will not bear, and seek a term ; Or if they bear, and be, as this man is, Too weak except for groans, and so still live, And growing old, grow older, then what end ? ” “ They die, Prince.” “ Die ? ” “ Yea, at the last comes death, In whatsoever way, whatever hour. Some few grow old, most suffer and fall sick, But all must die — behold, where comes the Dead !” Then did Siddartha raise his eyes, and see Fast pacing towards the river brink a band Of wailing people, foremost one who swung An earthen bowl with lighted coals, 44 behind The kinsmen shorn, 45 with mourning marks, ungirt, Crying aloud, “ O Rama, 46 Rama, hear ! Call upon Rama, brothers ; ” next the bier, Knit of four poles with bamboos interlaced, Whereon lay, stark and stiff, feet foremost, lean, Chapfallen, sightless, hollow-flanked, a-grin, 5* THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Sprinkled with red and yellow dust — the Dead, Whom at the four-went ways they turned head first, And crying “ Rama, Rama ! ” carried on To where a pile was reared beside the stream ; 4 ’ Thereon they laid him, building fuel up — Good sleep hath one that slumbers on that bed ! He shall not wake for cold albeit he lies Naked to all the airs — for soon they set The red flame to the corners four, which crept, And licked, and flickered, finding out his flesh And feeding on it with swift hissing tongues, And crackle of parched skin, and snap of joint ; Till the fat smoke thinned and the ashes sank Scarlet and gray, with here and there a bone White midst the gray — the total of the man. Then spake the Prince : “ Is this the end which comes To all who live ? ” “ This is the end that comes To all,” quoth Channa ; “he upon the pyre — Whose remnants are so petty that the crows Caw hungrily, then quit the fruitless feast — Ate, drank, laughed, loved, and lived, and liked life well. Then came — who knows ? — some gust of jungle wind. A stumble on the path, a taint in the tank, A snake’s nip, half a span of angry steel, A chill, a fishbone, or a falling tile, And life was over and the man is dead ; No appetites, no pleasures, and no pains Hath such ; the kiss upon his lips is nought, The fire-scorch nought ; he smelleth not his flesh BOOK THE THIRD. 59 A-roast, nor yet the sandal and the spice They burn ; the taste is emptied from his mouth, The hearing of his ears is clogged, the sight Is blinded in his eyes ; those whom he loved Wail desolate, for even that must go, The body, which was lamp unto the life, Or worms will have a horrid feast of it. Here is the common destiny of flesh : The high and low, the good and bad, must die, And then, ’tis taught, begin anew and live • Somewhere, somehow, — who knows ? — and so again The pangs, the parting, and the lighted pile : — Such is man’s round .” 48 But lo ! Siddartha turned Eyes gleaming with divine tears to the sky, Eyes lit with heavenly pity to the earth ; From sky to earth he looked, from earth to sky, As if his spirit sought in lonely flight Some far-off vision, linking this and that, Lost — past — but searchable, but seen, but known. Then cried he, while his lifted countenance Glowed with the burning passion of a love Unspeakable, the ardor of a hope Boundless, insatiate : “ Oh ! suffering world, Oh ! known and unknown of my common flesh, Caught in this common net of death and woe, And life which binds to both ! I see, I feel The vastness of the agony of earth, The vainness of its joys, the mockery Of all its best, the anguish of its worst ; Since pleasures end in pain, and youth in age, 6o THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And love in loss, and life in hateful death, And death in unknown lives, which will but yoke Men to their wheel again to whirl the round Of false delights and woes that are not false. Me too this lure hath cheated, so it seemed Lovely to live, and life a sunlit stream Forever flowing in a changeless peace ; Whereas the foolish ripple of the flood Dances so lightly down by bloom and lawn Only to pour its crystal quicklier Into the foul salt sea. The veil is rent Which blinded me ! I am as all these men Who cry upon their gods and are not heard Or are not heeded — yet there must be aid ! For them and me and all there must be help * Perchance the gods have need of help themselves Being so feeble that when sad lips cry They cannot save ! I would not let one cry Whom I could save ! How can it be that Brahm 49 Would make a world and keep it miserable, Since, if all-powerful, he leaves it so, He is not good, and if not powerful, He is not God ? — Channa ! lead home again ! It is enough ! mine eyes have seen enough ! ” Which when the King heard, at the gates he set A triple guard, and bade no man should pass By day or night, issuing or entering in, Until the days were numbered of that dream. Book tfje JTonrtl). But when the days were numbered, then befell The parting of our Lord — which was to be — Whereby came wailing in the Golden Home, Woe to the King and sorrow o’er the land, But for all flesh deliverance, and that Law Which — whoso hears — the same shall make him free. Softly the Indian night sinks on the plains At full moon in the month of Chaitra shud, 1 When mangoes redden and the asoka buds 2 Sweeten the breeze, and Rama’s birthday comes, 3 And all the fields are glad and all the towns. Softly that night fell over Vishramvan, Fragrant with blooms and jeweled thick with stars, And cool with mountain airs sighing adown From snow-flats on Himala high-outspread ; For the moon swung above the eastern peaks, Climbing the spangled vault, and lighting clear Rohinx’s ripples and the hills and plains, And all the sleeping land, and near at hand Silvering those roof-tops of the pleasure-house, Where nothing stirred nor sign of watching was, Save at the outer gates whose warders cried 61 6 2 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Mudra * the watchword, and the countersign Angana , 5 and the watch-drums beat a round ; Whereat the earth lay still, except for call Of prowling jackals, and the ceaseless trill Of crickets on the garden grounds. Within — Where the moon glittered through the lace-worked stone, Lighting the walls of pearl-shell and the floors Paved with veined marble — softly fell her beams On such rare company of Indian girls, It seemed some chamber sweet in Paradise Where Devas 6 rested. All the chosen ones Of Prince Siddartha’s pleasure-home were there, The brightest and most faithful of the Court, Each form so lovely in the peace of sleep, That you had said “ This is the pearl of alii ”, Save that beside her or beyond her lay Fairer and fairer, till the pleasured gaze Roamed o’er that feast of beauty as it roams From gem to gem in some great goldsmith- work, Caught by each color till the next is seen. With careless grace they lay. their soft brown limbs Part hidden, part revealed ; their glossy hair Bound back with gold or flowers, or flowing loose In black waves down the shapely nape and neck. Lulled into pleasant dreams by happy toils, They slept, no wearier than jeweled birds Which sing and love all day, then under wing Fold head till morn bids sing and love again. Lamps of chased silver swinging from the roof BOOK THE FOURTH. 63 In silver chains, and fed with perfumed oils, Made with the moonbeams tender lights and shades, Whereby were seen the perfect lines of grace, The bosom’s placid heave, the soft stained palms Drooping or clasped, the faces fair and dark, The great arched brows, the parted lips, the teeth Like pearls a merchant picks to make a string, The satin-lidded eyes, with lashes dropped Sweeping the delicate cheeks, the rounded wrists, The smooth small feet with bells and bangles decked, Tinkling low music where some sleeper moved, Breaking her smiling dream of some new dance Praised by the Prince, some magic ring to find, Some fairy love-gift. Here one lay full-length, Her vina by her cheek, and in its strings The little fingers still all interlaced As when the last notes of her light song played Those radiant eyes to sleep and sealed her own. Another slumbered folding in her arms A desert-antelope, its slender head Buried with back-sloped horns between her breasts. Soft nestling ; it was eating — when both drowsed — Red roses, and her loosening hand still held A rose half-mumbled, while a rose-leaf curled Between the deer’s lips. Here two friends had dozed Together, weaving mogra-buds, which bound Their sister-sweetness in a starry chain, Linking them limb to limb and heart to heart One pillowed on the blossoms, one on her. Another, ere she slept, was stringing stones To make a necklet — agate, onyx, sard. 6 4 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Coral, and moonstone — round her wrist it gleamed A coil of splendid color, while she held, Unthreaded yet, the bead to close it up, Green turkis, carved with golden gods and scripts. Lulled by the cadence of the garden stream, Thus lay they on the clustered carpets, each A girlish rose with shut leaves, waiting dawn To open and make daylight beautiful. This was the antechamber of the Prince ; But at the purdah’s fringe the sweetest slept — Gunga and Gotama — chief ministers In that still house of love. The purddh hung. Crimson and blue, with broidered threads of gold. Across a portal carved in sandal-wood, Whence by three steps the way was to the bower Of inmost splendor, and the marriage-couch Set on a dais soft with silver cloths, Where the foot fell as though it trod on piles Of neem-blooms. All the walls were plates of pearl, Cut shapely from the shells of Lanka’s 7 wave ; And o’er the alabaster roof there ran Rich inlayings of lotus and of bird, Wrought in skilled work of lazulite and jade, Jacinth and jasper ; woven round the dome, And down the sides, and all about the frames Wherein were set the fretted lattices, Through which there breathed, with moonlight and cool airs, Scents from the shell-flowers and the jasmine sprays ; Not bringing thither grace or tenderness BOOK THE FOURTH. 65 Sweeter than shed from those fair presences Within the place — the beauteous Sakya Prince. And hers, the stately, bright Yasbdhara. Half risen from her soft nest at his side, The chuddah 8 fallen to her waist, her brow Laid in both palms, the lovely Princess leaned With heaving bosom and fast falling tears. Thrice with her lips she touched Siddartba’s hand, And at the third kiss moaned, “ Awake, my Lord ! Give me the comfort of thy speech ! ” Then he — “ What is it with thee, O my life ? ” but still She moaned anew before the words would come ; Then spake, “ Alas, my Prince ! I sank to sleep Most happy, for the babe I bear of thee Quickened this eve, and at my heart there beat That double pulse of life and joy and love Whose happy music lulled me, but — aho ! — In slumber I beheld three sights of dread, With thought whereof my heart is throbbing yet. I saw a white bull with wide branching horns, A lord of pastures, pacing through the streets, Bearing upon his front a gem which shone As if some star had dropped to glitter there, Or like the kantha-stone 9 the great Snake keeps To make bright daylight underneath the earth. Slow through the streets towards the gates he paced, And none could stay him, though there came a voice From Indra’s temple, ‘ If ye stay him not, The glory of the city goeth forth.’ Yet none could stay him. Then I wept aloud, 3 66 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And locked my arms about his neck, and strove, And bade them bar the gates ; but that ox-king Bellowed, and, lightly tossing free his crest, Broke from my clasp, and bursting through the bars, Trampled the warders down and passed away. The next strange dream was this : Four Presences Splendid, with shining eyes, so beautiful They seemed the Regents of the Earth who dwell On Mount Sumeru, lighting from the sky With retinue of countless heavenly ones, Swift swept unto our city, where I saw The golden flag of Indra on the gate Flutter and fall ; and lo ! there rose instead A glorious banner, all the folds whereof Rippled with flashing fire of rubies sewn Thick on the silver threads, the rays wherefrom Set forth new words and weighty sentences Whose message made all living creatures glad ; And from the east the wind of sunrise blew With tender waft, opening those jeweled scrolls So that all flesh might read ; and wondrous blooms — Plucked in what clime I know not — fell in showers. Colored as none are colored in our groves.” Then spake the Prince : “ All this, my Lotus-flower i Was good to see.” “ Ay, Lord,” the Princess said, “Save that it ended with a voice of fear Crying, ‘ The time is nigh ! the time is nigh ! ’ Thereat the third dream came ; for when I sought Thy side, sweet Lord ! ah, on our bed there lay BOOK THE FOURTH 6 7 An unpressed pillow and an empty rol "Nothing of thee but those ! — nothing of thee, Who art my life and light, my king, my world ! And sleeping still I rose, and sleeping saw Thy belt of pearls, tied here below my breasts, Change to a stinging snake ; my ankle-rings Fall off, my golden bangles part and fall • The jasmines in my hair wither to dust ; While this our bridal-couch sank to the ground, And something rent the crimson purdah down ; Then far away I heard the white bull low, And far away the embroidered banner flap, And once again that cry, ‘ The time is come ! ’ But with that cry — which shakes my spirit still — I woke ! O Prince ! what may such visions mean Except I die, or — worse than any death — Thou shouldst forsake me or be taken ? ” Sweet As the last smile of sunset was the look Siddartha bent upon his weeping wife. “ Comfort thee, dear ! ” he said, “ if comfort lives In changeless love ; for though thy dreams may be Shadows of things to come, and though the gods Are shaken in their seats, and though the world Stands nigh, perchance, to know some way of help, Yet, whatsoever fall to thee and me, Be sure I loved and love Yasbdhara. Thou knowest how I muse these many moons, Seeking to save the sad earth I have seen ; And when the time comes, that which will be will. But if my soul yearns sore for souls unknown, 68 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And if I grieve for griefs which are not mine, Judge how my high-winged thoughts must hover here O’er all these lives that share and sweeten mine — So dear ! and thine the dearest, gentlest, best, And nearest. Ah, thou mother of my babe ! Whose body mixed with mine for this fair hope, When most my spirit wanders, ranging round The lands and seas — as full of ruth for men As the far-flying dove is full of ruth For her twin nestlings — ever it has come Home with glad wing and passionate plumes to thee, Who art the sweetness of my kind best seen, The utmost of their good, the tenderest Of all their tenderness, mine most of alL Therefore, whatever after this betide, Bethink thee of that lordly bull which owed, That jeweled banner in thy dream which waved Its folds departing, and of this be sure, Always I loved and always love thee well, And what I sought for all sought most for thee. But thou, take comfort ; and, if sorrow falls, Take comfort still in deeming there may be A way of peace on earth by woes of ours ; And have with this embrace what faithful love Can think of thanks or frame for benison — Too little, seeing love’s strong self is weak — Yet kiss me on the mouth, and drink these words From heart to heart therewith, that thou mayst know — What others will not — that I loved thee most Because I loved so well all living souls. Now, Princess ! rest, for I will rise and watch.” BOOK THE FOURTH. 69 Then in her tears she slept, but sleeping sighed- — As if that vision passed again — “ The time ! The time is come ! ” Whereat Siddartha turned, And, lo ! the moon shone by the Crab ! the stars In that same silver order long foretold Stood ranged to say, “ This is the night ! — choose thou The way of greatness or the way of good : To reign a King of kings, or wander lone, Crownless and homeless, that the world be helped.” Moreover, with the whispers of the gloom Came to his ears again that warning song, As when the Devas spoke upon the wind : And surely Gods were round about the place Watching our Lord, who watched the shining stars. “ I will depart,” he spake ; “ the hour is come ! Thy tender lips, dear sleeper, summon me To that which saves the earth but sunders us ; And in the silence of yon sky I read My fated message flashing. Unto this Came I, and unto this all nights and days Have led me ; for I will not have that crown Which may be mine : I lay aside those realms Which wait the gleaming of my naked sword : My. chariot shall not roll with bloody wheels From victory to victory, till earth Wears the red record of my name. I choose To tread its paths with patient, stainless feet, Making its dust my bed, its loneliest wastes My dwelling, and its meanest things my mates : Clad in no prouder garb than outcasts wear, 7o THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Fed with no meats save what the charitable Give of their will, sheltered by no more pomp Than the dim cave lends or the jungle-bush. This will I do because the woful cry Of life and all flesh living cometh up Into my ears, and all my soul is full Of pity for the sickness of this world ; Which I will heal, if healing may be found By uttermost renouncing and strong strife. For which of all the great and lesser Gods Have power or pity ? Who hath seen them — who ? What have they wrought to help their worshipers ? How hath it steaded man to pray, and pay Tithes of the corn and oil, to chant the charms, To slay the shrieking sacrifice, to rear The stately fane, to feed the priests, and call On Vishnu , 10 Shiva , 11 Surya , 18 who save None — not the worthiest — from the griefs that teach Those litanies of flattery and fear Ascending day by day, like wasted smoke ? Hath any of my brothers ’scaped thereby The aches of life, the stings of love and loss, The fiery fever and the ague-shake, The slow, dull sinking into withered age, The horrible dark death — and what beyond Waits — till the whirling wheel comes up again, And new lives bring new sorrows to be borne, New generations for the new desires Which have their end in the old mockeries ? Hath any of my tender sisters found Fruit of the fast or harvest of the hymn, BOOK THE FOURTH. 7 * Or bought one pang the less at bearing-time For white curds offered and trim tulsf-leaves ? Nay ; it may be some of the Gods are good And evil some, but all in action weak ; Both pitiful and pitiless, and both — As men are — bound upon this wheel of change, Knowing the former and the after lives. For so our scriptures truly seem to teach, That — once, and wheresoe’er, and whence begun — Life runs its rounds of living, climbing up From mote, and gnat, and worm, reptile, and fish, Bird and shagged beast, man, demon, deva, God, To clod and mote again ; so are we kin To all that is ; and thus, if one might save Man from his curse, the whole wide world should share The lightened horror of this ignorance Whose shadow is chill fear, and cruelty Its bitter pastime. Yea, if one might save ! And means must be ! There must be refuge ! Men Perished in winter-winds till one smote fire From flint-stones coldly hiding what they held, The red spark treasured from the kindling sun. They gorged on flesh like wolves, till one sowed corn, Which grew a weed, yet makes the life of man ; They mowed and babbled till some tongue struck speech, And patient fingers framed the lettered sound. What good gift have my brothers, but it came From search and strife and loving sacrifice ? If one, then, being great and fortunate, Rich, dowered with health and ease, from birth designed To rule — if he would rule — a King of kings ; 72 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. If one, not tired with life’s long day but glad I’ the freshness of its morning, one not cloyed With love’s delicious feasts, but hungry still ; If one not worn and wrinkled, sadly sage, But joyous in the glory and the grace That mix with evils here, and free to choose Earth’s loveliest at his will : one even as I, Who ache not, lack not, grieve not, save with griefs Which are not mine, except as I am man ; — If such a one, having so much to give, Gave all, laying it down for love of men, And thenceforth spent himself to search for truth, Wringing the secret of deliverance forth, Whether it lurk in hells or hide in heavens, Or hover, unrevealed, nigh unto all : Surely at last, far off, sometime, somewhere, The veil would lift for his deep-searching eyes, The road would open for his painful feet, That should be won for which he lost the world, And Death might find him conqueror of death. This will I do, who have a realm to lose, Because I love my realm, because my heart Beats with each throb of all the hearts that ache, Known and unlfnown, these that are mine and those Which shall be mine, a thousand million more Saved by this sacrifice I offer now. Oh, summoning stars ! I come ! Oh, mournful eartn For thee and thine I lay aside my youth, My throne, my joys, my golden days, my nights, My happy palace — and thine arms, sweet Queen ! Harder to put aside than all the rest ! BOOK THE FOURTH. 73 Yet thee, too, I shall save, saving this earth ; And that which stirs within thy tender womb, My child, the hidden blossom of our loves, Whom if I wait to bless my mind will fail. Wife ! child ! father ! and people ! ye must share A little while the anguish of this hour That light may break and all flesh learn the Law. Now am I fixed, and now I will depart, Never to come again till what I seek Be found — if fervent search and strife avail.” So with his brow he touched her feet, and bent The farewell of fond eyes, unutterable, Upon her sleeping face , 13 still wet with tears ; And thrice around the bed in reverence, As though it were an altar, softly stepped With clasped hands laid upon his beating heart, “ For never,” spake he, “ lie I there again ! ” And thrice he made to go, but thrice came back, So strong her beauty was, so large his love : Then, o’er his head drawing his cloth, he turned And raised the purdah’s edge : There drooped, close-hushed, In such sealed sleep as water-lilies know, The lovely garden of his Indian girls ; That twin dark-petaled lotus-buds of all — Gunga and Gautami — on either side, And those, their silk-leaved sisterhood, beyond. “ Pleasant ye are to me, sweet friends ! ” he said, “ And dear to leave ; yet if I leave ye not What else will come to all of us save eld 74 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Without assuage and death without avail ? Lo ! as ye lie asleep so must ye lie A-dead ; and when the rose dies where are gone Its scent and splendor ? when the lamp is drained Whither is fled the flame? Press heavy, Night ! Upon their down-dropped lids and seal their lips, That no tear stay me and no faithful voice. For all the brighter that these made my life, The bitterer it is that they and I, And all, should live as trees do — so much spring, Such and such rains and frosts, such winter-times, And then dead leaves, with may be spring again, Or ax-stroke at the root. This will not I, Whose life here was a God’s ! — this would not I, Though all my days were godlike, while men moan Under their darkness. Therefore farewell, friends ! While life is good to give, I give, and go To seek deliverance and that unknown Light ! ” Then, lightly treading where those sleepers lay, Into the night Siddartha passed : its eyes. The watchful stars, looked love on him : its breath, The wandering wind, kissed his robe’s fluttered fringe ; The garden-blossoms, folded for the dawn, Opened their velvet hearts to waft him scents From pink and purple censers : o’er the land, From Himalay unto the Indian Sea, A tremor spread, as if earth’s soul beneath Stirred with an unknown hope ; and holy books — Which tell the story of our Lord — say, too, That rich celestial musics thrilled the air BOOK THE FOURTH. 75 From hosts on hosts of shining ones, who thronged Eastward and westward, making bright the night — Northward and southward, making glad the ground. Also those four dread Regents of the Earth, Descending at the doorway, two by two, — With their bright legions of Invisibles In arms of sapphire, silver, gold, and pearl — Watched with joined hands the Indian Prince, who stood, His tearful eyes raised to the stars, and lips Close-set with purpose of prodigious love. Then strode he forth into the gloom and cried, “ Channa, awake ! and bring out Kantaka ! ” “ What would my Lord ? ” the charioteer replied — Slow-rising from his place beside the gate — “To ride at night when all the ways are dark ? ” “ Speak low,” Siddartha said, “ and bring my horse, For now the hour is come when I should quit This golden prison where my heart lives caged To find the truth ; which henceforth I will seek, For all men’s sake, until the truth be found.” “ Alas ! dear Prince,” answered the charioteer, “ Spake then for nought those wise and holy men Who cast the stars and bade us wait the time When King Suddhodana’s great son should rule Realms upon realms, and be a Lord of lords ? Wilt thou ride hence and let the rich world slip Out of thy grasp, to hold a beggar’s bowl ? THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 76 Wilt thou go forth into the friendless waste That hast this Paradise of pleasures here ? ” The Prince made answer, “ Unto this I came, And not for thrones : the kingdom that I crave Is more than many realms — and all things pass To change and death. Bring me forth. Kantaka ! ” “Most honored,” spake again the charioteer, “ Bethink thee of my Lord thy father’s grief ! Bethink thee of their woe whose bliss thou art — How shalt thou help them, first undoing them ? ” Siddartha answered, “ Friend, that love is false Which clings to love for selfish sweets of love ; But I, who love these more than joys of mine — Yea, more than joy of theirs — depart to save Them and all flesh, if utmost love avail. Go, bring me Kantaka ! ” Then Channa said, “ Master, I go ! ” and forthwith, mournfully, Unto the stall he passed, and from the rack Took down the silver bit and bridle-chains, Breast-cord and curb, and knitted fast the straps, And linked the hooks, and led out Kantaka : Whom tethering to the ring, he combed and dressed, Stroking the snowy coat to silken gloss ; Next on the steed he laid the numdah 14 square, Fitted the saddle-cloth across, and set The saddle fair, drew tight the jeweled girths. BOOK THE FOURTH. 77 Buckled the breech-bands and the martingale, And made 'fall both the stirrups of worked gold. Then over all he cast a golden net, With tassels of seed-pearl and silken strings, And led the great horse to the palace door, Where stood the Prince ° but when he saw his Lord, Right glad he waxed and joyously he neighed, Spreading his scarlet nostrils ; and the books Write, “ Surely all had heard Kantaka’s neigh, And that strong trampling of his iron heels, Save that the Devas laid their unseen wings Over their ears and kept the sleepers deaf.” Fondly Siddartha drew the proud head down, Patted the shining neck, and said, “ Be still, White Kantaka ! be still, and bear me now The farthest journey ever rider rode ; For this night take I horse to find the truth, And where my quest will end yet know I not, Save that it shall not end until I find. Therefore to-night, good steed, be fierce and bold ! Let nothing stay thee, though a thousand blades Deny the road ! let neither wall nor moat Forbid our flight ! Look ! if I touch thy flank And cry, ‘ On, Kantaka ! ’ let whirlwinds lag Behind thy course ! Be fire and air, my horse ! To stead thy Lord, so shalt thou share with him The greatness of this deed which helps the world ; For therefore ride I, not for men alone, But for all things which, speechless, share our pain And have no hope, nor wit to ask for hope. Now, therefore, bear thy master valorously f ** 7 8 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Then to the saddle lightly leaping, he Touched the arched crest, and Kantaka sprang forth With armed hoofs sparkling on the stones and ring Of champing bit ; but none did hear that sound, For that the Suddha Devas , 15 gathering near, Plucked the red mohra-flowers 16 and strewed them thick Under his tread, while hands invisible Muffled the ringing bit and bridle-chains. Moreover, it is written when they came Upon the pavement near the inner gates. The Yakshas of the air laid magic cloths Under the stallion’s feet, so that he went Softly and still. But when they reached the gate” Of tripled brass — which hardly fivescore men Served to unbar and open — lo J the doors Rolled back all silently, though one might hear daytime two kos off the thunderous roar Of those grim hinges and unwieldy plates. ^irso the middle and the outer gates Unfolded each their monstrous portals thus In silence as Siddartha and his steed Drew near ; while underneath their shadow lay, Silent as dead men, all those chosen guards — The lance and sword let fall, the shields unbraced, Captains and soldiers — for there came a wind, Drowsier than blows o’er Malwa’s 18 fields of sleep, Before the Prince’s path, which, being breathed, Lulled every sense aswoon : and so he passed Free from the palace. BOOK THE FOURTH. 79 When the morning star Stood half a spear’s length from the eastern rim, And o’er the earth the breath of morning sighed Rippling Anoma’s wave , 19 the border-stream, Then drew he rein, and leaped to earth and kissed White Kantaka betwixt the ears, and spake Full sweet to Channa : 20 “This which thou hast done Shall bring thee good and bring all creatures good. Be sure I love thee always for thy love. Lead back my horse and take my crest-pearl here, My princely robes, which henceforth stead me not, My jeweled sword-belt and my sword, and these The long locks by its bright edge severed thus From off my brows. Give the King all, and say Siddartha prays forget him till he come Ten times a Prince, with royal wisdom won From lonely searchings and the strife for light ; Where, if I conquer, lo ! all earth is mine — Mine by chief service ! — tell him — mine by love ! Since there is hope for man only in man, And none hath sought for this as I will seek, Who cast away my world to save my world.” IBook the jPifil). Round RAj Agriha 1 five fair hills arose, Guarding King Bimbsara’s sylvan town: BaibhAra , 2 green with lemon-grass and palms; Bipulla, at whose foot thin Sarsuti 3 Steals with warm ripple; shadowy Tapovan , 4 Whose steaming pools mirror black rocks, which ooze Sovereign earth-butter 5 from their rugged roofs ; South-east the vulture-peak Sailagiri ; 6 And eastward Ratnagiri, hill of gems. A winding track, paven with foot-worn slabs, Leads thee by safflower fields and bamboo tufts Under dark mangoes and the jujube-trees , 7 Past milk-white veins of rock and jasper crags, Low cliff and flats of jungle-flowers, to where The shoulder of that mountain, sloping west, O’erhangs a cave with wild figs canopied. Lo ! thou who comest thither, bare thy feet And bow thy head ! for all this spacious earth Hath not a spot more dear and hallowed. Here Lord Buddha sate 8 the scorching summers through, The driving rains, the chilly dawns and eves ; Wearing for all men’s sakes the yellow robe, 80 BOOK THE FIFTH Si Eating in beggar’s guise the scanty meal Chance-gathered from the charitable ; at night Couched on the grass, homeless, alone ; while yelped The sleepless jackals round his cave, or coughs Of famished tiger from the thicket broke. By day and night here dwelt the World-honored, Subduing that fair body born for bliss 1 With fast and frequent watch and search intense Of silent meditation, so prolonged That ofttimes while he mused — as motionless As the fixed rock his seat — the squirrel leaped U pon his knee, the timid quail led forth Her brood between his feet, and blue doves pecked The rice-grains from the bowl beside his hand. Thus would he muse from noontide 9 — when the land Shimmered with heat, and walls and temples danced In the reeking air — till sunset, noting not The blazing globe roll down, nor evening glide, Purple and swift, across the softened fields ; Nor the still coming of the stars, nor throb Of drum-skins in the busy town, nor screech Of owl and night-jar ; wholly wrapt from self In keen unraveling of the threads of thought And steadfast pacing of life’s labyrinths. i Thus would he sit till midnight hushed the world, Save where the beasts of darkness in the brake Crept and cried out, as fear and hatred cry, As lust and avarice and anger creep In the black jungles of man’s ignorance. Then slept he for what space the fleet moon asks 8a THE LIGHT OF ASIA. To swim a tenth part of her cloudy sea; But rose ere the False-dawn , 10 and stood again Wistful on some dark platform of his hill, Watching the sleeping earth with ardent eyes And thoughts embracing all its living things, While o’er the waving fields that murmur move Which is the kiss of Morn waking the lands, And in the east that miracle of Day Gathered and grew. At first a dusk so dim Night seems still unaware of whispered dawn, But soon — before the jungle-cock crows twice — A white verge clear, a widening, brightening white, High as the herald-star, which fades in floods Of silver, warming into pale gold, caught By topmost clouds, and flaming on their rims To fervent golden glow, flushed from the brink With saffron, scarlet, crimson, amethyst ; Whereat the sky burns splendid to the blue, And, robed in raiment of glad light, the King Of Life and Glory cometh ! n Then our Lord, After the manner of a Rishl, hailed The rising orb, ls and went — ablutions made — Down by the winding path unto the town ; And in the fashion of a Rishi passec. From street to street, with begging-bowl in hand, Gathering the little pittance of his needs. Soon was it filled, for all the townsmen cried, “Take of our store, great sir ! ” and “ Take of ours Marking his godlike face and eyes enwrapt ; And mothers, when they saw our Lord go by, BOOK THE FIFTH. 83 Would bid their children fall to kiss his feet, And lift his robe’s hem to their brows, or run To fill his jar, and fetch him milk and cakes. And ofttimes as he paced, gentle and slow, Radiant with heavenly pity, lost in care For those he knew not, save as fellow-lives, The dark surprised eyes of some Indian maid Would dwell in sudden love and worship deep On that majestic form, as if she saw Her dreams of tenderest thought made true, and grace Fairer than ‘mortal fire her breast. But he Passed onward with the bowl and yellow robe, By mild speech paying all those gifts of hearts, Wending his way back to the solitudes To sit upon his hill with holy men, And hear and ask of wisdom and its roads. Midway on Ratnagiri’s groves of calm, Beyond the city, but below the caves, Lodged such as hold the body foe to soul, And flesh a beast which men must chain and tame With bitter pains, till sense of pain is killed, And tortured nerves vex torturer no more — Yogis 13 and Brahmacharis , 14 Bhikshus , 15 all A gaunt and mournful band , 16 dwelling apart. Some day and night had stood with lifted arms, Till — drained of blood and withered by disease — Their slowly-wasting joints and stiffened limbs Jutted from sapless shoulders like dead forks From forest trunks. Others had clinched their hands So long and with so fierce a fortitude. 8 4 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. The claw-like nails grew through the festered palm. Some walked on sandals spiked ; some with sharp flints Gashed breast and brow and thigh, scarred these with fire, Threaded their flesh with jungle thorns and spits, Besmeared with mud and ashes, crouching foul In rags of dead men wrapped about their loins. Certain there were inhabited the spots Where death-pyres smouldered, cowering defiled With corpses for their company, and kites Screaming around them o’er the funeral-spoils : Certain who cried five hundred times a day The names of Shiva, wound with darting snakes About their sun-tanned necks and hollow flanks One palsied foot drawn up against the ham. So gathered they, a grievous company ; Crowns blistered by the blazing heat, eyes bleared, Sinews and muscles shriveled, visages Haggard and wan as slain men’s, five days dead ; Here crouched one in the dust who noon by noon Meted a thousand grains of millet out, Ate it with famished patience, seed by seed, And so starved on ; there one who bruised his pulse With bitter leaves lest palate should be pleased ; And next, a miserable saint self-maimed, Eyeless and tongueless, sexless, crippled, deaf ; The body by the mind being thus stripped For glory of much suffering, and the bliss Which they shall win — say holy books — whose woe Shames gods that send us woe, and makes men gods Stronger to suffer than Hell is to harm. BOOK THE FIFTH. 85 Whom sadly eying spake our Lord to one, Chief of the woe-begones : “ Much-suffering sir ! These many moons I dwell upon the hill — Who am a seeker of the Truth — and see My brothers here, and thee, so piteously Self-anguished ; wherefore add ye ills to life Which is so evil ? ” Answer made the sage : “ ’ Tis written if a man shall mortify His flesh, till pain be grown the life he lives And death voluptuous rest, such woes shall purge Sin’s dross away, and the soul, purified, Soar from the furnace of its sorrow, winged For glorious spheres and splendor past all thought.” “ Yon cloud which floats in heaven,” the Prince replied, “ Wreathed like gold cloth around your Indra’s throne, Rose thither from the tempest-driven sea ; But it must fall again in tearful drops, Trickling through rough and painful water-ways By cleft and nullah and the muddy flood, To Gunga and the sea, wherefrom it sprang. Know’st thou, my brother, if it be not thus, After their many pains, with saints in bliss ? Since that which rises falls, and that which buys Is spent ; and if ye buy heav’n with your blood In hell’s hard market, when the bargain’s through The toil begins again ! ” “ It may begin,” The hermit moaned. “ Alas ! we know not this, 86 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Nor surely anything ; yet after night Day comes, and after turmoil peace, and we Hate this accursed flesh which clogs the soul That fain would rise ; so, for the sake of soul, We stake brief agonies in game with Gods To gain the larger joys.” “ Yet if they last A myriad years,” he said, “ they fade at length, Those joys ; or if not, is there then some life Below, above, beyond, so unlike life It will not change ? Speak ! do your Gods endure Forever, brothers ?” “ Nay,” the Yogis said, “ Only great Brahm endures : the Gods but live.” n Then spake Lord Buddha : “ Will ye, being wise, As ye seem holy and strong-hearted ones, Throw these sore dice, which are your groans and moans For gains which may be dreams, and must have end ? Will ye, for love of soul, so loathe your flesh, So scourge and maim it, that it shall not serve To bear the spirit on, searching for home, But founder on the track before nightfall, Like willing steed o’er-spurred ? Will ye, sad sirs, Dismantle and dismember this fair house, Where we have come to dwell by painful pasts ; Whose windows give us light — the little light — Whereby we gaze abroad to know if dawn Will break, and whither winds the better road ? " BOOK THE FIFTH. 87 Then cried they, “We have chosen this for road And tread it, Rajaputra , 18 till the close — Though all its stones were fire — in trust of death. Speak, if thou know’st a way more excellent ; If not, peace go with thee ! ” Onward he passed, Exceeding sorrowful, seeing how men Fear so to die they are afraid to fear, Lust so to live they dare not love their life, But plague it with fierce penances, belike To please the Gods who grudge pleasure to man ; Belike to balk hell by self-kindled hells ; Belike in holy madness, hoping soul May break the better through their wasted flesh. “ Oh, florets of the field ! ” Siddartha said, “ Who turn your tender faces to the sun — Glad of the light, and grateful with sweet breath Of fragrance and these robes of reverence donned Silver and gold and purple — none of ye Miss perfect living, none of ye despoil Your happy beauty. Oh, ye palms ! which rise Eager to pierce the sky and drink the wind Blown from Malaya 19 and the cool blue seas, What secret know ye that ye grow content, From time of tender shoot to time of fruit, Murmuring such sun-songs from your feathered crowns ; Ye, too, who dwell so merry in the trees — Quick-darting parrots, bee-birds, bulbuls, doves — None of ye hate your life, none of ye deem To strain to better by foregoing needs ! \ 88 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. But man, who slays ye — being lord — is wise, And wisdom, nursed on blood, cometh thus forth In self-tormentings ! ” While the Master spake Blew down the mount the. dust of pattering feet, White goats and black sheep winding slow their way, With many a lingering nibble at the tufts, And wanderings from the path, where water gleamed Or wild figs hung. But always as they strayed The herdsman cried, or slung his sling, and kept The silly crowd still moving to the plain. A ewe with couplets in the flock there was, Some hurt had lamed one lamb, which toiled behind Bleeding, while in the front its fellow skipped, And the vexed dam hither and thither ran, Fearful to lose this little one or that ; Which when our Lord did mark, full tenderly He took the limping lamb upon his neck, Saying, “ Poor woolly mother, be at peace ! Whither thou goest I will bear thy care ; ’Twere all as good to ease one beast of grief As sit and watch the sorrows of the world In yonder caverns with the priests who pray.” “ But,” spake he to the herdsmen, “ wherefore, friends Drive ye the flocks adown under high noon, Since ’tis at evening that men fold their sheep ? ” And answer gave the peasants : “ We are sent To fetch a sacrifice of goats five-score, And five-score sheep, the which our Lord the King Slayeth this night in worship of his gods.” BOOK THE FIFTH. 8 9 Then said the Master : “ I will also go ! ” So paced he patiently, bearing the lamb Beside the herdsmen in the dust and sun, The wistful ewe low bleating at his feet. Whom, when they came unto the river-side, A woman — dove-eyed, young, with tearful face And lifted hands — saluted, bending low : “Lord ! thou art he,” she said, “who yesterday Had pity on me in the fig-grove here, Where I live lone and reared my child ; but he Straying amid the blossoms found a snake, Which twined about his wrist, whilst he did laugh And tease the quick forked tongue and opened mouth Of that cold playmate. But, alas ! ere long He turned so pale and still, I could not think Why he should cease to play, and let my breast Fall from his lips. And one said, ‘ He is sick Of poison ; ’ and another, ‘ He will die.’ But I, who could not iose my precious boy, Prayed of them physic, which might bring the light Back to his eyes ; it was so very small That kiss-mark of the serpent, and I think It could not hate him, gracious as he was, Nor hurt him in his sport. And some one said, ‘ There is a holy man upon the hill — Lo ! now he passeth in the yellow robe — Ask of the Rishi if there be a cure For that which ails thy son.’ Whereon I came Trembling to thee, whose brow is like a god’s, And wept and drew the face-cloth from my babe, 9 o THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Praying thee tell what simples might be good. And thou, great sir ! didst spurn me not, but gaze With gentle eyes and touch with patient hand ; Then draw the face-cloth back, saying to me, ‘ Yea ! little sister, there is that might heal Thee first, and him, if thou couldst fetch the thing ; For they who seek physicians bring to them What is ordained. Therefore, I pray thee, find Black mustard-seed, a tola ; 20 only mark Thou take it not from any hand or house Where father, mother, child, or slave hath died ; It shall be well if thou canst find such seed.’ Thus didst thou speak, my Lord ! ” The Master smiled Exceeding tenderly. “Yea! I spake thus, Dear Kisagotami ! But didst thou find The seed ? ” “ I went, Lord, clasping to my breast The babe, grown colder, asking at each hut — Here in the jungle and towards the town — ‘ I pray you, give me mustard, of your grace, A tola — black ; ’ and each who had it gave, For all the poor are piteous to the poor ; But when I asked, * In my friend’s household here Hath any peradventure ever died — Husband, or wife, or child, or slave ? ’ they said : ‘ O Sister ! what is this you ask ? the dead Are very many, and the living few ! ’ So with sad thanks I gave the mustard back, And prayed of others ; but the others said, ‘ Here is the seed, but we have lost our slave ! ' BOOK THE FIFTH. 91 ‘ Here is the seed, but our good man is dead ! ’ ‘ Here is some seed, but he that sowed it died Between the rain-time and the harvesting ! ’ Ah, sir ! I could not find a single house Where there was mustard-seed and none had died ! Therefore I left my child — who would not suck Nor smile — beneath the wild-vines by the stream, To seek thy face and kiss thy feet, and pray Where I might find this seed and find no death, If now, indeed, my baby be not dead, As I do fear, and as they said to me.” “ My sister ! thou hast found,” the Master said, “ Searching for what none finds — that bitter balm I had to give thee. He thou lovedst slept Dead on thy bosom yesterday : to-day Thou know’st the whole wide world weeps with thy woe : The grief which all hearts share grows less for one. Lo ! I would pour my blood if it could stay Thy tears and win the secret of that curse Which makes sweet love our anguish, and which drives O’er flowers and pastures to the sacrifice — As these dumb beasts are driven — men their lords. I seek that secret : bury thou thy child ! ” So entered they the city side by side, The herdsman and the Prince, what time the sun Gilded slow Sona’s distant stream , 21 and threw Long shadows down the street and through the gate Where the King’s men kept watch. But when these saw Our Lord bearing the lamb, the guards stood back, 92 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. The market-people drew their wains aside, In the bazar buyers and sellers stayed The war of tongues to gaze on that mild face ; The smith, with lifted hammer in his hand, Forgot to strike ; the weaver left his web, The scribe his scroll, the money-changer lost His count of cowries ; 22 from the unwatched rice Shiva’s white bull fed free ; 23 the wasted milk Ran o’er the lota . 24 while the milkers watched The passage of our Lord moving so meek, With yet so beautiful a majesty. But most the women gathering in the doors Asked, “ Who is this that brings the sacrifice So graceful and peace-giving as he goes ? What is his caste ? whence hath he eyes so sweet ? Can he be Sakra 25 or the Devaraj ? ” 26 And others said, “ It is the holy man Who dwelleth with the Rishfs on the hill.” But the Lord paced, in meditation lost, Thinking, “ Alas ! for all my sheep which have No shepherd ; wandering in the night with none To guide them ; bleating blindly towards the knife Of Death, as these dumb beasts which are their kin.” Then some one told the King, “ There cometh here A holy hermit, bringing down the flock Which thou didst bid to crown the sacrifice.” The King stood in his hall of offering, On either hand the white-robed Brahmins ranged Muttered their mantras , 27 feeding still the fire BOOK THE FIFTH. 93 Which roared upon the midmost altar. There From scented woods flickered bright tongues of flame, Hissing and curling as they licked the gifts Of ghee 28 and spices and the Soma juice , 29 The joy of Indra. Round about the pile A slow, thick, scarlet streamlet smoked and ran, Sucked by the sand, but ever rolling down, The blood of bleating victims. One such lay, A spotted goat, long-horned, its head bound back With munja grass ; 30 at its stretched throat the knife Pressed by a priest, who murmured, “ This, dread gods, Of many yajnas 31 cometh as the crown From Bimbsara : 32 take ye joy to see The spirted blood, and pleasure in the scent Of rich flesh roasting ’mid the fragrant flames ; Let the King’s sins be laid upon this goat, And let the fire consume them burning it, For now I strike.” But Buddha softly said , 33 “ Let him not strike, great King ! ” and therewith loosed The victim’s bonds, none staying him, so great His presence was. Then, craving leave, he spake Of life, which all can take but none can give, Life, which all creatures love and strive to keep, Wonderful, dear and pleasant unto each, Even to the meanest ; yea, a boon to all Where pity is, for pity makes the world Soft to the weak and noble for the strong. Unto the dumb lips of his flock he lent Sad pleading words, showing how man, who prays For mercy to the gods, is merciless. 94 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Being as god to those ; albeit all life Is linked and kin, and what we slay have given Meek tribute of the milk and wool, and set Fast trust upon the hands which murder them. Also he spake of what the holy books Do surely teach, how that at death some sink To bird and beast, and these rise up to man In wanderings of the spark which grows purged flame. So were the sacrifice new sin, if so The fated passage of a soul be stayed. Nor, spake he, shall one wash his spirit clean By blood ; nor gladden gods, being good, with blood ; Nor bribe them, being evil ; nay, nor lay Upon the brow of innocent bound beasts One hair’s weight of that answer all must give For all things done amiss or wrongfully, Alone, each for himself, reckoning with that The fixed arithmic of the universe, Which meteth good for good and ill for ill, Measure for measure, unto deeds, words, thoughts ; Watchful, aware, implacable, unmoved ; Making all futures fruits of all the pasts. Thus spake he, breathing words so piteous With such high lordliness of ruth and right, The priests drew back their garments o'er the hands Crimsoned with slaughter, and the King came near, Standing with clasped palms reverencing Buddh ; While still our Lord went on, teaching how fair This earth were if all living things be linked In friendliness and common use of foods, Bloodless and pure ; the golden grain, bright fruits, BOOK THE FIFTH. 95 Sweet herbs which grow for all, the waters wan, Sufficient drinks and meats. Which when these heard, The might of gentleness so conquered them, The priests themselves scattered their altar flames And flung away the steel of sacrifice ; And through the land next day passed a decree Proclaimed by criers, and in this wise graved On rock and column : “ Thus the King’s will is : — There hath been slaughter for the sacrifice And slaying for the meat, but henceforth none Shall spill the blood of life nor taste of flesh, Seeing that knowledge grows, and life is one, And mercy cometh to the merciful.” So ran the edict, and from those days forth Sweet peace hath spread between all living kind, Man and the beasts which serve him, and the birds, On all those banks of Gunga where our Lord Taught with his saintly pity and soft speech. For aye so piteous was the Master’s heart To all that breathe this breath of fleeting life, Yoked in one fellowship of joys and pains, That it is written in the holy books How, in an ancient age — when Buddha wore A Br&hmin’s form, dwelling upon the rock Named Munda, by the village of Ddlidd — Drought withered all the land : the young rice died Ere it could hide a quail ; in forest glades A fierce sun sucked the pools ; grasses and herbs Sickened, and all the woodland creatures fled Scattering for sustenance. At such a time, 96 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Between the hot walls of a nullah, stretched On naked stones, our Lord spied, as he passed, A starving tigress. Hunger in her orbs Glared with green flame ; her dry tongue lolled a span Beyond the gasping jaws and shriveled jowl ; Her painted hide hung wrinkled on her ribs, As when between the rafters sinks a thatch Rotten with rains ; and at the poor lean dugs Two cubs, whining with famine, tugged and sucked, Mumbling those milkless teats which rendered nought. While she, their gaunt dam, licked full motherly The clamorous twins, yielding her flank to them With moaning throat, and love stronger than want, Softening the first of that wild cry wherewith She laid her famished muzzle to the sand And roared a savage thunder-peal of woe. Seeing which bitter strait, and heeding nought Save the immense compassion of a Buddh, Our Lord bethought, “ There is no other way To help this murderess of the woods but one. By sunset these will die, having no meat : There is no living heart will pity her, Bloody with ravin, lean for lack of blood. Lo ! if I feed her, who shall lose but I, And how can love lose doing of its kind Even to the uttermost ? ” So saying, Buddh Silently laid aside sandals and staff, His sacred thread , 34 turban, and cloth, and came Forth from behind the milk-bush on the sand, Saying, “ Ho ! mother, here is meat for thee ! ” Whereat the perishing beast yelped hoarse and shrill, BOOK THE FIFTH. 97 Sprang from her cubs, and, hurling to the earth That willing victim, had her feast of him With all the crooked daggers of her claws Rending his flesh, and all her yellow fangs Bathed in his blood : the great cat’s burning breath Mixed with the last sigh of such fearless love. Thus large the Master’s heart was long ago, Not only now, when with his gracious ruth He bade cease cruel worship of the Gcds. And much King Bimbsara prayed our Lord — Learning his royal birth and holy search — To tarry in that city, saying oft, “Thy princely state may not abide such fasts ; Thy hands were made for scepters, not for alms. Sojourn with me, who have no son to rule, And teach my kingdom wisdom, till I die, Lodged in my palace with a beauteous bride.” But ever spake Siddartha, of set mind, “ These things I had, most noble King, and left, Seeking the Truth ; which still I seek, and shall ; Not to be stayed though Sakra’s 35 palace ope’d Its doors of pearl and Devis 36 wooed me in. I go to build the Kingdom of the Law, Journeying to Gaya and the forest shades, Where, as I think, the light will come to me ; For nowise here among the Rishis comes That light, nor from the Shasters , 37 nor from fasts Borne till the body faints, starved by the soul. Yet there is light to reach and truth to win ; 4 9 8 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And surely, O true Friend, if I attain I will return and quit thy love.” Thereat Thrice round the Prince King Bimbsara paced, Reverently bending to the Master’s feet, And bade him speed. So passed our Lord away Towards Uravilva , 38 not yet comforted, And wan of face, and weak with six years’ quest. But they upon the hill and in the grove — Alara, Udra, and the ascetics five — Had stayed him, saying all was written clear In holy Shasters, and that none might win Higher than Sruti 39 and than Smriti 40 — nay, Not the chief saints ! — for how should mortal man Be wiser than the Jnana-Kand , 41 which tells How Brahm is bodiless and actionless, Passionless, calm, unqualified, unchanged, Pure life, pure thought, pure joy ? Or how should Be better than the Karmma-Kand , 42 which shows How he may strip passion and action off, Break from the bond of self, and so, unsphered, Be God, and melt into the vast divine, Flying from false to true, from wars of sense To peace eternal, where the silence lives ? But the Prince heard them, not yet comforted. Uook tl)e Sixtl). Thou who wouldst see where dawned the light at last, North-westwards from the “Thousand Gardens ” 1 go By Gunga’s valley till thy steps be set On the green hills where those twin streamlets spring Nilajan and Mohana ; follow them, Winding beneath broad-leaved mahtia-trees , 2 ’Mid thickets of the sansar 3 and the bir , 4 Till on the plain the shining sisters meet In Phalgu’s bed, flowing by rocky banks To Gaya and the red Barabar hills . 5 Hard by that river spreads a thorny waste, Uruwela named in ancient days, With sandhills broken ; on its verge a wood Waves sea-green plumes and tassels ’thwart the sky, With undergrowth wherethrough a still flood steals, Dappled with lotus-blossoms, blue and white, And peopled with quick fish and tortoises. Near it the village of Senani 6 reared Its roofs of grass, nestled amid the palms, Peaceful with simple folk and pastoral toils. There in the sylvan solitudes once more Lord Buddha lived, musing the woes of men, 99 IOO THE LIGHT OF ASIA. The ways of fate, the doctrines of the books, The lessons of the creatures of the brake, The secrets of the silence whence all come, The secrets of the gloom whereto all go, The life which lies between, like that arch flung From cloud to cloud across the sky, which hath Mists for its masonry and vapory piers, Melting to void again which was so fair With sapphire hues, garnet, and chrysoprase. Moon after moon our Lord sate in the wood, So meditating these that he forgot Ofttimes the hour of food, rising from thoughts Prolonged beyond the sunrise and the noon To see his bowl unfilled, and eat perforce Of wild fruit fallen from the boughs o’erhead, Shaken to earth by chattering ape or plucked By purple paroquet. Therefore his grace Faded ; his body, worn by stress of soul, Lost day by day the marks, thirty and two,’ Which testify the Buddha. Scarce that leaf, Fluttering so dry and withered to his feet From off the sal-branch , 8 bore less likeliness Of spring’s soft greenery than he of him Who was the princely flower of all his land. And once at such a time the o’erwrought Prince Fell to the earth in deadly swoon, all spent, Even as one slain, who hath no longer breath Nor any stir of blood ; so wan he was, So motionless. But there came by that way A shepherd-boy, who saw Siddartha lie BOOK THE SIXTH. IOI With lids fast-closed, and lines of nameless pain Fixed on his lips — the fiery noonday sun Beating upon his head — who, plucking boughs From wild rose-apple trees, knitted them thick Into a bower to shade the sacred face. Also he poured upon the Master’s lips Drops of warm milk, pressed from his she-goat’s bag, Lest, being of low caste, he do wrong to one So high and holy seeming. But the books Tell how the jambu-branches , 9 planted thus, Shot with quick life in wealth of leaf and flower And glowing fruitage interlaced and close, So that the bower grew like a tent of silk Pitched for a king at hunting, decked with studs Of silver-work and bosses of red gold And the boy worshiped, deeming him some God ; But our Lord gaining breath, arose and asked Milk in the shepherd’s lota . 10 “ Ah, my Lord, I cannot give thee,” quoth the lad ; “ thou seest I am a Sudra, and my touch defiles ! ” 11 Then the World-honored spake : “ Pity and need Make all flesh kin. There is no caste in blood, Which runneth of one hue, nor caste in tears, Which trickle salt with all ; neither comes man To birth with tilka-mark 12 stamped on the brow, Nor sacred thread on neck. Who doth right deeds Is twice-born, and who doeth ill deeds vile. Give me to drink, my brother ; when I come Unto my quest it shall be good for thee.” Thereat the peasant’s heart was glad, and gave. 102 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And on another day there passed that road A band of tinseled girls, the nautch-dancers Of Indrd’s temple 13 in the town, with those Who made their music — one that beat a drum Set round with peacock-feathers, one that blew The piping bcLnsuli , 14 and one that twitched A three-string sitar . 15 Lightly tripped they down From ledge to ledge and through the chequered paths To some gay festival, the silver bells Chiming soft peals about the small brown feet, Armlets and wrist-rings tattling answer shrill ; While he that bore the sitar thrummed and twanged His threads of brass, and she beside him sang — “ Fair goes the dancing when the sitar' s tuned j Tune us the sitdr neither low nor high , And we will dance away the hearts of men. The string o' erstretched breaks , and the music flies j The string o'er slack is dumb , and music dies j Tune us the sitdr neither low nor high." So sang the nautch-girl to the pipe and wires, Fluttering like some vain, painted butterfly From glade to glade along the forest path, Nor dreamed her light words echoed on the ear Of him, that holy man, who sate so rapt Under the fig-tree by the path. But Buddh Lifted his great brow as the wantons passed, And spake : “ The foolish ofttimes teach the wise ; I strain too much this string of life, belike, BOOK THE SIXTH. °3 Meaning to make such music as shall save. Mine eyes are dim now that they see the truth, My strength is waned now that my need is most ; Would that I had such help as man must have, For I shall die, whose life was all men’s hope.” Now, by that river dwelt a landholder Pious and rich, master of many herds, A goodly chief, the friend of all the poor ; And from his house the village drew its name — “ Senani.”i6 Pleasant and in peace he lived, Having for wife Sujata , 17 loveliest Of all the dark-eyed daughters of the plain ; Gentle and true, simple and kind was she, Noble of mien, with gracious speech to all And gladsome looks — a pearl of womanhood — Passing calm years of household happiness Beside her lord in that still Indian home, Save that no male child blessed their wedded love. Wherefore with many prayers she had besought 18 Lakshmi ; 19 and many nights at full-moon gone Round the great Lingam , 20 nine times nine, with gifts Of rice and jasmine wreaths and sandal oil, Praying a boy ; also Sujdta vowed — If this should be — an offering of food Unto the Wood-God, plenteous, delicate, Set in a bowl of gold under his tree, Such as the lips of Devs 21 may taste and take. And this had been : for there was born to her A beauteous boy, now three months old, who lay Between Sujata’s breasts, while she did pace 104 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. With grateful footsteps to the Wood-God’s shrine, One arm clasping her crimson sari 22 close To wrap the babe, that jewel of her joys, The other lifted high in comely curve To steady on her head the bowl and dish Which held the dainty victuals for the God. But Radhd, sent before to sweep the ground And tie the scarlet threads around the tree , 23 Came eager, crying, “Ah, dear Mistress ! look ! There is the Wood-God sitting in his place, Revealed, with folded hands upon his knees. See how the light shines round about his brow ! How mild and great he seems, with heavenly eyes Good fortune is it thus to meet the gods.” So — thinking him divine, — Sujdta drew Tremblingly nigh, and kissed the earth and said, With sweet face bent, “Would that the Holy One Inhabiting this grove, Giver of good Merciful unto me his handmaiden Vouchsafing now his presence, might accept These our poor gifts of snowy curds, fresh-made, With milk as white as new-carved ivory ! ” Therewith into the golden bowl she poured The curds and milk, and on the hands of Buddh Dropped attar from a crystal flask — distilled Out of the hearts of roses : and he ate, Speaking no word, while the glad mother stood In reverence apart. But of that meal BOOK THE SIXTH. io 5 So wondrous was the virtue that our Lord Felt strength and life return as though the nights Of watching and the days of fast had passed In dream, as though the spirit with the flesh Shared that fine meat and plumed its wings anew, Like some delighted bird at sudden streams Weary with flight o’er endless wastes of sand, Which laves the desert dust from neck and crest. And more Sujata worshiped, seeing our Lord Grow fairer and his countenance more bright : “ Art thou indeed the God ? ” she lowly asked, “ And hath my gift found favor ? ” But Buddh said, “ What is it thou dost bring me ? ” “ Holy one ! ” Answered Sujata, “ from our droves I took Milk of a hundred mothers, newly-calved, And with that milk I fed fifty white cows, And with their milk twenty and five, and then With theirs twelve more, and yet again with theirs The six noblest and best of all our herds. That yield I boiled with sandal and fine spice In silver lotas , 24 adding rice, well grown From chosen seed, set in new-broken ground, So picked that every grain was like a pearl. This did I of true heart, because I vowed Under thy tree, if I should bear a boy I would make offering for my joy, and now I have my son and all my life is bliss ! ” Softly our Lord drew down the crimson fold, And, laying on the little head those hands 106 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Which help the worlds, he said, “ Long be thy bliss ! And lightly fall on him the load of life ! For thou hast holpen me who am no God, But one, thy Brother ; heretofore a Prince And now a wanderer, seeking night and day These six hard years that light which somewhere shines To lighten all men’s darkness, if they knew ! And I shall find the light ; yea, now it dawned Glorious and helpful, when my weak flesh failed Which this pure food, fair Sister, hath restored, Drawn manifold through lives to quicken life As life itself passes by many births To happier heights and purging off of sins. Yet dost thou truly find it sweet enough Only to live ? Can life and love suffice ? ” Answered Sujata, “ Worshipful ! my heart Is little, and a little rain will fill The lily’s cup which hardly moists the field. It is enough for me to feel life’s sun Shine in my Lord’s grace and my baby’s smile, Making the loving summer of our home. Pleasant my days pass filled with household cares From sunrise when I wake to praise the gods, And give forth grain, and trim the tulsi-plant , 55 And set my handmaids to their tasks, till noon, When my Lord lays his head upon my lap Lulled by soft songs and wavings of the fan ; And so to supper-time at quiet eve, When by his side I stand and serve the cakes . 56 Then the stars light their silver lamps for sleep, BOOK THE SIXTH. 207 After the temple and the talk with friends. How should I not be happy, blest so much, And bearing him this boy whose tiny hand Shall lead his soul to Swerga , 27 if it need ? For holy books teach when a man shall plant Trees for the travelers’ shade, and dig a well For the folks’ comfort, and beget a son, It shall be good for such after their death ; And what the books say that I humbly take, Being not wiser than those great of old Who spake with gods, and knew the hymns and charms, And all the ways of virtue and of peace. Also I think that good must come of good And ill of evil — surely — unto all — In every place and time — seeing sweet fruit Groweth from wholesome roots, and bitter things From poison-stocks ; yea, seeing, too, how spite Breeds hate, and kindness friends, and patience peace Even while we live ; and when ’tis willed we die Shall there not be as good a ‘ Then ’ as ‘ Now ? ’ Haply much better ; since one grain of rice Shoots a green feather gemmed with fifty pearls, And all the starry champak’s 28 white and gold Lurks in those little, naked, gray spring-buds. Ah, Sir ! I know there might be woes to bear Would lay fond Patience with her face in dust ; If this my babe pass first I think my heart Would break — almost I hope my heart would break ! That I might clasp him dead and wait my Lord — In whatsoever world holds faithful wives — Duteous, attending till his hour should come. 108 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. But if Death called Senani, I should mount The pile and lay that dear head in my lap , 29 My daily way, rejoicing when the torch Lit the quick flame and rolled the choking smoke. For it is written if an Indian wife Die so, her love shall give her husband’s soul For every hair upon her head a cror 30 Of years in Swerga. Therefore fear I not. And therefore, Holy Sir ! my life is glad, Nowise forgetting yet those other lives Painful and poor, wicked and miserable, Whereon the gods grant pity ! but for m° What good I see humbly I seek to do, And live obedient to the law, in trust That what will come, and must come, shall come well.’ Then spake our Lord, “Thou teachest them who teach, Wiser than wisdom in thy simple lore. Be thou content to know not, knowing thus The way of right and duty : grow, thqu flower ! With thy sweet kind in peaceful shade — the light Of Truth’s high noon is not for tender leaves Which must spread broad in other suns and lift In later lives a crowned head to the sky. Thou who hast worshiped me, I worship thee ! Excellent heart ! learned unknowingly, As the dove is which flieth home by love. In thee is seen why there is hope for man And where we hold the wheel of life at will. Peace go with thee, and comfort all thy days ! As thou accomplishest, may I achieve ! He whom thou thoughtest God bids thee wish this.” BOOK THE SIXTH. I09 “ May’st thou achieve,” she said, with earnest eyes Bent on her babe, who reached its tender hands To Buddh — knowing, belike, as children know, More than we deem, and reverencing our Lord ; But he arose — made strong with that pure meat — And bent his footsteps where a great Tree grew, The Bodhi-tree 31 (thenceforward in all years Never to fade, and ever to be kept In homage of the world), beneath whose leaves It was ordained that Truth should come to Buddh : Which now the Master knew ; wherefore he went With measured pace, steadfast, majestical, Unto the Tree of Wisdom. Oh, ye Worlds ! Rejoice ! our Lord wended unto the Tree ! Whom — as he passed into its ample shade, Cloistered with columned dropping stems, and roofed With vaults of glistening green — the conscious earth Worshiped with waving grass and sudden flush Of flowers about his feet. The forest-boughs Bent down to shade him ; from the river sighed Cool wafts of wind laden with lotus-scents Breathed by the water-gods. Large wondering eyes Of woodland creatures — panther, boar, and deer — At peace that eve, gazed on his face benign From cave and thicket. From its cold cleft wound The mottled deadly snake, dancing its hood In honor of our Lord ; bright butterflies Fluttered their vans, azure and green and gold, To be his fan-bearers ; the fierce kite dropped Its prey and screamed ; the striped palm-squirrel raced no THE LIGHT OF ASIA. From stem to stem to see ; the weaver-bird Chirped from her swinging nest ; the lizard ran ; The koil 38 sang her hymn ; the doves flocked round ; Even the creeping things were ’ware and glad. Voices of earth and air joined in one song , 33 Which unto ears that hear said, “ Lord and Friend ! Lover and Savior ! Thou who hast subdued Angers and prides, desires and fears and doubts, Thou that for each and all hast given thyself, Pass to the Tree ! The sad world blesseth thee Who art the Buddh that shall assuage her woes. Pass, Hailed and Honored ! strive thy last for us, King and high Conqueror ! thine hour is come ; This is the Night the ages waited for ! ” Then fell the night even as our Master sate Under that Tree. But he who is the Prince Of Darkness, Mara 34 — knowing this was Buddh Who should deliver men, and now the hour When he should find the Truth and save the worlds — Gave unto all his evil powers command. Wherefore there trooped from every deepest pit The fiends who war with Wisdom and the Light, Arati , 35 Trishna , 36 Raga , 37 and their crew Of passions, horrors, ignorances, lusts, The brood of gloom and dread ; all hating Buddh, Seeking to shake his mind ; nor knoweth one, Not even the wisest, how those fiends of Hell Battled that night to keep the Truth from Buddh : Sometimes with terrors of the tempest, blasts Of demon-armies clouding all the wind. BOOK THE SIXTH. Ill With thunder, and with blinding lightning flung In jagged javelins of purple wrath From splitting skies ; sometimes with wiles and words Fair-sounding, ’mid hushed leaves and softened airs From shapes of witching beauty; wanton songs, Whispers of love ; sometimes with royal allures Of proffered rule ; sometimes with mocking doubts, Making truth vain. But whether these befell Without and visible, or whether Buddh Strove with fell spirits in his inmost heart, Judge ye : — I write what ancient books have writ. The ten chief Sins came — Mara’s mighty ones, Angels of evil — Attavada first, The Sin of Self, who in the Universe As in a mirror sees her fond face shown, And crying “ I ” would have the world say “ I,” And all things perish so if she endure. “ If thou be’st Buddh,” she said, “ let others grope Lightless ; it is enough that thou art Thou Changelessly ; rise and take the bliss of gods Who change not, heed not, strive not.” But Buddh spake, “ The right in thee is base, the wrong a curse ; Cheat such as love themselves.” Then came wan Doubt, He that denies — the mocking Sin — and this Hissed in the Master’s ear, “ All things are shows, And vain the knowledge of their vanity ; Thou dost but chase the shadow of thyself ; Rise and go hence, there is no better way Than patient scorn, nor any help for man, Nor any staying of his whirling wheel.” 1 1 2 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. But quoth our Lord, “ Thou hast no part with me, False Yisikitcha, subtlest of man’s foes.” And third came she who gives dark creeds their power, Silabbat-paramasa, sorceress, Draped fair in many lands as lowly Faith, But ever juggling souls with rites and prayers ; The keeper of those keys which lock up Hells And open Heavens. “ Wilt thou dare,” she said, “ Put by our sacred books, dethrone our gods, Unpeople all the temples, shaking down That law which feeds the priests and props the realms ? But Buddha answered, “ What thou bidd’st me keen Is form which passes, but the free Truth stands ; Get thee unto thy darkness.” Next there drew Gallantly nigh a braver Tempter, he, Kama , 38 the King of passions, who hath sway Over the gods themselves, Lord of all loves, Ruler of Pleasure’s realm. Laughing he came Unto the Tree, bearing his bow of gold Wreathed with red blooms, and arrows of desire Pointed with five-tongued delicate flame which stings The heart it smites sharper than poisoned barb : And round him came into that lonely place Bands of bright shapes with heavenly eyes and lips Singing in lovely words the praise of Love To music of invisible sweet cords, So witching, that it seemed the night stood still To hear them, and the listening stars and moon Paused in their orbits while these hymned to Buddh Of lost delights, and how a mortal man Findeth nought dearer in the three wide worlds BOOK THE SIXTH. ”3 Than are the yielded loving fragrant breasts Of Beauty and the rosy breast-blossoms, Love’s rubies ; nay, and toucheth nought more high Than is that dulcet harmony of form Seen in the lines and charms of loveliness Unspeakable, yet speaking, soul to soul, Owned by the bounding blood, worshiped by will Which leaps to seize it, knowing this is best, This the true heaven where mortals are like gods, Makers and Masters, this the gift of gifts Ever renewed and worth a thousand woes. For who hath grieved when soft arms shut him safe, And all life melted to a happy sigh, And all the world was given in one warm kiss ? So sang they with soft float of beckoning hands, Eyes lighted with love-flames, alluring smiles ; In dainty dance their supple sides and limbs Revealing and concealing like burst buds Which tell their color, but hide yet their hearts. Never so matchless grace delighted eye As troop by troop these midnight-dancers swept * Nearer the Tree, each daintier than the last, Murmuring “ O great Siddartha ! I am thine, Taste of my mouth and see if youth is sweet ! ” Also, when nothing moved our Master’s mind, Lo ! Kama waved his magic bow, and lo ! The band of dancers opened, and a shape Fairest and stateliest of the throng came forth Wearing the guise of sweet Yasbdhara. Tender the passion of those dark eyes seemed Brimming with tears ; yearning those outspread arms THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 1 14 Opened towards him ; musical that moan Wherewith the beauteous shadow named his name, Sighing “ My Prince ! I die for lack of thee ! What heaven hast thou found like that we knew By bright Rohinf in the Pleasure-house, Where all these weary years I weep for thee ? Return, Siddartha ! ah ! return. But touch My lips again, but let me to thy breast Once, and these fruitless dreams will end ! Ah, look ! Am I not she thou lovedst ? ” But Buddh said, “ For that sweet sake of her thou playestthus. Fair and false Shadow ! is thy playing vain ; I curse thee not who wear’st a form so dear, Yet as thou art so are all earthly shows. Melt to thy void again ! ” Thereat a cry Thrilled through the grove, and all that comely rout Faded with flickering wafts of flame, and trail Of vaporous robes. Next under darkening skies And noise of rising storm came fiercer Sins, The reAmost of the Ten ; Patigha — Hate — With serpents coiled about her waist, which suck Poisonous milk from both her hanging dugs, And with her curses mix their angry hiss. Little wrought she upon that Holy One Who with his calm eyes dumbed her bitter lips And made her black snakes writhe to hide their fangs. Then followed Ruparaga — Lust of days — That sensual Sin which out of greed for life Forgets to live ; and next him Lust of Fame, Nobler Aruparaga, she whose spell BOOK THE SIXTH. Beguiles the wise, mother of daring deeds, Battles and toils. And haughty Mano came, The Fiend of Pride ; and smooth Self-Righteousness, Uddhachcha ; and — with many a hideous band Of vile and formless things, which crept and flapped Toad-like and bat-like — Ignorance, the Dam Of Fear and Wrong, Avidya, hideous hag, Whose footsteps left the midnight darker, while The rooted mountains shook, the wild winds howled, The broken clouds shed from their caverns streams Of levin-lighted rain ; stars shot from heaven, The solid earth shuddered as if one laid Flame to her gaping wounds ; the torn black air Was full of whistling winds, of screams and yells, Of evil faces peering, of vast fronts Terrible and majestic, Lords of Hell Who from a thousand Limbos led their troops To tempt the Master. But Buddh heeded not, Sitting serene, with perfect virtue walled As is a stronghold by its gates and ramps ; Also the Sacred Tree — the Bodhi-tree — Amid that tumult stirred not, but each leaf Glistened as still as when on moonlit eves No zephyr spills the glittering gems of dew ; For all this clamor raged outside the shade Spread by those cloistered stems : In the third watch. The earth being still, the hellish legions fled, A soft air breathing from the sinking moon, Our Lord attained Samma Sambuddh ; 89 he saw THE LIGHT OF ASIA. lift By light which shines beyond our mortal ken The line of all his lives in all the worlds, Far back and farther back and farthest yet, Five hundred lives and fifty. Even as one, At rest upon a mountain-summit, marks His path wind up by precipice and crag, Past thick-set woods shrunk to a patch ; through bogs Glittering false-green ; down hollows where he toiled Breathless ; on dizzy ridges where his feet Had well-nigh slipped ; beyond the sunny lawns, The cataract and the cavern and the pool, Backward to those dim flats wherefrom he sprang To reach the blue ; thus Buddha did behold Life’s upward steps long-linked, from levels low Where breath is base, to higher slopes and higher Whereon the ten great Virtues 40 wait to lead The climber skyward. Also, Buddha saw How new life reaps what the old life did sow : How where its march breaks off its march begins ; Holding the gain and answering for the loss ; And how in each life good begets more good, Evil fresh evil ; Death but casting up Debit or credit, whereupon th’ account In merits or demerits stamps itself By sure arithmic — where no tittle drops — Certain and just, on some new-springing life ; Wherein are packed and scored past thoughts and deeds. Strivings and triumphs, memories and marks Of lives foregone : And in the middle watch Our Lord attained Abhidjtid “ — insight vast BOOK THE SIXTH. Ranging beyond this sphere to spheres unnamed, System on system, countless worlds and suns Moving in splendid measures, band by band Linked in division, one yet separate, The silver islands of a sapphire sea Shoreless, unfathomed, undiminished, stirred With waves which roll in restless tides of change. He saw those Lords of Light who hold their worlds By bonds invisible, how they themselves Circle obedient round mightier orbs Which serve profounder splendors, star to star Flashing the ceaseless radiance of life From centers ever shifting unto cirques Knowing no uttermost. These he beheld With unsealed vision, and of all those worlds. Cycle on epicycle, all their tale Of Kalpas, Maha-kalpas 42 — terms of time Which no man grasps, yea, though he knew to count The drops in Gunga from her springs to the sea, Measureless unto speech — whereby these wax And wane ; whereby each of this heavenly host Fulfills its shining life and darkling dies. Sakwal by Sakwal , 43 depths and heights he passed Transported through the blue infinitudes, Marking — behind all modes, above all spheres, Beyond the burning impulse of each orb — That fixed decree at silent work which wills Evolve the dark to light, the dead to life, To fullness void, to form the yet unformed, Good unto better, better unto best, By wordless edict ; having none to bid, n8 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. None to forbid ; for this is past all gods Immutable, unspeakable, supreme, A Power which builds, unbuilds, and builds again, Ruling all things accordant to the rule Of virtue, which is beauty, truth, and use. So that all things do well which serve the Power, And ill which hinder ; nay, the worm does well Obedient to its kind ; the hawk does well Which carries bleeding quarries to its young ; The dewdrop and the star shine sisterly, Globing together in the common work ; And man who lives to die, dies to live well So if he guide his ways, by blamelessness And earnest will to hinder not but help All things both great and small which suffer life. These did our Lord see in the middle watch. But when the fourth watch came the secret came Of Sorrow, which with evil mars the law, As damp and dross hold back the goldsmith’s fire. Then was the Dukha-satya 44 opened him First of the “ Noble Truths ; ’ ,4S how Sorrow is Shadow to life, moving where life doth move ; Not to be laid aside until one lays Living aside, with all its changing states, Birth, growth, decay, love, hatred, pleasure, pain, Being and doing. How that none strips off These sad delights and pleasant griefs who lacks Knowledge to know them snares ; but he who knows Avidya — Delusion — sets those snares, Loves life no longer but ensues escape. BOOK THE SIXTH. Ir 9 The eyes of such a one are wide, he sees Delusion breeds Sankhara, Tendency Perverse : Tendency Energy — Vidnndn — Whereby comes Namarfipa, local form And name and bodiment, bringing the man With senses naked to the sensible, A helpless mirror of all shows which pass Across his heart ; and so Vedana grows-*- “ Sense-life ” — false in its gladness, fell in sadness, But sad or glad, the Mother of Desire, Trishni, that thirst which makes the living drink Deeper and deeper of the false salt waves Whereon they float, pleasures, ambitions, wealth, Praise, fame, or domination, conquest, love ; Rich meats and robes, and fair abodes, and pride Of ancient lines, and lust of days, and strife To live, and sins that flow from strife, some sweet, Some bitter. Thus Life’s thirst quenches itself With draughts which double thirst, but who is wise Tears from his soul this Trishna, feeds his sense No longer on false shows, files his firm mind To seek not, strive not, wrong not ; bearing meek All ills which flow from foregone wrongfulness, And so constraining passions that they die Famished ; till all the sum of ended life — - The Karmd 46 — all that total of a soul Which is the things it did, the thoughts it had, The “ Self ” it wove — with woof of viewless time, Crossed on the warp invisible of acts — The outcome of him on the Universe, Grows pure and sinless ; either never more 120 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Needing to find a body and a place, Or so informing what fresh frame it takes In new existence that the new toils prove Lighter arid lighter not to be at all, Thus “ finishing the Path ; ” free from Earth’s cheats ; Released from all the skandhas 47 of the flesh ; Broken from ties — from Upadans 48 — saved From whirling on the wheel ; aroused and sane As is a man wakened from hateful dreams. Until-7-greater than Kings, than Gods more glad ! — The aching craze to live ends, and life glides — Lifeless — to nameless quiet, nameless joy, Blessed nirvana 49 — sinless, stirless rest — That change which never changes ! Lo ! the Dawn Sprang with Buddh’s Victory ! lo ! in the East Flamed the first fires of beauteous day, poured forth Through fleeting folds of Night’s black drapery. High in the widening blue the herald-star Faded to paler silver as there shot Brighter and brightest bars of rosy gleam Across the gray. Far off the shadowy hills Saw the great Sun, before the world was ’ware, And donned their crowns of crimson ; flower by flower Felt the warm breath of Morn and ’gan t’ unfold Their tender lids. Over the spangled grass Swept the swift footsteps of the lovely Light, Turning the tears of Night to joyous gems, Decking the earth with radiance, ’broidering The sinking storm-clouds with a golden fringe, BOOK THE SIXTH. 121 Gilding the feathers of the palms, which waved Glad salutation ; darting beams of gold Into the glades ; touching with magic wand The stream to rippled ruby ; in the brake Finding the mild eyes of the antelopes And saying “ it is day ; ” in nested sleep Touching the small heads under many a wing And whispering, “Children, praise the light of day ! ” Whereat there piped anthems of all the birds, The Koil’s 50 fluted song, the Bulbul’s 51 hymn, The “ morning, morning ” of the painted thrush, The twitter of the sun-birds starting forth To find the honey ere the bees be out, The gray crow’s caw, the parrot’s scream, the strokes Of the green hammersmith, the myna’s 52 chirp, The never finished love-talk of the doves : Yea ! and so holy was the influence Of that high Dawn which came with victory That, far and near, in homes of men there spread An unknown peace. The slayer hid his knife ; The robber laid his plunder back ; the shroff Counted full tale of coins ; all evil hearts Grew gentle, kind hearts gentler, as the balm Of that divinest Daybreak lightened Earth. Kings at fierce war called truce ; the sick men leaped Laughing from beds of pain ; the dying smiled As though they knew that happy Morn was sprung From fountains farther than the utmost East ; And o’er the heart of sad Yasbdhara, Sitting forlorn at Prince Siddartha’s bed, Came sudden bliss, as if love should not fail 122 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Nor such vast sorrow miss to end in joy. So glad the World was — though it wist not why — That over desolate wastes went swooning songs Of mirth, the voice of bodiless Prets 63 and Bhiits M Foreseeing Buddh ; and Devas in the air Cried “ It is finished, finished ! ” and the priests Stood with the wondering people in the streets Watching those golden splendors flood the sky And saying “ There hath happed some mighty thing.” Also in Ran 55 and Jungle 66 grew that day Friendship amongst the creatures ; spotted deer Browsed fearless where the tigress fed her cubs, And cheetahs" lapped the pool beside the bucks ; Under the eagle’s rock the brown hares scoured JVhile his fierce beak but preened an idle wing ; The snake sunned all his jewels in the beam With deadly fangs in sheath ; the shrike let pass The nestling-finch ; the emerald halcyons Sate dreaming while the fishes played beneath, Nor hawked the merops, though the butterflies — Crimson and blue and amber — flitted thick Around his perch ; the Spirit of our Lord Lay potent upon man and bird and beast, Even while he mused under that Bodhf-tree , 54 Glorified with the Conquest gained for all And lightened by a Light greater than Day’s. Then ne arose — radiant, rejoicing, strong — Beneath the Tree, and lifting high his voice Spake this, in hearing of all Times and Worlds : — BOOK THE SIXTH. I23 A nJkajdtisangsarang Sandhawissang anibhisang Gahakarakangawesanto Dukkhdjatipunappunang. Gahakarakadithdsi j P unage hang nakahasi j SabhdtephasukhdbZiaggd, Gahakutangwisang khitang j Wisangkharagatang chittang j Janhdnangkhayamajhdgd. Many a House of Life Hath held me — seeking ever him who wrought These prisons of the senses, sorrow-fraught ; Sore was my ceaseless strife ! But now, Thou Builder of this Tabernacle — Thou ! I know Thee ! Never shalt thou build again These walls of pain, Nor raise the roof-tree of deceits, nor lay Fresh rafters on the clay ; Broken thy house is, and the ridge-pole split ! Delusion fashioned it ! Safe pass I thence — deliverance to obtain . 59 Book tl)£ Seoentl). i Sorrowful dwelt the King Suddhodana All those long years among the Sakya Lords Lacking the speech and presence of his Son ; Sorrowful sate the sweet Yasbdhara All those long years, knowing no joy of life, Widowed of him her living Liege and Prince And ever, on the news of some recluse Seen far away by pasturing camel-men Or traders treading devious paths for gain, Messengers from the King had gone and come Bringing account of many a holy sage Lonely and lost to home ; but nought of him The crown of white Kapilavastu’s line, The glory of her monarch and his hope, The heart’s content of sweet Yasodhara, Far-wandered now, forgetful, changed, or dead. But on a day in the Wasanta-time, 1 When silver sprays swing on the mango-trees And all the earth is clad with garb of spring, The Princess sate by that bright garden-stream Whose gliding glass, bordered with lotus-cups, 124 BOOK THE SEVENTH. 125 Mirrored so often in the bliss gone by Their clinging hands and meeting lips. Her lids Were wan with tears, her tender cheeks had thinned ; Her lips’ delicious curves were drawn with grief ; The lustrous glory of her hair was hid — Close-bound as widows use ; no ornament She wore, nor any jewel clasped the cloth — Coarse, and of mourning-white — crossed on her breast. Slow moved and painfully those small fine feet Which had the roe’s gait and the rose-leaf’s fall In old years at the loving voice of him. Her eyes, those lamps of love, — which were as if Sunlight should shine from out the deepest dark, Illumining Night’s peace with Daytime’s glow — Unlighted now, and roving aimlessly, Scarce marked the clustering signs of coming Spring So the silk lashes drooped over their orbs. In one hand was a girdle thick with pearls, Siddartha’s — treasured since that night he fled — (Ah, bitter Night ! mother of weeping days ! When was fond Love so pitiless to love Save that this scorned to limit love by life ?) The other led her little son, a boy Divinely fair, the pledge Siddartha left — Named Rahula — now seven years old, who tripped Gladsome beside his mother, light of heart To see the spring-blooms burgeon o’er the world. So while they lingered by the lotus-pools And, lightly laughing, Rahula flung rice To feed the blue and purple fish ; and she 126 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. With sad eyes watched the swiftly-flying cranes, Sighing, “ Oh ! creatures of the wandering wing, If ye shall light where my dear Lord is hid, Say that Yasbdhara lives nigh to death For one word of his mouth, one touch of him ! ” — So, as they played and sighed — mother and child — Came some among the damsels of the Court Saying, “ Great Princess ! there have entered in At the south gate merchants of Hastinptir 1 Tripusha called and Bhalluk, men of worth, Long traveled from the loud sea’s edge, who bring Mavelous lovely webs pictured with gold, Waved blades of gilded steel, wrought bowls in brass, Cut ivories, spice, simples, and unknown birds, Treasures of far-off peoples ; but they bring That which doth beggar these, for He is seen ! Thy Lord, — our Lord, — the hope of all the land — Siddartha ! they have seen him face to face, Yea, and have worshiped him with knees and brows, And offered offerings ; for he is become All which was shown, a teacher of the wise, World-honored, holy, wonderful ; a Buddh Who doth deliver men and save all flesh By sweetest speech and pity vast as Heaven : And, lo ! he journeyeth hither these do say.” Then — while the glad blood bounded in her veins As Gunga leaps when first the mountain snows Melt at her springs — uprose Yasbdhara And clapped her palms, and laughed, with brimming tears 8ook the seventh. 127 Beading her lashes. “Oh ! call quick,” she cried, “ These merchants to my purdah , 3 for mine ears Thirst like parched throats to drink their blessed news. Go bring them in, — but if their tale be true, Say I will fill their girdles with much gold, With gems that Kings shall envy : come ye too, My girls, for ye shall have guerdon of this If there be gifts to speak my grateful heart.” So went those merchants to the Pleasure-House, Full softly pacing through its golden ways With naked feet , 4 amid the peering maids, Much wondering at the glories of the Court. Whom, when they came without the purdih’s folds , 8 A voice, tender and eager, filled and charmed With trembling music, saying, “Ye are come From far, fair Sirs ! and ye have seen my Lord — Yea, worshiped — for he is become a Buddh, World-honored, holy, and delivers men, And joumeyeth hither. Speak ! for, if this be, Friends are ye of my House, welcome and dear.” Then answer made Tripusha, “We have seen That sacred Master, Princess ! we have bowed Before his feet ; for who was lost a Prince Is found a greater than the King of kings. Under the Bodhi-tree 6 by Phalgu’s bank That which shall save the world hath late been wrought By him — the Friend of all, the Prince of all — Thine most, High Lady ! from whose tears men win The comfort of this Word the Master speaks. 128 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Lo ! he is well, as one beyond all ills, Uplifted as a god from earthly woes, Shining with risen Truth, golden and clear. Moreover as he entereth town by town, Preaching those noble ways which lead to peace, The hearts of men follow his path as leaves Troop to wind or sheep draw after one Who knows the pastures. We ourselves have heard By Gdya in the green Tchirnikd 7 grove Those wondrous lips and done them reverence : He cometh hither ere the first rains fall.” Thus spake he, and Yasbdhara, for joy, Scarce mastered breath to answer, “ Be it well Now and at all times with ye, worthy friends ! Who bring good tidings ; but of this great thing Wist ye how it befell ? ” Then Bhalluk told Such as the people of the valleys knew Of that dread night of conflict, when the air Darkened with fiendish shadows, and the earth Quaked, and the waters swelled with Mara’s wrath. r Also how gloriously that morning broke Radiant with rising hopes for man, and how The Lord was found rejoicing ’neath his Tree. But many days the burden of release — To be escaped beyond all storms of doubt, Safe on Truth’s shore — lay, spake he, on that heart A golden load ; for how shall men — Buddh mused- Who love their sins and cleave to cheats of sense, And drink of error from a thousand springs — BOOK THE SEVENTH. 129 Having no mind to see, nor strength to break The fleshly snare which binds them — how should such Receive the Twelve Nidanas 9 and the Law Redeeming all, yet strange to profit by, As the caged bird oft shuns its opened door ? So had we missed the helpful victory If, in this earth without a refuge, Buddh Winning the way, had deemed it all too hard For mortal feet, and passed, none following him. Yet pondered the compassion of our Lord, But in that hour there rang a voice as sharp As cry of travail, so as if the earth Moaned in birth-throe “ Nasyami aham bh{l Nasyati loka ! ” Surely I am lost, I and my creatures : then a pause, and next, A pleading sigh borne on the western wind, “ Sruyatdm dharma , Bhagwat ! ” Oh, Supreme ! Let thy great Law be uttered ! Whereupon The Master cast his vision forth on flesh, Saw who should hear and who must wait to hear, As the keen Sun gilding the lotus-lakes Seeth which buds will open to his beams And which are not yet risen from their roots ; Then spake, divinely smiling, “ Yea ! I preach ! Whoso will listen let him learn the Law.” Afterwards passed he, said they, by the hills Unto Benares, where he taught the Five , 10 Showing how birth and death should be destroyed, And how man hath no fate except past deeds, S THE LIGHT OF ASIA. t3<5 No Hell but what he makes, no Heaven too high For those to reach whose passions sleep subdued. This was the fifteenth day of Vaishya 11 Mid-afternoon and that night was full moon. But, of the Rishfs , 12 first Kaundinya Owned the Four Truths 13 and entered on the Paths ; And after him Bhadraka, Asvajit, Basava, Mahandma ; also there Within the Deer-park, at the feet of Buddh, Yasad the Prince 14 with nobles fifty-four Hearing the blessed word our Master spake Worshiped and followed ; for there sprang up peace And knowledge of a new time come for men In all who heard, as spring the flowers and grass When water sparkles through a sandy plain. These sixty — said they — did our Lord send forth, Made perfect in restraint and passion-free, To teach the Way ; but the World-honored turned South from the Deer-park and Isipatan To Yashti and King Bimbsara’s realm, Where many days he taught ; and after these King Bimbs&ra and his folk believed, Learning the law of love and ordered life. Also he gave the Master, of free gift, — Pouring forth water on the hands of Buddh — The Bamboo-Garden, named Weluvana, Wherein are streams and caves and lovely glades ; And the King set a stone there, carved with this : — BOOK THE SEVENTH. Yd dharma hetuppabhawa Yesan hdtun Tathdgato ; Aha yesan cha yo nirodhd Ewan wadi Maha sa?nano. “ What life’s course and cause sustain These Tathagato made plain ; What delivers from life’s woe That our Lord hath made us know.” And, in that Garden — said they — there was held A high Assembly, where the Teacher spake Wisdom and power, winning all souls which heard, So that nine hundred took the yellow robe — Such as the Master wears, — and spread his Law ; And this the gdthi 16 was wherewith he closed : — Sabba pdpassa akaranan ; Kusalassa upasampadd ; Sa chitta pariyodapanan j Etan JBudhanusasanan. “ Evil swells the debts to pay, Good delivers and acquits ; Shun evil, follow good ; hold sway Over thyself. This is the Way.” Whom, when they ended, speaking so of him, With gifts, and thanks which made the jewels dull. The Princess recompensed. “ But by what road Wendeth my Lord ? ” she asked : the merchants said, “ Ydjans 16 three-score stretch from the city-walls 132 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. To Rajdgriha, whence the easy path Passeth by Sona 17 hither and the hills. Our oxen, treading eight slow kos ® a day, Came in one moon.” Then the King hearing word, Sent nobles of the Court — well-mounted lords — Nine separate messengers, each embassy Bidden to say, “ The King Suddhodana — Nearer the pyre by seven long years of lack, Wherethrough he hath not ceased to seek for thee — Prays of his son to come unto his own, The Throne and people of this longing Realm, Lest he shall die and see thy face no more.” Also nine horsemen sent Yasbdhara Bidden to say, “ The Princess of thy House — Rahula’s mother 19 — craves to see thy face As the night-blowing moon-flower’s swelling heart ” Pines for the moon, as pale asoka-buds 51 Wait for a woman’s foot : if thou hast found More than was lost, she prays her part in this, Rahula’s part, but most of all thyself.” So sped the Sdkya Lords, but it befell That each one, with the message in his mouth, Entered the Bamboo-Garden in that hour When Buddha taught his Law ; and — hearing — each Forgot to speak, lost thought of King and quest, Of the sad Princess even ; only gazed Eye-rapt upon the Master ; only hung Heart-caught upon the speech, compassionate, Commanding, perfect, pure, enlightening all, Poured from those sacred lips. Look ! like a bee BOOK THE SEVENTH. 133 Winged for the hive, who sees the mogras 22 spread And scents their utter sweetness on the air, If he be honey-filled, it matters not ; If night be nigh, or rain, he will not heed ; Needs must he light on those delicious blooms And drain their nectar ; so these messengers One with another, hearing Buddha’s words, Let go the purpose of their speed, and mixed. Heedless of all, amid the Master’s train. Wherefore the King bade that Udayi 23 go — Chiefest in all the Court, and faithfulest, Siddartha’s playmate in the happier days — Who, as he drew anear the garden, plucked Blown tufts of tree-wool 24 from the grove and sealed The entrance of his hearing ; thus he came Safe through the lofty peril of the place And told the message of the King, and her’s. Then meekly bowed his head and spake our Lord Before the people, “ Surely I shall go ! It is my duty as it was my will; Let no man miss to render reverence To those who lend him life, whereby come means To live and die no more, but safe attain Blissful Nirvana , 25 if ye keep the Law, Purging past wrongs and adding nought thereto, Complete in love and lovely charities. Let the King know and let the Princess hear I take the way forthwith.” This told, the folk Of white Kapilavastu and its fields Made ready for the entrance of their Prince. 134 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. At the south gate a bright pavilion rose With flower-wreathed pillars and the walls of silk Wrought on their red and green with woven gold- Also the roads were laid with scented boughs Of neem 26 and mango , 27 and full masakhs 28 shed Sandal and jasmine on the dust, and flags . Fluttered ; and on the day when he should come It was ordained how many elephants — With silver howdahs 29 and their tusks gold-tipped — Should wait beyond the ford, and where the drums Should boom “ Siddartha cometh ! ” where the lords Should light and worship, and the dancing-girls Where they should strew their flowers with dance and song So that the steed he rode might tramp knee-deep In rose and balsam, and the ways be fair ; While the town rang with music and high joy. This was ordained, and all men’s ears were pricked Dawn after dawn to catch the first drum’s beat Announcing, “ Now he cometh ! ” But it fell — Eager to be before — Yasbdhara Rode in her litter to the city-walls Where soared the bright pavilion. All around A beauteous garden smiled — Nigrodha 30 named — Shaded with bel-trees 31 and the green-plumed dates, New-trimmed and gay with winding walks and banks Of fruits and flowers ; for the southern road Skirted its lawns, on this hand leaf and bloom, On that the suburb-huts where base-boms dwelt Outside the gates, a patient folk and poor, Whose touch for Kshatriya 32 and priest of Brahm BOOK THE SEVENTH. 135 Were sore defilement. Yet those, too, were quick With expectation, rising ere the dawn To peer along the road, to climb the trees At far-off trumpet of some elephant, Or stir of temple-drum ; and when none came, Busied with lowly chares 33 to please the Prince ; Sweeping their door-stones, setting forth their flags, Stringing the fluted fig-leaves into chains, New furbishing the Lingam , 34 decking new Yesterday’s faded arch of boughs, but aye Questioning wayfarers if any noise Be on the road of great Siddartha. These The Princess marked with lovely languid eyes, Watching, as they, the southward plain, and bent Like them to listen if the passers gave News of the path. So fell it she beheld One slow approaching with his head close shorn, A yellow cloth over his shoulder cast, Girt as the hermits are, and in his hand An earthen bowl, shaped melonwise, the which Meekly at each hut-door he held a space, Taking the granted dole with gentle thanks And all as gently passing where none gave. Two followed him wearing the yellow robe, But he who bore the bowl so lordly seemed, So reverend, and with such a passage moved, With so commanding presence filled the air, With such sweet eyes of holiness smote all, That as they reached him alms the givers gazed Awestruck upon his face, and some bent down In worship, and some ran to fetch fresh gifts, 136 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Grieved to be poor ; till slowly, group by group, Children and men and women drew behind Into his steps, whispering with covered lips, “ Who is he ? who ? when looked a Rishi 35 thus ? ” Rut as he came with quiet footfall on Nigh the pavilion, lo ! the silken door Lifted, and, all unveiled, Yasbdhara Stood in his path crying, “ Siddartha ! Lord ! ” With wide eyes streaming and with close-clasped hands, Then sobbing fell upon his feet, and lay. Afterwards, when this weeping lady passed Into the Noble Paths , 36 and one had prayed Answer from Buddha wherefore — being vowed Quit of all mortal passion and the touch, Flower-soft and conquering, of a woman’s hands — He suffered such embrace, the Master said : “ The greater beareth with the lesser love So it may raise it unto easier heights. Take heed that no man, being ’scaped from bonds, Vexeth bound souls with boasts of liberty. Free are ye rather that your freedom spread By patient winning and sweet wisdom’s skill. Three eras of long toil bring Bodhisats 37 — Who will be guides and help this darkling world — Unto deliverance, and the first is named Of deep ‘ Resolve,’ the second of ‘Attempt,’ The third of ‘ Nomination.’ Lo ! I lived In era of Resolve, desiring good, Searching for wisdom, but mine eyes were sealed. Count the gray seeds on yonder castor-clump, BOOK THE SEVENTH. *37 So many rains it is since I was Ram, A merchant of the coast which looketh south To Lanka 38 and the hiding place of pearls. Also in that far time Yasbdhara Dwelt with me in our village by the sea, Tender as now, and Lakshmi was her name. And I remember how I journeyed thence Seeking our gain, for poor the household was And lowly. Not the less with wistful tears She prayed me that I should not part, nor tempt Perils by land and water. ‘ How could love Leave what it loved ?’ she wailed ; yet, venturing, I Passed to the Straits, and after storm and toil And deadly strife with creatures of the deep, And woes beneath the midnight and the noon, Searching the wave I won therefrom a pearl Moonlike and glorious, such as Kings might buy Emptying their treasury. Then came I glad Unto mine hills, but over all that land Famine spread sore ; ill was I stead to live In journey home, and hardly reached my door — Aching for food — with that white wealth of the sea Tied in my girdle. Yet no food was there ; And on the threshold she for whom I toiled — More than myself — lay with her speechless lips Nigh unto death for one small gift of grain. Then cried I, ‘ If there be who hath of grain, Here is a kingdom’s ransom for one life : Give Lakshmi bread and take my moonlight pearl. Whereat one brought the last of all his hoard, Millet — three seers 39 — and clutched the beauteous thing. I38 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. But Lakshmi lived and sighed with gathered life, ‘ Lo ! thou didst love indeed ! ’ I spent my pearl Well in that life to comfort heart and mind Else quite uncomforted, but these pure pearls, My last large gain, won from a deeper wave — The Twelve Nidanas 40 and the Law of Good— Cannot be spent, nor dimmed, and most fulfill Their perfect beauty being freeliest given. For like as is to Meru 4 ' yonder hill Heaped by the little ants, and like as dew Dropped in the footmark of a bounding roe Unto the shoreless seas, so was that gift Unto my present giving ; and so love — Vaster in being free from toils of sense — Was wisest stooping to the weaker heart ; And so the feet of sweet Yasbdhara Passed into peace and bliss, being softly led .” 45 But when the King heard how Siddartha came Shorn, with the mendicant’s sad-colored cloth, And stretching out a bowl to gather orts From base-borns’ leavings, wrathful sorrow drove Love from his heart. Thrice on the ground he spat, Plucked at his silvered beard, and strode straight forth Lackeyed by trembling lords. Frowning he clomb Upon his war-horse, drove the spurs, and dashed, Angered, through wondering streets and lanes of folk, Scarce finding breath to say, “ The King ! bow down ! ” Ere the loud cavalcade had clattered by : Which — at the turning by the Temple-wall Where the south gate was seen — encountered full BOOK THE SEVENTH. 139 A mighty crowd ; to every edge of it Poured fast more people, till the roads were lost, Blotted by that huge company which thronged And grew, close following him whose look serene Met the old King’s. Nor lived the father’s wrath Longer than while the gentle eyes of Buddh Lingered in worship on his troubled brows, Then downcast sank, with his true knee, to earth In proud humility. So dear it seemed To see the Prince, to know him whole, to mark That glory greater than of earthly state Crowning his head, that majesty which brought All men, so awed and silent, in his steps. Nathless the King broke forth, “ Ends it in this That great Siddartha steals into his realm, Wrapped in a clout, shorn, sandaled, craving food Of low-borns, he whose life was as a God’s ? My son ! heir of this spacious power, and heir Of Kings who did but clap their palms to have What earth could give or eager service bring ? Thou should’st have come appareled in thy rank, With shining spears and tramp of horse and foot. Lo ! all my soldiers camped upon the road, And all my city waited at the gates ; Where hast thou sojourned through these evil years Whilst thy crowned father mourned ? and she, too, there Lived as the widows use, foregoing joys ; Never once hearing sound of song or string, Nor wearing once the festal robe, till now When in her cloth of gold she welcomes home A beggar spouse in yellow remnants clad. 140 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Son ! why is this ? ” “ My Father ! ” came reply, “ It is the custom of my race.” “ Thy race,” Answered the King, “counteth a hundred thrones From Mahasammat , 43 but no deed like this." “ Not of a mortal line,” the Master said, “ I spake, but of descent invisible, The Buddhas who have been and who shall be : Of these am I, and what they did I do. And this which now befalls so fell before That at his gate a King in warrior-mail Should meet his son, a Prince in hermit-weeds ; And that, by love and self-control, being more Than mightiest Kings in all their puissance, The appointed Helper of the Worlds should bow — As now do I — and with all lowly love Proffer, where it is owed for tender debts, The first-fruits of the treasure he hath brought ; Which now I proffer.” Then the King amazed Inquired “What treasure ? ” and the Teacher took Meekly the royal palm, and while they paced Through worshiping streets — the Princess and the King On either side — he told the things which make For peace and pureness, those Four noble Truths 44 Which hold all wisdom as shores shut the seas, Those eight right Rules 45 whereby who will may walk — Monarch or slave — upon the perfect Path That hath its Stages Four 46 and Precepts Eight , 41 BOOK THE SEVENTH. I41 Whereby whoso will live — mighty or mean, Wise or unlearned, man, woman, young or old — Shall soon or late break from the wheels of life Attaining blest Nirv&na. So they came Into the Palace-porch, Suddhodana With brows unknit drinking the mighty words, And in his own hand carrying Buddha’s bowl, Whilst a new light brightened the lovely eyes Of sweet Yasbdhara and sunned her tears ; And that night entered they the Way of Peace. ©00k tl)c A broad mead spreads by swift Kohana’s bank At Nagara five days shall bring a rnan In ox-wain 3 thither from Bendres’ shrines Eastward and northward journeying. The horns Of white Himala look upon the place, Which all the year is glad with blooms and girt By groves made green from that bright streamlet’s wave. Soft are its slopes and cool its fragrant shades, And holy all the spirit of the spot Unto this time : the breath of eve comes hushed Over the tangled thickets, and high heaps Of carved red stones cloven by root and stem Of creeping fig, and clad with waving veil Of leaf and grass. The still snake glistens forth From crumbled work of lac and cedar-beams To coil his folds there on deep-graven slabs ; The lizard dwells and darts o’er painted floors Where kings have paced ; the gray fox litters safe Under the broken thrones; only the peaks, And stream, and sloping lawns, and gentle air Abide unchanged. All else, like all fair shows Of life, are fled — for this is where it stood, 142 BOOK THE EIGHTH. 143 The city of Suddhodana, the hill Whereon, upon an eve of gold and blue At sinking sun Lord Buddha set himself To teach the Law in hearing of his own. Lo ! ye shall read it in the Sacred Books 1 How, being met in that glad pleasaunce-place— * A garden in old days with hanging walks, Fountains, and tanks, and rose-banked terraces • Girdled by gay pavilions and the sweep Of stately palace-fronts — the Master sate Eminent, worshiped, all the earnest throng Catching the opening of his lips to learn That wisdom which hath made our Asia mild ; Whereto four hundred crors 3 of living souls Witness this day. Upon the King’s right hand He sate, and round were ranged the Sakya Lords Ananda, Devadatta — all the Court. Behind stood Seriyut and Mugallan, chiefs Of the calm brethren in the yellow garb, A goodly company. Between his knees Rahula smiled with wondering childish eyes Bent on the awful face, while at his feet Sate sweet Yasbdhara, her heartaches gone, Foreseeing that fair love which doth not feed On fleeting sense, that life which knows no age, That blessed last of deaths when Death is dead, His victory and hers. Wherefore she laid Her hand upon his hands, folding around Her silver shoulder-cloth his yellow robe, Nearest in all the world to him whose words 144 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. The Three Worlds waited for. I cannot tell A small part of the splendid lore which broke From Buddha’s lips: I am a late-come scribe Who love the Master and his love of men, And tell this legend, knowing he was wise, But have not wit to speak beyond the books ; And time hath blurred their script and ancient sense. Which once was new and mighty, moving all. A little of that large discourse I know Which Buddha spake on the soft Indian eve. Also I know it writ that they who heard Were more — lakhs 4 more — crors more — than could be seen, For all the Devas and the Dead thronged there, Till Heaven was emptied to the seventh zone And uttermost dark Hells opened their bars ; Also the daylight lingered past its time In rose-leaf radiance on the watching peaks, So that it seemed Night listened in the glens And Noon upon the mountains ; yea, they write, The evening stood between them like some maid Celestial, love-struck, rapt ; the smooth-rolled clouds Her braided hair ; the studded stars the pearls And diamonds of her coronal ; the moon Her forehead-jewel, and the deepening dark Her woven garments. ’Twas her close-held breath Which came in scented sighs across the lawns While our Lord taught, and, while he taught, who heard — Though he were stranger in the land, or slave, High caste or low, come of the Aryan blood, Or Mlech 5 or Jungle-dweller — seemed to hear BOOK THE EIGHTH. 145 What tongue his fellows talked. Nay, outside those Who crowded by the river, great and small, The birds and beasts and creeping things 6 — ’tis writ — Had sense of Buddha’s vast embracing love And took the promise of his piteous speech ; So that their lives — prisoned in shape of ape, Tiger, or deer, shagged bear, jackal, or wolf, Foul-feeding kite, pearled dove, or peacock gemmed, Squat toad, or speckled serpent, lizard, bat ; Yea, or of fish fanning the river-waves — Touched meekly at the skirts of brotherhood With man who hath less innocence than these ; And in mute gladness knew their bondage broke Whilst Buddha spake these things before the King : — o - Om , 7 amitaya ! 8 measure not with words Th’ Immeasurable : nor sink the string of thought Into the Fathomless. Who asks doth err, Who answers, errs. Say nought ! The Books teach Darkness was, at first of all, And Brahm, sole meditating in that night : Look not for Brahm 9 and the Beginning there ! Nor him, nor any light Shall any gazer see with mortal eyes, Or any searcher know by mortal mind ; Veil after veil will lift — but there must be Veil upon veil behind. 146 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Stars sweep and question not. This is enough That life and death and joy and woe abide ; And cause and sequence, and the course of time, And Being’s ceaseless tide, Which, ever-changing, runs, linked like a river By ripples following ripples, fast or slow — The same yet not the same — from far-off fountain To where its waters flow Into the seas. These, steaming to the Sun, Give the lost wavelets back in cloudy fleece To trickle down the hills, and glide again ; Having no pause or peace. This is enough to know, the phantasms are ; The Heavens, Earths, Worlds, and changes changing them A mighty whirling wheel of strife and stress Which none can stay or stem. Pray not ! the darkness will not brighten ! Ask Nought from the Silence, for it cannot speak ! Vex not your mournful minds with pious pains ! Ah ! Brothers, Sisters ! seek Nought from the helpless gods by gift and hymn, Nor bribe with blood, nor feed with fruit and cakes ; Within yourselves deliverance must be sought ; Each man his prison makes . 10 BOOK THE EIGHTH. 147 Each hath such lordship as the loftiest ones ; Nay, for with Powers above, around, below, As with all flesh and whatsoever lives, Act maketh joy and woe. What hath been bringeth what shall be, and is, Worse — better — last for first and first for last ; The Angels in the Heavens of Gladness reap Fruits of a holy past. The devils in the underworlds wear out Deeds that were wicked in an age gone by. Nothing endures : tair virtues waste with time, Foul sins grow purged thereby. Who toiled a slave may come anew a Prince For gentle worthiness and merit won ; Who ruled a King may wander earth in rags For things done and undone. Higher than Indra’s 11 ye may lift your lot, And sink it lower than the worm or gnat ; The end of many myriad lives is this, The end of myriads that. Only, while turns this wheel invisible, No pause, no peace, no staying-place can be ; Who mounts will fall, who falls may mount ; the spokes Go round unceasingly ! ***** 148 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. If ye lay bound upon the wheel of change, And no way were of breaking from the chain, The Heart of boundless Being is a curse, The Soul of Things fell Pain. Ye are not bound ! the Soul of Things is sweet, The Heart of Being is celestial rest ; Stronger than woe is will : that which was Good Doth pass to Better — Best. I, Buddh, who wept with all my brothers’ tears, Whose heart was broken by a whole world’s woe, Laugh and am glad, for there is Liberty*! Ho ! ye who suffer ! know Ye suffer from yourselves. None else compels, None other holds you that ye live and die, And whirl upon the wheel, and hug and kiss Its spokes of agony, Its tire of tears, its nave of nothingness. Behold, I show you Truth ! Lower than hell, Higher than heaven, outside the utmost stars, Farther than Brahm doth dwell, Before beginning, and without an end, As space eternal and as surety sure, Is fixed a power divine which moves to good, Only its laws endure. This is its touch upon the blossomed rose, The fashion of its hand shaped lotus-leaves; BOOK THE EIGHTH. 149 In dark soil and the silence of the seeds The robe of Spring it weaves ; That is its painting on the glorious clouds, And these its emeralds on the peacock’s train ; It hath its stations in the stars ; its slaves In lightning, wind, and rain. Out of the dark it wrought the heart of man, Out of dull shells the pheasant’s penciled neck ; Ever at toil, it brings to loveliness All ancient wrath and wreck. The gray eggs in the golden sun-bird’s nest Its treasures are, the bees’ six-sided cell Its honey-pot ; the ant wots of its ways, The white doves know them well. It spreadeth forth for flight the eagle’s wings What time she beareth home her prey ; it sends The she-wolf to her cubs ; for unloved things It findeth food and friends. It is not marred nor stayed in any use, All liketh it ; the sweet white milk it brings To mothers’ breasts ; it brings the white drops, too, Wherewith the young snake stings. The ordered music of the marching orbs It makes in viewless canopy of sky ; In deep abyss of earth it hides up gold, Sards, sapphires, lazuli. THE LIGHT OF ASIA. * 5 ° Ever and ever bringing secrets forth, It sitteth in the green of forest-glades Nursing strange seedlings at the cedar’s root, Devising leaves, blooms, blades. It slayeth and it saveth, nowise moved Except unto the working out of doom ; Its threads are Love and Life ; and Death and Pain The shuttles of its loom. It maketh and unmaketh, mending all ; What it hath wrought is better than hath been ; Slow grows the splendid pattern that it plans Its wistful hands between. This is its work upon the things ye see, The unseen things are more ; men’s hearts and minds, The thoughts of peoples and their ways and wills. Those, too, the great Law binds. Unseen it helpeth ye with faithful hands, Unheard it speaketh stronger than the storm. Pity and Love are man’s because long stress Molded blind mass to form. It will not be contemned of any one ; Who thwarts it loses, and who serves it gains ; The hidden good it pays with peace and bliss, The hidden ill with pains. It seeth everywhere and marketh all : Do right — it recompenseth ! do one wrong — BOOK THE EIGHTH. * 5 * The equal retribution must be made, Though Dharma 12 tarry long. It knows not wrath nor pardon ; utter-true Its measures mete, its faultless balance weighs ; Times are as nought, to-morrow it will judge, Or after many days. By this the slayer’s knife did stab himself ; The unjust judge hath lost his own defender ; The false tongue dooms its lie ; the creeping thief And spoiler rob, to render. Such is the Law which moves to righteousness, Which none at last can turn aside or stay ; The heart of it is Love, the end of it Is Peace and Consummation sweet. Obey ! * * * * The Books say well, my Brothers ! each man’s life The outcome of his former living is ; The bygone wrongs bring forth sorrows and woes, The bygone right breeds bliss. That which ye sow ye reap. See yonder fields ! The sesamum was sesamum , 13 the corn Was corn. The Silence and the Darkness knew ! So is a man’s fate born. He cometh, reaper of the things he sowed, Sesamum, corn, so much cast in past birth ; 152 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. And so much weed and poison-stuff, which mar Him and the aching earth. If he shall labor rightly, rooting these, And planting wholesome seedlings where they grew, Fruitful and fair and clean the ground shall be, And rich the harvest due. If he who liveth, learning whence woe springs, Endureth patiently, striving to pay His utmost debt for ancient evils done In Love and Truth alway ; If making none to lack, he throughly purge The lie and lust of self forth from his blood ; Suffering all meekly, rendering for offense Nothing but grace and good ; If he shall day by day dwell merciful, Holy and just and kind and true ; and rend Desire from where it clings with bleeding roots, Till love of life have end : He — dying — leaveth as the sum of him A life-count closed, whose ills are dead and quit, Whose good is quick and mighty, far and near, So that fruits follow it. No need hath such to live as ye name life ; That which began in him when he began Is finished : he hath wrought the purpose through Of what did make him Man, BOOK THE EIGHTH. 153 Never shall yearnings torture him, nor sins Stain him, nor ache of earthly joys and woes Invade his safe eternal peace ; nor deaths And lives recur. He goes Unto Nirvana . 14 He is one with Life Yet lives not. He is blest, ceasing to be. Om , 15 mani 16 padme,” om ! the Dewdrop slips Into the shining sea ! 18 ***** This is the doctrine of the Karma . 19 Learn ! Only when all the dross of sin is quit, Only when life dies like a white flame spent Death dies along with it. Say not “ I am,” “ I was,” or “ I shall be,” Think not ye pass from house to house of flesh Like travelers who remember and forget, Ill-lodged or well-lodged. Fresh Issues upon the Universe that sum Which is the lattermost of lives. It makes Its habitation as the worm spins silk And dwells therein. It takes Function and substance as the snake’s egg hatched Takes scale and fang ; as feathered reed-seeds fly O’er rock and loam and sand, until they find Their marsh and multiply. iS4 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. My daily way, rejoicing when the torch Lit the quick flame and rolled the choking smoke. For it is written if an Indian wife Die so, her love shall give her husband’s soul For every hair upon her head a crore Of years in Swerga. Therefore fear I not. And therefore, Holy Sir ! my life is glad, Nowise forgetting yet those other lives Painful and poor, wicked and miserable, Whereon the gods grant pity ! but for me, What good I see humbly I seek to do, And live obedient to the law, in trust That what will come, and must come, shall come well.” Then spake our Lord, “ Thou teachest them who teach, Wiser than wisdom in thy simple lore. I Be thou content to know not, knowing thus Thy way of right and duty : grow, thou flower ! With thy sweet kind in peaceful shade — the light Of Truth’s high noon is not for tender leaves BOOK THE SIXTH. 155 Which must spread broad in other suns 'and lift In later lives a crowned head to the sky. Thou who hast worshipped me, I worship thee ! Excellent heart ! learned unknowingly. As the dove is which flieth home by love. In thee is seen why there is hope for man And where we hold the wheel of life at will. Peace go with thee, and comfort all thy days ! As thou accomplishest, may I achieve ! He whom thou thoughtest God bids thee wish this.” “ May’st thou achieve,” she said, with earnest eyes Bent on her babe, who reached its tender hands To Buddh — knowing, belike, as children know, More than we deem, and reverencing our Lord ; But he arose — made strong with that pure meat — ■ And bent his footsteps where a great Tree grew, The Bodhi-tree (thenceforward in all years Never to fade, and ever to be kept In homage of the world), beneath whose leaves 156 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. So grow the strifes and lusts which make earth’s war, So grieve poor cheated hearts and flow salt tears ; So wax the passions, envies, angers, hates ; So years chase blood-stained years With wild red feet. So, where the grain should grow, Spreads the birdn-weed 21 with its evil root And poisonous blossoms ; hardly good seeds find Soil where to fall and shoot ; And drugged with poisonous drink the soul departs, And fierce with thirst to drink Karma returns ; Sense-struck again the sodden self begins, And new deceits it earns. The Third is Sorrow's Ceasing. This is peace To conquer love of self and lust of life, To tear deep-rooted passion from the breast, To still the inward strife ; For love to clasp Eternal Beauty close ; For glory to be Lord of self, for pleasure To live beyond the gods ; for countless wealth To lay up lasting treasure Of perfect service rendered, duties done In charity, soft speech, and stainless days : These riches shall not fade away in life, Nor any death dispraise. Then Sorrow ends, for Life and Death have ceased ; How should lamps flicker when their oil is spent ? BOOK THE EIGHTH. 157 The old sad count is clear, the new is clean ; Thus hath a man content. * * * * The Fourth Truth is The Way. It openeth wide. Plain for all feet to tread, easy and near, The Noble Eightfold Path ; it goeth straight To peace and refuge. Hear ! Manifold tracks lead to yon sister-peaks Around whose snows the gilded clouds are curled ; By steep or gentle slopes the climber comes Where breaks that other world. Strong limbs may dare the rugged road which storms, Soaring and perilous, the mountain’s breast ; The weak must wind from slower ledge to ledge With many a place of rest. So is the Eightfold Path which brings to peace ; By lower or by upper heights it goes. The firm soul hastes, the feeble tarries. AH Will reach the sunlit snows. The First good Level is Right Doctrine. Walk In Fear of Dharma, shunning all offense ; In heed of Karmd, which doth make man’s fate ; In lordship over sense. The Second is Right Purpose. Have good-will To all that lives, letting unkindness die THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 158 And greed and wrath ; so that your lives be made Like soft airs passing by. The Third is Right Discourse. Govern the lips As they were palace-doors, the King within ; Tranquil and fair and courteous be all words Which from that presence win. The Fourth is Right Behavior. Let each act Assoil a fault or help a merit grow : Like threads of silver seen through crystal beads Let love through good deeds show. Four higher roadways be. Only those feet May tread them which have done with earthly things ; Right Purity , Right Thought , Right Loneliness , Right Rapture. Spread no wings For sunward flight, thou soul with unplumed vans ! Sweet is the lower air and safe, and known The homely levels : only strong ones leave The nest each makes his own. Dear is the love, I know, of Wife and Child ; Pleasant the friends and pastimes of your years ; Fruitful of good Life’s gentle charities ; False, though firm-set, its fears. Live — ye who must — such lives as live on these ; Make golden stair-ways of your weakness ; rise By daily sojourn with those phantasies To lovelier verities. BOOK THE EIGHTH. iS9 So shall ye pass to clearer heights and find Easier ascents and lighter loads of sins, And larger will to burst the bonds of sense. Entering the Path. Who wins To such commencement hath the First Stage touched ; He knows the Noble Truths, the Eightfold Road ; By few or many steps such shall attain Nirvana’s blest abode. Who standeth at the Second Stage, made free From doubts, delusions, and the inward strife, Lord of all lusts, quit of the priests and books. Shall live but one more life. Yet onward lies the Third Stage : purged and pure Hath grown the stately spirit here, hath risen To love all living things in perfect peace. His life at end, life’s prison Is broken. Nay, there are who surely pass Living and visible to utmost goal By Fourth Stage of the Holy ones — the Buddhs — And they of stainless soul. Lo ! like fierce foes slain by some warrior, Ten sins along these Stages lie in dust, The Love of Self, False Faith, and Doubt are three^ Two more, Hatred and Lust. Who of these Five is conqueror hath trod Three stages out of Four : yet there abide i6o THE LIGHT OF ASIA. The Love of Life on Earth, Desire for Heaven, Self-Praise, Error, and Pride. As one who stands on yonder snowy horn Having nought o'er him but the boundless blue, So, these sins being slain, the man is come Nirvana’s verge unto. Him the Gods envy from their lower seats ; Him the Three Worlds in ruin should not shake ; All life is lived for him, all deaths are dead ; Karma will no more make New houses. Seeking nothing, he gains all ; Foregoing self, the Universe grows “ I : ” If any teach NIRVANA is to cease, Say unto such they lie. If any teach NIRVANA is to live, Say unto such they err ; ss not knowing this, Nor what light shines beyond their broken lamps, Nor lifeless, timeless bliss. Enter the Path ! There is no grief like Hate ! No pains like passions, no deceit like sense ! Enter the Path ! far hath he gone whose foot Treads down one fond offense. Enter the Path ! There spring the healing streams Quenching all thirst ! there bloom th’ immortal flowers Carpeting all the way with joy ! there throng Swiftest and sweetest hours ! BOOK THE EIGHTH. More is the treasure of the Law than gems ; Sweeter than comb its sweetness ; its delights Delightful past compare. Thereby to live Hear the Five Rules aright : — Kill not — for Pity’s sake — and lest ye slay The meanest thing upon its upward way. Give freely and receive, but take from none By greed, or force or fraud, what is his own. Bear not false witness, slander not, nor lie ; Truth is the speech of inward purity. Shun drugs and drinks which work the wit abuse ; Clear minds, clean bodies, need no Soma juice . 23 Touch not thy neighbor’s wife, neither commit Sins of the flesh unlawful and unfit. o These words the Master spake of duties due To father, mother, children, fellows, friends ; Teaching how such as may not swiftly break The clinging chains of sense — whose feet are weak To tread the higher road — should order so This life of flesh that all their hither days Pass blameless in discharge of charities And first true footfalls in the Eightfold Path ; Living pure, reverent, patient, pitiful, Loving all things which live even as themselves ; 6 162 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Because what falls for ill is fruit of ill Wrought in the past, and what falls well of good; And that by howsomuch the householder Purgeth himself of self and helps the world, By so much happier comes he to next stage, In so much bettered being. This he spake, As also long before, when our Lord walked By Rajagriha in the bamboo-grove : For on a dawn he walked there and beheld The householder Singala, newly bathed, Bowing himself with bare head to the earth, To Heaven, and all four quarters ; while he threw Rice, red and white, from both hands . 54 “ Wherefore thus Bowest thou, Brother ? ” said the Lord ; and he, “ It is the way, Great Sir ! our fathers taught At every dawn, before the toil begins, To hold off evil from the sky above And earth beneath, and all the winds which blow.” Then the World-honored spake : “ Scatter not rice, But offer loving thoughts and acts to all. To parents as the East where rises light ; To teachers as the South whence rich gifts come ; To wife and children as the West where gleam Colors of love and calm, and all days end ; To friends and kinsmen and all men as North ; To humblest living things beneath, to Saints And Angels and the blessed Dead above : So shall all evil be shut off, and so The six main quarters will be safely kept.” But to his own, them of the yellow robe — They who, as wakened eagles, soar with scorn BOOK THE EIGHTH. . 163 From life’s low vale, and wing towards the Sun — To these he taught the Ten Observances, The Dasa silf and how a mendicant Must know the Three Doors 26 and the Triple Thoughts ; 27 The Sixfold States of Mind j 28 the Fivefold Powers ; 29 The Eight High Gates of Purity ; 30 the Modes Of Understanding ; 31 Iddhi ; 34 Upeksha j 33 The Five great Meditations f which are food Sweeter than Amrit 35 for the holy soul ; The f lianas 36 and the Three Chief Refuges F Also he taught his own how they should dwell ; How live, free from the snares of love and wealth ; What eat and drink and carry — three plain cloths, — Yellow, of stitched stuff, worn with shoulder bare — A girdle, almsbowl, strainer . 38 Thus he laid The great foundations of our Sangha 39 well, That noble Order of the Yellow Robe Which to this day standeth to help the World. So all that night he spake, teaching the Law : And on no eyes fell sleep — for they who heard Rejoiced with tireless joy. Also the King, When this was finished, rose upon his throne And with bared feet bowed low before his Son Kissing his hem ; and said, “Take me, O Son ! Lowest and least of all thy Company.” And sweet Yasbdhara, all happy now — Cried “ Give to Rahula — thou Blessed One ! The Treasure of the Kingdom of thy Word For his inheritance.” Thus passed these Three Into the Path. 164 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. Here endeth what I write Who love the Master for his love of us. A little knowing, little have I told Touching the Teacher and the Ways of Peace. Forty-five rains thereafter showed he those In many lands and many tongues and gave Our Asia light, that still is beautiful, Conquering the world with spirit of strong grace : All which is written in the holy Books, And where he passed and what proud Emperors Carved his sweet words upon the rocks and caves : And how — in fullness of the times — it fell The Buddha died, the great Tathagato , 40 Even as a man ’mongst men, fulfilling all : And how a thousand thousand crors since then Have trod the path which leads whither he went Unto Nirvana where the Silence lives. o Ah ! Blessed Lord ! Oh, High Deliverer ! Forgive this feeble script, which doth thee wrong, Measuring with little wit thy lofty Love. Ah ! Lover ! Brother ! Guide ! Lamp of the Law ! I take my refuge in thy name and thee! I TAKE MY REFUGE IN THY Law OF GOOD ! I TAKE MY REFUGE IN THY ORDER ! OM ! The Dew is on the lotus ! — rise, Great Sun ! And LIFT MY LEAF AND MIX ME WITH THE WAVE. Om mani padme hum , 41 the Sunrise comes ! The Dewdrop slips into the shining Sea ! &fier JHcatl) in Arabia. BY EDWIN ARNOLD. He who died at Azan sends This to comfort all his friends : Faithful friends ! It lies, I know, Pale and white and cold as snow ; And ye say, “ Abdallah’s dead ! ” Weeping at the feet and head, I can see your falling tears, I can hear your sighs and prayers ; Yet I smile and whisper this, — “ I am not the thing you kiss ; Cease your tears, and let it lie ; It was mine, it is not I.” Sweet friends ! What the women lave For its last bed of the grave, Is but a hut which I am quitting. Is a garment no more fitting, Is a cage, from which, at last, Like a hawk my soul hath passed. Love the inmate, not the room, — The wearer, not the garb, — the plume 165 i66 AFTER DEATH IN ARABIA. Of the falcon, not the bars Which kept him from those splendid stars. Loving friends ! Be wise and dry Straightway every weeping eye, — What ye lift upon the bier Is not worth a wistful tear. ’Tis an empty sea-shell, — one Out of which the pearl is gone ; The shell is broken, it lies there ; The pearl, the all, the soul, is here. ’Tis an earthen jar, whose lid Allah sealed, the while it hid That treasure of his treasury, A mind that loved him ; let it lie ! Let the shard be earth’s once more, Since the gold shines in his store ! Allah glorious ! Allah good ! Now thy world is understood ; Now the long, long wonder ends ; Yet ye weep, my erring friends, While the man whom ye call dead, In unspoken bliss, instead, Lives and loves you ; lost, ’tis true, By such light as shines for you ; But in the light ye cannot see Of unfulfilled felicity, — In enlarging paradise, Lives a life that never dies. Farewell, friends ! Yet not farewell; Where I am, ye, too, shall dwell. AFTER DEATH IN ARABIA. 167 I am gone before your face, A moment’s time, a little space. When ye come where I have stepped Ye will wonder why ye wept ; Ye will know, by wise love taught, That here is all, and there is naught. Weep awhile, if ye are fain, — Sunshine still must follow rain ; Only not at death, — for death, Now I know, is that first breath Which our souls draw when we enter Life, which is of all life center. Be ye certain all seems love, Viewed from Allah’s throne above , Be ye stout of heart, and come Bravely onward to your home ! La Allah ilia Allah ! yea ! Thou love divine ! Thou love alway ! He that died at Azan gave This to those who made his grave. “ nnb 01)e. BY EDWIN ARNOLD. “ She is dead ! ” they said to him ; “ come away ; Kiss her and leave her, — thy love is clay ! ” They smoothed her tresses of dark brown hair; On her forehead of stone they laid it fair ; Over her eyes that gazed too much They drew the lids with a gentle touch ; With a tender touch they closed up well The sweet thin lips that had secrets to tell ; About her brows and beautiful face They tied her veil and her marriage lace, And drew on her white feet her white silk shoes — Which were the whitest no eye could choose — And over her bosom they crossed her hands. “ Come away ! ” they said ; “ God understands." And there was silence, and nothing there But silence, and scents of eglantere, 168 HE AND SHE. « M I69 And jasmine, and roses, and rosemary ; And they said, “ As a lady should lie, lies she.” And they held their breath till they left the room, With a shudder, to glance at its stillness and gloom. But he who loved her too well to dread The sweet, the stately, the beautiful dead, He lit his lamp and took the key And turned it — alone again — he and she. He and she ; but she would not speak, Though he kissed, in the old place, the quiet cheek. He and she ; yet she would not smile, Though he called her the name she loved erewhile. He and she ; still she did not move To any one passionate whisper of love. Then he said : “ Cold lips and breasts without breath, Is there no voice, no language of death ? “ Dumb to the ear and still to the sense, But to heart and to soul distinct, intense ? “ See now ; I will listen with soul, not e^r ; What was the secret of dying, dear ? “ Was it the infinite wonder of all That you ever could let life’s flower fall ? i7o “he and she.” “ Or was it a greater marvel to feel The perfect calm o’er the agony steal ? “ Was the miracle greater to find how deep Beyond all dreams sank downward that sleep ? “ Did life roll back its records dear, And show, as they say it does, past things clear? “ And was it the innermost heart of the bliss To find out so, what a wisdom lbve is? “ O perfect dead ! O dead most dear, I hold the breath of my soul to hear ! “ I listen as deep as to horrible hell, As high as to heaven, and you do not telL “ There must be pleasure in dying, sweet, To make you so placid from head to feet ! “ I would tell you, darling, if I were dead, And ’twere your hot tears upon my brow shed, — “ I would say, though the Angel of Death had laid His sword on my lips to keep it unsaid. “ You should not ask vainly, with streaming eyes, Which of all deaths was the chiefest surprise, “ The very strangest and suddenest thing Of all the surprises that dying must bring.” HE AND SHE. M 19 171 Ah, foolish world ; 0 most kind dead ! Though he told me, who will believe it was said ? Who will believe that he heard her say, With the sweet, soft voice, in the dear old way : “ The utmost wonder is this, — I hear And see you, and love you, and kiss you, dear ; “ And am your angel, who was your bride, And know that, though dead, I have never died.” . . RULES FOR PRONUNCIATION. A, unmarked like u in but. A., marked like a in father. E, like a in fate. I, unmarked like i in him. 1, marked as ee in feel. O, marked or unmarked like o in gold. tJ, marked like u in rule. U, unmarked like u in gun. ■ - - ' PREFACE TO NOTES, A few summer afternoon “ Conversations ” on the “Light of Asia,” at the earnest request of the company who listened, are at last condensed into these notes. Interpretation rather than criti- cism has been my aim, neither have I thought it best to enter into any extended discussion of the merits of Buddhist doctrine pre- sented or incidentally mentioned. A separate volume would be needed for that. Of necessity Mr. Arnold lias been obliged to use Christian phraseology, and as a powerful artist, without being a Buddhist or any other sort of a heathen, he has made the most of his picture. We find it as difficult to becloud Christian words with heathen ideas as the heathen find it difficult to attach to their theological terms, when used to explain Christianity, the truth, purity and clearness of Christian doctrine. If the corresponding legends introduced in these notes shall give to any one a juster idea of the place Buddhist history holds in Oriental literature ; if the translation of Hindu words and descrip- tions of Hindu customs shall add to the pleasure of any as they strive to comprehend Mr. Arnold’s picture ; if the fuller details of Brahminical and Buddhist beliefs shall give to any a clearer view of the darkness which Buddha with his candle of truth bravely strove to illumine ; if any, reading these notes, shall love mankind more and Christianity not less, my aim is fulfilled. Mrs. I. L. HAUSER. Evanston, 111., April 13, 1882. 175 Of «: >T :>• X ;.1H J ■ EDWIN ARNOLD, C. S. 1. Edwin Arnold was the second son of Robert Coles Arnold, a magistrate in Sussex ; he was born June 10, 1831, and was educa- ted at King’s School, Rochester, and King’s College, London ; and was elected to a scholarship at University College, Oxford. In 1852 he obtained the Newdigate prize for his English poem on the Feast of Belshazzar. In 1853 he was elected to address the Earl of Derby on his installation as Chancellor of the University. He graduated with honor in 1854; and became second master in King Edward the Sixth’s school in Birmingham, and subsequently was appointed principal of the Government Sanskrit College at Poona, in Western India. He held the position until 1860, when he was compelled to leave his much-loved India, by the death of a child, and the illness of his young wife. For nearly twenty years since he has held the position of sub-editor, or editor-in-chief, of the London Daily lelegraph, where he has become greatly distin- guished as a writer of powerful “ leaders.” Mr. Arnold has con- tributed largely to critical and literary journals, and is the author of “ Griselda, a Drama;” “Poems Narrative and Lyrical,” “ Education in India,” “ The Euterpe of Herodotus,” a translation with notes ; a translation of the "Hitopodesh,” or “Book of Good Counsels,” a Sanskrit work ; “ The History of Lord Dalliousie’s Administration,” ‘ ' The Indian Song of Songs,” and the “ Light of Asia.” This last work he began in September of 1878, and though his duties as editor of the Daily Telegraph were unremitting, he was able, within a yeai', to have it published on both sides the Atlantic. Later, Mr. Arnold has translated into verse two books from the Makabharata, “ The Iliad of India." I 177 BUDDHA. Of the real history of Buddha comparatively little was known in the Western world until within the present century. Whether he ever existed at all was a great question among the best scholars, but recent research and comparison of Buddhist works from Cey- lon, Burmah, Siam, Thibet, China and Sanskrit works in India seems to establish the fact beyond further question. As scholars in each of the countries where Buddhism prevails read the works, ancient or modern, that proclaimed the greatness and doctrines of Buddha, they found them so overgrown with legends and absurdi- ties that it was impossible for them to decide which was truth and which falsehood ; but when these works were brought together in European studies, and a few earnest scholars set themselves to the task of comparison, it was found that on certain points of Buddha’s life and doctrine there was practical agreement. These being gathered out of the mass of nonsense, we now have an in- telligible history of Buddha. It should be remembered that com- merce, or other intercourse between China, Thibet and India had been almost entirely suspended for nearly a thousand years, and the thought and traditions of one country had not been affected by that of the other ; hence it seems evident that a common origin in the spread of Buddhism, some fifteen or twenty centuries since, must account for the agreement of the Buddhist books of those countries on history and doctrine. Nothing has been more uncertain about Buddha than the time of his life. Professor Wilson enumerates over twenty different dates given in Buddhist books, each as reliable as the other, and ranging over a thousand years previous to 453 b.c. ; but the most careful research, and the balance of Oriental authorities, places his birth about 620 b c. The story of Buddha’s ante-natal existence is as firmly believed in by his followers as that of the recorded eighty years of his last appearance. He is said to have passed through an infinitude of births, in various characters, during ten millions of million and one hundred thousand millions of kalpas, or eternities. Appear- ing as a prince fifty-one times in the line of Maliasammata, he was therefore fifty-one times his own ancestor. In every birth he 179 i8o BUDDHA. is represented as being possessed of rare moral excellence and great benevolence. It is said that when he was living as King Kanakavarna he gave to a Bodhisattwa — or candidate for Buddka- liood — the last morsel of food which long famine had left for his sustenance. This act of charity was followed by rain and plenty. Again Buddha born as a Brahmin gave his own body to feed a famished tigress and her cubs. After this marvel of charity he attained the rank of Bodhisattwa, which is only inferior to that of Buddha, and lived in the Tusliita heaven, where he taught his doctrine to innumerable millions of Bodkisattwas, or future Buddhas, and was glorified by many strange creatures of Hindu mythology. Another account places Buddha as one of the seven holy Rishls — saints — each one of whom awaits, in one of the seven stars of the Great Bear, final birth or incarceration. In other works the occasion of Buddha’s birth is differently told. Vishnu, one of the Hindu trinity, saw that men, by their extraor- dinary strict practice of the doctrines and rites of the Vedas, threatened to prove rivals to the gods themselves. In order to destroy this power of men, or rather to rob them of it, Vishnu became incarnate as Buddha, that he might preach skepticism and heterodox doctrines, as atheism, and to destroy hope of im- mortality, that men might be reduced to their original weakness, and the fears and jealousy of the gods be removed. The facts of his mortal life may be briefly told. His father had married sisters, Mahamaya and Maliaprajapati. Mahamaya, hav- ing come to her forty-fifth year, was about to be delivered of her first child, and, in accordance with Hindu custom, had started for her father’s home. On the way she rested under a satin tree, and there gave birth to her boy. Here legend steps in with marvels. Buddha at his birth was received by Malta Brahma in a golden net, from which he was transferred to the guardians of the four quarters, who received him on a tiger’s skin ; from these he was received by the nobles, who wrapped him in folds of the finest and softest cloth ; but at once Bodliisat descended from their hands to the ground, and looked to the four points, and the four half points ; when he looked toward the north he proceeded seven steps in that direction, and exclaimed : “I am the most exalted in the world. I am chief in the world. I am the most excellent in the world. Hereafter there is to me no other birth ! ” Upon the death of his mother, seven days after, his aunt adopted him and nourished him. The story of the trial of his prowess and learning at the time of, or just after, his marriage, is probably the only authentic bit of his history, as a youth, that remains, and that is exaggerated beyond all belief. As a prince of the warrior, or Ksliatriya caste, his training had been in that direction, though he must have been a much more than ordinarily meditative BUDDHA. 181 youth. The impressions made upon his mind by the sight of extreme age, suffering and death, do not seem at all improbable or unnatural. How often have similar sights made impressions on our hearts and lives that we shall never lose ! It is not wonder- ful that a man of such remarkably thoughtful and benevolent characteristics as Buddha possessed should have had the whole course of his life influenced by them. After Buddha’s renuncia- tion of earthly honors and family ties and love, he spent seven days in a mango grove, after which he spent some time at Raja- griha ; from thence he went to the jungle near Uruwela, on a spur of the Vindhya range, where he spent six years in severe penances, until his fame spread, as the Burmese chronicle says, “ like the sound of a great bell hung in the canopy of the skies.” Here he found his long-sought quest, that peace of mind that comes from absolute surrender of selfish desires, after brave re- sistance of the powers of evil. His contest had been long and severe. He had much to lose, the way was dark, and the gain must have often seemed doubtful. Every earnest soul at some time in life, in a greater or less degree, is assailed by like tempta- tions and doubts. The greater the man, the greater the conflict. Car- lyle’s description of his season of temptation when he was obliged to decide finally whether he should enter the ministry reads wonderfully like Buddha’s struggle. “ I entered into my chamber, and closed the door. And around about me there came a trooping throng of phantasms dire, from the abysmal depths of nethermost perdition. Doubt, Fear, Un- belief, Mockery and Scoffing were there, and I wrestled with them in travail and agony of spirit. Thus it was, sir, for weeks. Whether I ate I know not, whether I drank I know not, whether I slept I know not. But I only know that when I came forth again beneath the glimpses of the moon it was with the direful persuasion that I was the miserable owner of a diabolical appa- ratus called a stomach.” Carlyle came forth to write, Buddha began to preach. He went to the deer forest near Benares, and before the rainy season closed had sixty converts. These lie sent out two by two to propagate his doctrines. He now went to his old home, and after bringing over to his views his half brother, his son and others, he returned to Rajagriha, where the King Bimbsara gave him a bamboo grove and monastery. He spent the rainy seasons here, teaching those who gathered about him, and during the dry seasons itinerated within a radius of a hundred and fifty miles about Benares. For forty-five years he taught and sent forth his missionaries. Death came at last to the old man of blameless life and found him tranquil, and looking peacefully forward to Nir- vana. Carefully had he followed in his own life the best light he 182 BUDDHA. had, patiently he taught others truth, purity and humility, and who shall say that his earnest soul, passing from the imprisonment of the body, awoke not to those things which “ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man?” Buddha lived in an era of great moral reforms. Throughout the known world ritualism had superseded the old and pure faith of which scarcely more than the ancient traditions remained. Men were weary of forms. Within the two centuries which Buddha’s life partly spanned, Confucius, with his wonderful code, appeared in China ; in Persia, Zoroaster arose with reforms ; at the court of Aliasuerus, Esther and Mordecai plead for justice, and their cry was heard from India to Ethiopia ; in Babylon Daniel throughout a long life upheld in brilliant example the grandeur of righteous living ; in Greece the Delphian temple sunk in ashes, and just laws supplanted the tripod ; and in Palestine, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and most of the lesser prophets declared against new moons, feasts and fasts, and foretold certain destruction for those who, in ceremonials, should forget equity and justice. The Great Father of all, who has not created any soul and left it in utter darkness, He who in tender compassion sent Jonah to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh who were at enmity with Him and His chosen people, cared also for the millions of India who knew not their right hand from their left, and sent Buddha to preach a purity and morality that should save the nation from destruction. Buddh selected out from the old faith that which was noblest and best, and presented it with rare power to such as would hear. But the lights of those times, brilliant as they shone in the surrounding darkness, paled before a later Light that leads on to perfect day. The burden of Buddha’s doctrine is Dot to, not to, not to. Positive, heroic, stalwart righteousness he dared not teach. A hero himself, he found the battle harder than any but rare spirits bear, and he could offer men no help outside of themselves. Of a highly poetic and speculative nature, he looked eagerly into the future for those who should fulfill the law. Con- fucius, more practical and wanting in imagination, answered no questions as to the future. In the old faith Buddha found Nir- vana, absorption into Bralim, but his soul shrunk from contact with the unholy divinities of the Brahmins. In accordance with that law of the mind that causes the Mohammedan to look for heaven as a place of sensual enjoyments ; that teaches the Greenlander to describe hell as a place of intense cold ; that led the Jew, with his love of costly things, to picture heaven as built of gold and precious stones ; that gives to the American Indian a hope of happy hunt- ing grounds, Nirvana, under Buddha’s teaching, became a state free from irritation, action or even consciousness, a mere abstrac- tion. The East Indian, under an enervating climate, where exer- BUDDHA. 183 tion of mind or body, whether for good or ill, is a burden, can understand this. Its intense undisturbed selfishness has great attraction for him. Like all religionists, he seeks to begin his heaven here below. He cuts loose from family ties that he may be rid of its cares ; he takes the beggar’s bowl and robe, that he may not be subject to the discomfort of providing even for himself ; he fixes his attention on the top of his nose, and in utter disregard of all claims, dreams his life away. Buddha had a noble purpose, but long since its vitality and power to benefit mankind was exhausted. In his own words, “ The lamp whose oil is spent flickers not.” , NOTES. BOOK THE FIRST. 1. Buddha : — He by whom the truth is known. In India Wed- nesday is called Buddli-ka-din— the day of Buddh. Buddha lived to great age, hence his name is commonly used as an adjective noun in India, and applied to old people. 2. Siddartha : — He by whom the end is accomplished, is the translation usually given of this name. Tumour translates it, the establisher. The occasion of Buddha’s reception of this name occurred many ages before his birth as a Buddh. When sitting in his palace as a prince, in that far-off age, “ having seen Dipan- kara Bodhisat carrying the almsbowl, he sent an attendant to in- quire what was his business, when he was informed that he was seeking oil. On hearing this the prince called him to his palace, and filling a golden vessel with oil of white mustard seed, Sid- harttha put it upon his head, saying at the same time, ‘ By vir- tue of this act may I hereafter become a Buddh ; and as this is sidharttha oil, may my name in that birth be Sidharttha.’ ” * The Brahmins collected at the festival upon his birth said : “ This prin.ce will hereafter be a blessing to the world — sidhatta ; to him- self also will be great prosperity ; ” in consequence of which he was called Sidliartta. 3. Below the highest sphere four Regents sit : — The following description of these spheres and their inhabitants, from Wilson’s Vishnu Purina, vol. ii, 261, gives the best idea of the Hindu heavens : “ On the Lokaloka mountain reside the four holy pro- tectors of the world, or Sudhaman and Sankkapad (the two sons of Kardama), and Hiranyaroman, and Ketumat. Unaffected by the contrasts of existence, void of selfishness, active and unen- cumbered by dependents, they take charge of the spheres, them- selves abiding on the four cardinal points of the Lokaloka mountain. “ On the south of Agastya, and south of the line of the Goat, exterior to the Vaiswanara path, lies the road of the Pitris. There * Manual of Buddhism, pa~e 9f. 185 NOTES. 1 86 dwell the great Risliis— -in Ursa Major — the officers of oblations with fire, reverencing the Vedas, after whose injunctions creatior commenced, and who were discharging the duties of ministrant priests. For as the worlds are destroyed and renewed they insti- tute new rules of conduct and re-establish the interrupted ritual of the Vedas. Mutually descending from each other, progenitor • springing from descendant, and descendant from progenitor, in the alternating succession of births, they repeatedly appear in different houses and races — along with posterity, devout practices and instituted observances — residing to the south of the solar orb. as long as the moon and stars endure. -j “The path of the gods lies to the north of the solar sphere, Hi north of Nagavitlii — Aries and Taurus — and south of the seven Rislus — Ursa Major. There dwell Siddlias, of subdued senses, continent and pure, undesirous of progeny, and, therefore, vic- torious over death. Eighty-eight thousand of these chaste beings tenant the regions of the sky north of the sun, until the destruc- tion of the universe ; they enjoy immortality, for they are holy, exempt from covetousness and concupiscence, love and hatred ; taking no part in the procreation of living beings ; and detecting the unreality of the properties of elementary matter. By immor- tality is meant existence to the end of the kalpa. Life as long as the three regions — earth, sky and heaven — last is called ex- emption from reiterated death. “The space between the seven Risliis and Dhruva — from Ursa Major to the polar star — the third region of the sky, is the splen- did celestial path of Vishnu, and the abode of those sanctified ascetics who are cleansed from every evil, and in whom virtue and vice are annihilated. This is that excellent place of Vishnu to which those repair in whom all sources of pain are extinct, in consequence of the cessation of — the consequences of — piety or iniquity, and where they never sorrow any more. There abide Dharma, Dhruva and other spectators of the world, radiant with the superhuman faculties of Vishnu acquired through religious meditation ; and there are fastened and inwoven, too, all that is, and all that ever shall be, animate or inanimate.” 4. Thrice ten thousand years: — A year of the seven Rislus is 3030 years. The sacred books do not agree in giving names of the Rislus. The Maliabharata has three lists, each differing. Mr. Wilson mentions seven other authorities, each of which gives dif- ferent names. Gotama name appears in some, but is omitted in others. The Vishnu Purana mentions three kinds of Risliis, divine Risliis — or sages who are demi-gods also, asNarada — Brah- min Risliis — or sages who are sons of Brahma or Brahmins, as Vasislitha and others — and royal Rislus, or princes who have adopted a life of devotion, as Viswamitra and Buddha, or Gotama. NOTES. I8 7 5. Five sure signs of birth : — Mr. Spence Hardy mentions but four. “1. His garments lose tlieir appearance of purity. 2. The garlands and ornaments on his body begin to fade. 3. The body emits a kind of perspiration, like a tree covered with dew. 4. The mansion in which he resided loses its attractiveness and beauty.” The same signs, as distinguishing gods from men, are spoken of in the Mahabharata that was composed many centuries before the Buddhist era. At the Swayamvara, or tournament of the beautiful Damayanti, “ she glanced around her at the glitter- ing crowd of suitors, and saw in her dismay that there were five Nalas in the hall, for each of the four bright gods had taken upon himself the form of Nala. And Damayanti trembled with fear, and after a while she folded her hands in reverence to the jods, and said in sad and humble tones : ‘ Since I heard the lan- guage of the swan I have chosen Nala for my lord, and have thought if no other husband. Therefore, O gods, I pray you that you re- sume your own immortal shapes and reveal Nala to me, that I may ;hoose him for my lord in the presence of all.’ And the gods leard the piteous prayer of Damayanti, and they wondered at her steadfast truth and fervent love ; and straightway they revealed ;lie tokens of their godhead. Then Damayanti saw the four iriglit gods, and knew that they were not mortal heroes, for their : eet touched not the earth, and their eyes winked not ; and no perspiration hung upon their brows, nor dust upon their raiment, ind their garlands were as fresh as if the flowers were just gath- sred. And Damayanti also saw the true Nala, for he stood before ter with shadow falling to the ground, and twinkling eyes, and Irooping garland ; and moisture was on his brow, and dust upon tis raiment ; and she knew that he was Nala. Then she went in ill maidenly modesty to Nala, and took the hem of his garment, ind threw a wreath of radiant flowers round his neck, and thus ihose him for her lord.” * 6. Fevas : — Gods, or bright ones. 7. iSdkyas : — This name lias no place in Hindu mythology or geography ; they are supposed to have been a people living on the >order of Nepal, and formerly called Okkaka. 8. Suddhodana : — He whose food is pure. 9. Maya, the Queen : — Illusion, sometimes called Maka Maya — ;reat illusion, or Deve Maya — Divine illusion. 10. An elephant : — In Burmali it is believed that Buddha, in his nanifold transmigrations, must necessarily delight to abide for ome time in that grand incarnation of purity which they consider epresented by the white elephant. While the bonzes teach that here is no spot in the heavens above, or the earth below, or the * Wheeler’s History of India, vol. i, 484. NOTES. 188 waters under the earth, which is not visited in the peregrin, ations of Buddha — whose every step or stage is towardpuri- fication — they hold that his tarrying may be longer in the white elephant than in any other abode, and that in possession of the sacred animal they may possess the presence of Buddha him self. 11. Vahuka: — The cow on whose horn the earth rests; when tired she tosses her burden to the other horn, hence earth- quakes. Hindu geography states that this cow stands on an elephant, the elephant on a tortoise, the tortoise on — “who knows ? ” 12. And over half the earth a lovely light Forewent the mom. The strong hills shook ; the waves Sank lulled ; all flowers that blow by day came forth As ’twere high noon ; down to the farthest hells Passed the Queen’s joy, as when warm sunshine thrills Wood-glooms to gold, and into all the deeps A tender whisper pierced. Mr. Hardy, in the Manual of Buddhism, enumerates thirty- two great wonders that occurred at the time of conception. “ The 10,000 sakwalas — systems of worlds — trembled at once ; there was in each a preternatural light, so that they were all equally illuminated at the same moment ; the blind from their birth re- ceived power to see ; the deaf heard the joyful noise ; the dumb burst forth into songs ; the lame danced ; the crooked became straight ; those in confinement were released from bonds ; the fires of all the hells were extinguished, so that they became cool as water, and the bodies of all therein were as pillars of ice ; the thirst of pretas — famished spirits— and the hunger of all other beings was appeased ; the fears of the terrified fled away ; the dis- eases of the sick were cured ; all beings forgot their enmity to each other ; bulls and buffaloes roared in triumph ; horses, asses and elephants joined in the acclaim ; lions sent forth the thunder of their voices ; instruments of music spontaneously uttered sounds ; the devas put on their most splendid ornaments ; in all countries lamps were lighted of themselves ; the winds were loaded witli perfumes ; clouds arose though it was not the season of rain, aud the whole of the 10,000 sakwalas were watered at once ; the earth opened, and fountains of water sprang up in various places • the flight of the birds was arrested as they passed through the air ; the stream of the rivers was stopped, as if to look at Bodliisat ; the waves of the sea became placid, and its waters sweet ; the whole surface of the ocean was covered with flowers ; the buds upon the land and the water became fully expanded ; every creeper and tree was covered with flowers from the root to the top ; the rocks abounded with the seven species of water NOTES. 189 lilies ; even beams of dry wood put forth flowers, so that the earth resembled one extensive garden ; the sky was covered as with a floral canopy, and flowers were showered from the heavens ; the 10,000 sakwalas were all thus covered alike ; and great favors were everywhere received.” Similar manifestations are frequently recorded in Hindu writ- ings, with this difference, however : they are seldom narrated at such length as in Buddhist writings, and lack the all-pervading element of peace and happy accord. In either Vedic or Bralimin- ical traditions, some enemy almost invariably appears to mar the harmony. 13. The gray dream-readers : — Brahmins who make the inter- pretation of dreams and the understanding of the mysteries of astrology specialties. 14. The Grab is in conjunction with the Sun : — The event occurred on the day of the full moon of the month iEsala — J uly, August. 15. Paisa : — Satin tree. The marks, thirty and two, of blessed birth : — Marks of Vishnu, some of them as follows: “The feet of Buddha were like two golden sandals. There was a chakra, or wheel, in the center of the sole. The palms and soles appeared like richly ornamented windows. His body did not collect dust or dirt, as the lotus is not defiled by the mud in the midst of which it grows. His teeth shone like the stars of a constellation. His tongue was so long that by putting it out he could touch his forehead, or the orifices of his ears. His eyes were blue, and sparkled like sapphires. Upon his forehead was a lock of hair curling toward the right.” 16. Palanquin : — See illustration in Webster’s Unabridged. 17. Were the four Regents of the Earth, come down From Mount Sumeru. The Vedas name the following as regents of the four quarters : Kuvera, the regent of the North, and god of riches ; Yama, regent of the South, and judge of the dead; Indra, regent of the East, and god of the clouds or heaven ; Varuna, regent of the West, and god of the ocean or waters. In Buddhist writings their names are Dliratarashtra, Wirudlia, Wirupakslia and Waisrawana. The attendants of each number a hundred thousand times ten millions. Mount Sumeru is described in Hindu geography as a sacred mountain composed of gold and gems, situated somewhere in the center of the earth, which they suppose to be flat like a round table. Sumeru is the residence of the gods, is broader at the top than at the base, and is yet undiscovered by man. Around this mount is our earth, surrounded by an ocean of salt water of the same diameter as the earth. Surrounding this, in regular suc- cession, always doubling the diameter, are seven circular islands and oceans : 1st ocean, salt water, 2d milk, 3d curds, 4th melted NOTES. 190 butter, 5th sugar-cane juice, 6tli honey, 7th fresh water. Hindu authorities differ greatly in descriptions of Mount Sumevu ; no two agree as to its shape and dimensions. The Buddhists of Ceylon claim that Sumeru is of the same diameter throughout. Those of Nepal conceive it to be shaped like an Indian drum. 18. Kumbhandas : — One of the signs of the Indian Zodiac is Kumbha, a white man holding a water jar. These are of immense size and disgusting form. Nagas : — are serpent deities. The upper half of their bodies is of human form, the lower serpent. They dwell in Patala, below the earth, a place of sensual pleasures, and lighted by resplendent gems. The origin of the mythological Nagas is shrouded in much mystery. A powerful Scythian race in ancient times lived in the mountainous regions, and worshiped the snake as a national deity, adopting it as a national emblem ; and from these circumstances seems to have been derived the name of Nagas or serpents. These Nagas made constant raids upon the Brahminical nations, inspiring them with terror and an abject fear, that led them to worship, in hope of appeasing, the god of their enemies. The Nagas as a people have almost entirely dis- appeared from India, but the myth and the old fear remain. • In the latter part of August a day is held sacred to snakes and numerous religious fairs are held for their special worship. On that day the women pour milk into snake holes, the doors of houses are smeared with cow-dung and neem leaves as a preserva- tive against poisonous snakes ; and in Benares is a well, called a snake well, where people bathe. 19. Takshas : — Brahma, in one stage of the creation, produced beings hunger bitten, hideous and long-bearded. Some of these cried out, “ Oh, preserve us 1” and hence were called Rakshas, from rakh to preserve; others cried, “Let us eat !” and hence were termed Yakslias, from yaksh to eat. They are demi-gods with few peculiar attributes, and are regarded only as the compan- ions or attendants of Kuvera, the god of wealth. Occasionally they appear as the imps of evil, but in general their character is inoffensive. 20. For Heaven was filled with gladness for Earth's sake. The legend says that the Malta Brarnas — chief divinities — of the 10,000 sakwalas — system of worlds — brought umbrellas twelve miles high, to be held over the infant’s head as a canopy, and the gods and men of each of these systems brought flowers, golden cas- kets, tiaras, frontlets, perfumes, red sandal- wood, and other gifts, while they acknowledged Buddha’s supremacy. The thirty-two wonders seen at the time of his conception were also repeated. 21. Chakravartin : — A wheel king, one of the twelve universal monarchs who arise at long distant periods to rule the entire NOTES. 191 world. Professor Wilson translates it, “ He who abides in, or rules over, an extensive territory called a chakra.” 22. The chakra-ratna : — A chakra is a radiated metallic ring used as a missile weapon ; it was thrown while revolving rapidly on a rod, and was a most dangerous weapon in ancient warfare, as its sharp edge cut in pieces anything with which it came in con- tact. The chakra is the discus of Vishnu, his distinguishing weapon. Ratna signifies a gem, and is used adjectively, or as we sometimes say, “a gem of a horse,” or ‘‘a gem of a wife.” The cliakravartin, having arrived at a suitable age, reflects upon the merit he has gained in former existences, when the seven gifts appear, one after another in the air, and having performed marvels, take up their abode in his palace. The chakra was ultimately converted into the prayer wheel of the Buddhists. 23. Aswa : — Horse. 24. Hasti: — Elephant. 25. Istri : — Wife. 26. the ways were swept : — In the larger cities of India, gangs of men are constantly employed to sweep the principal streets daily, which they do for their entire length and breadth, with brooms about two feet long, made of bamboo splints and without handles. On the occasion of the advent of a prince or other notable, his route is ascertained beforehand and carefully swept. When the Governor General, Sir John Lawrence, entered Lucknow in 1867, the road for three miles between the depot and the Residency, the place of reception, was swept on the morning of his arrival, and sprinkled by men who carried the water in great skins on their backs. That rose odors were not added to the water, the natives would set down to what they consider the parsi- mony of the English, in making arrangements for display on court occasions. 27. lamps and flags : — The lamps are usually tiny earthen saucers filled with oil and a lighted wick set in one side, or on grand occasions, talq bowls are half filled with water, on which floats oil and a lighted wick. Hundreds and thousands of the lights are used with wonderful effect. The flags are generally of gold or silver tinsel. 28. while merry crowds Gaped on the sword-players. The itinerant tricksters who appear on such occasions perform in the open air, without screens or admission fee, hence all may wit- ness the sports. Persons of wealth or rank frequently make it a point to fee the performer, while the poorer spectators exclaim at their greatness and benevolence. The sword-players are simply marvelous in their dexterous use of sharp weapons. While per- forming, they wear only a turban, and a piece of cloth about the 192 NOTES. loins. One of their principal feats is to keep four or five large butcher knives spinning in the air for five minutes or more Each knife is caught in its descent and tossed with such accuracy that the distance between the flying knives differs scarcely a finger’s breadth. 29. The jugglers : — seldom have more than two or three men in a company. They carry a couple of round shallow covered baskets swung on a pole. Their dress is scanty and without sleeves. They have neither curtains, nor tents, nor closets for retirement, and yet with their simple outfits they are able to perform wonders that would nonplus our western necromancers. 30. The nautch-girls in their spangled skirts and bells. Dancing girls. Their skirts are often broidered or sewn thick with gold or silver spangles, and their veils are frequently set close round the border with mirrors, each about an inch in diameter. Tiny bells in shape of fruits or blossoms are strung around their ankles, or worn on their toe rings. 31. Bringing , on tidings of this birth, rich gifts In golden trays. It is a custom in India that none dare neglect to send presents to a family when a boy is first born. These are always carried onshal low trays, usually of brass, but, if possible, of richer metal. 32. Goat-shawls : — These shawls are made of the soft hair of the Cashmere goat, and are often of such fine and delicate texture that a shawl two yards square can be drawn through a finger ring. 33. Nard : — Spikenard, being a native of India, is much used as a perfume. 34. Turkises : — Turquois. 35. Asita : — is a name not common in Hindu mythology or his- tory ; it seems to have always been borne by men of more than average piety and understanding. In the Vishnu Purana, Asita is said to have communicated to Janaka the following stanzas that were chanted by the earth. “ How great is the folly of princes, who are endowed with the faculty of reason, to cherish the con- fidence of ambition, when they themselves are but foam upon the wave ! Before they subdue themselves they seek to reduce their ministers, their servants, their subjects, under their authority ; they then endeavor to overcome their foes. ‘ Thus,’ say they, ‘ will we conquer the ocean-encircled earth ; ’ and intent upon tlieir project, behold not death, which is not far off. But what mighty matter is the subjugation of the sea-girt earth to one who can subdue himself? Emancipation from existence is the fruit of self-control. It is through infatuation that kings desire to possess me, whom their predecessors have been forced to leave, whom their fathers have not retained. Beguiled by the selfish love of NOTES. 193 sway, fathers contend with sons, and brothers with brothers, for my possession. Foolishness has' been the character of every king who has boasted, ‘ All this earth is mine — everything is mine — it will be my home forever ; ’ for he is dead. How is it possible that such vain desires should survive in the hearts of his descendants, who have seen their progenitor, absorbed in the thirst of domin- ion, compelled to relinquish me, whom he called his own, and tread the path of dissolution? When I hear a king sending word to another, by his ambassador, ‘ This earth is mine ; immediately resign your pretensions to it,’ I am moved to violent laughter, at first, but it subsides in pity for the infatuated fool.” This wisdom, in truth, can scarcely be accredited to the Asita of the poem, but is certainly worthy of the man who, without fault, was prime minister to the king of one generation, the trusted adviser of the second, and saint, in the time of Buddha, of the third generation. If the legend were true, there would be small wonder that Asita heard Devas singing, deaf as he was ; for it is said that at the time of Buddha’s birth the Sekras brought conches one hundred and twenty cubits long, the blast of which rolled on without ceasing during four and a half months, and the Pan- chasikas brought harps twelve miles long. 36. thereupon he touched Mght times the dust. Before the supreme teachers obeisance must be made by the prostration of the body, with the application of eight parts: the forehead, eyes, breast, hands, knees and insteps of the feet, words and mind to the ground. 37. — the rosy light : — Aureole. 38. — the foot-sole marks : — The telling of fortunes in India by the lines upon the soles of the feet ' corresponds to palmistry in Europe and America ; the fortunate signs are, a wheel with many spokes, an umbrella, an elephant's trunk, a lotus. Mount Meru, the sun, the moon, a tiger, mystic crosses and many other imaginary representations. 39. Ihe Swastika : — Mystical figure, the inscription of which on any person or thing is generally considered to be lucky. Wilson’s Sanskrit Dictionary. In the Vishnu Purana it is de- scribed as “a particular diagram used in mystical ceremonies.” “This figure is found in many magical diagrams, and iu Runic inscriptions and amulets ; it is the hammer of Thor ; it is seen on some ancient Etruscan vases that were dug up at Rome in 1817. It is also very commonly seen on the ancient coins that were struck by the Buddhist monarchs of India.”* * Manual of Buddhism, page 381. 194 NOTES. 40. The sacred primal signs thirty and two, The eighty lesser tokens. Mr. Hardy enumerates all these signs and tokens, also the larger part of two hundred and sixteen inferior marks. The repetition of these would be tedious and profitless. The follow- ing description of a Jain saint adequately conveys the idea: “Beauty of form, fragrance of his body, the white color of his blood, curling hair, and its non-increase, also that of the beard and nails, his exemption from all natural infirmities and decay; these qualities are born with him. He can collect around him millions of beings — gods, men and animals — in a comparatively small space ; his voice is audible to a great distance, and his language, which is Arddha, Magadlia, is intelligible to animals, men and gods. The back of his head is surrounded by a halo of light brighter than the disk of the sun. For an immense distance around him, wherever he moves, neither sickness, storms, war, nor troubles of any sort occur. Other attributes, or marks of Vishnu, are of a celestial origin, as the raining of flowers, perfumes, the sound of heavenly drums, and the menial offices rendered by Indra and the gods.”* 41. This is that Blossom on our human tree Which opens once in many myriad years. Buddhists and Hindus both believe that our earth has been created and destroyed many times. In the process of creation “the part where the sacred tree of Buddha is to appear is the first spot of earth that is found, as it is the last spot destroyed at the end of a kalpa. To point out this place a lotus appears ; and if a Buddha is to be born in that kalpa a flower will be expanded ; but if there is to be no Buddha there will be no flower. I 42. a sword must pierce Thy bowels for this boy. This is addressed to the father, and signifies that he must bear bitter disappointment in not seeing his son become a cliakravartin, or universal monarch. 43 whilst thou, sweet Queen! Dear to all gods and men for this great birth, Henceforth art grown too sacred for more woe. And life is woe, therefore in seven days Painless thou slialt attain the close of pain. The reward of becoming the mother of a Buddha is to be trans- lated in seven days thereafter to a highest heaven. The mothers of each of the thousands of Buddhas that are supposed to have appeared have all died on the seventh day after the birth. * Wilson’s Essays on the Religion of the Hindus, vol. i, 289. t Manual of Buddhism, p. 29. NOTES. 195 44. Trdyastrinshas Heaven : — The ultimate abode, whose dwellers are liberated and escaped from all dangers of earth. 45. Mahaprajdpali : — This princess and Maliamaya were sisters, and botli queens of Suddliodana. On the day she was named, the diviners saw that she would be the mother or mother-in-law of a chakravartin, so called her Prajapati — lord of the world. As children the sisters were of remarkable merit. No intoxicating liquor touched their 1 ps ; even in play they never told an untruth, or killed even an insect ; as queens “they lived together like two srikantawas in one lotus flower.” This princess was the first wo- man admitted to holy orders, and the first of Buddha’s disciples to enter Nirvana. The legend tells of a hundred royal wet-nurses, all without blemish and of perfect form, and a hundred and sixty thousand attendant princes. 46. When th’ eighth year passed : — The sons of Brahmins and the ruling classes are invested with the sacred cord, and taught for the first certain sacred syllables and prayers when about nine years of age. 47. Viswamitra : — The name of the author of the hymns in the third Rig Veda, composed about 1500 B.c. Another Viswamitra was an ancient prince of the warrior caste who opposed Brali- minism. 48. Gdyatn : — Sacred meter, peculiar to certain of the Vedas, or a verse from the Vedas. Williams’ Sanskrit Grammar defines it “as consisting of a triplet of three divisions of eight syllables each, or six feet of four syllables each, and generally printed in one line ; the quantity of each syllable is very irregular. The fol- lowing verse exhibits the most usual quantities : . .. | U— U. | .... | U— U. | ... .U— U.|| ” The gayatri in the poem for three thousand years has held its place as the most sacred sentence in Hindu literature, and is the prayer recited daily by thousands of devout Hindus. The most usual translation is the following: “Om, earth, sky, heavens. We meditate on that adorable light of the resplendent sun, may it direct our intellects.” It occurs in the third book of the Rig Veda. The last hymn in this book consists 'of six prayers ; the one containing the gayatri is as follows : “ This new and excellent praise of thee, 0 splendid, playful sun, is offered by us to thee. Be gratified by this my speech. Approach this craving mind as a fond man seeks a woman. May that sun who contemplates and looks into all worlds be our protection. Let us meditate on the adorable light of the divine ruler ; may it guide our intellects. Desirous of food, we solicit the gift of the splendid sun, who should be studiously worshiped. Venerable men, guided by un- derstanding, salute the divine sun with oblations and praise.”* * Hand-book of Sanskrit Literature. 196 NOTES. This gayatrf is personified as the wife of Brahma. The Brah- min who pronounces the gayatrf is absolved from all sin. “ By the sole repetition of the gayatrf, a priest may indubitably attain beatitude, let him perform or not perform any other religious act.”* The woman, sudra — low caste person or barbarian — who should dare pronounce the sacred words of the gayatrf, it is believed would bring upon herself the most signal punishment from heaven. 49. Achdrya : — A religious teacher, “ That priest who girds his pupil with the sacrificial cord, and afterwards instructs him in the whole Veda, with the law of sacrifice, and the sacred Upanishads, holy sages call an Acharya. ” f 50. Ndgri : — Language of the northern Hindus. 51. Lakshin : — Language of the southern Hindus. 52. Ni : — Language of the Peris. 58. Mangal /—Language of the Tartars. Parushn : — Language of the Ancients. Yam : — Language of Moderns. Tirthi : — Language of the Pilgrims Uk : — Language of the Herons. Larad : — Language of modern Cinnebar. Sikhyani : — Language of the Teachers. Mana : — Language of the Sages. 61. Madhydchdr : — Intelligible to men and animals. 62. And those who flame adore and the sun's orb : — Persians. 63. Lakh : — 100,000. Any earthly method of computation would fail entirely to convey in figures the sums of the boy’s numeration. All the matter of all the worlds counted in molecules could not express an asankya. The reader may obtain some idea of its magnitude by the following table : 10 dasa or decenniums make 1 sau or hundred 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 10 saus or hundreds. . . 100 bazars or thousands. 100 lahks 100 lakhs of kotis 1 koti of prakotis 1 koti of kotiprakotis. 1 koti of nahutas. . . . 1 koti of ninnaliutas. . 1 koti of liutanaliutas. 1 koti of khambas . . . 1 koti of wiskbambas. 1 koti of abadas * Laws of Manu t Laws of Manu . 1 bazar or thousand . 1 lakh . 1 koti or kela . 1 prakoti . 1 kotiprakoti .1 nahuta .1 ninnahuta .1 hutanaliuta .1 kliamba .1 wiskliamba . 1 abada . 1 attata No. 87. No. 140. NOTES. 197 1 koti of attatas make 1 ahaha I koti of aliahas “ 1 kumuda 1 koti of kumudas “ 1 gandhika 1 koti of gaudliikas. “ 1 utpala 1 koti of utpalas “ 1 pundarika 1 koti of pundarilcas “ 1 paduma 1 koti of padumas “ 1 lcatlia 1 koti of katlias “ 1 malia katlia 1 koti of malia kathas “ 1 asankya* An asankya could be represented by one hundred and twenty- nine figures. 64. Antah-Kalpas : — A kalpa is a measure of time indicating eternity. A kalpa represents a day and a night of the god Brahm, or the time of the creation of the world, and the time of its extinction until the creation of another world. The length of a kalpa is thus described : “ Take a rock forming a cube of about sixteen miles, touch it once in a hundred years with the finest piece of cloth, and the rock will sooner be reduced to dust than a kalpa shall end.” Another definition is: “A palya or kalpa is a period measured by the time in which a vast well, eight hundred miles every way, filled with minute hairs so closely packed that a river hurried over them without penetrating the interstices could be emptied at the rate of one hair a century, f Were the earth to increase in elevation one inch in a century, the elevation would extend to twenty-eight miles before an antali-kalpa would be concluded.” “ Twenty antah-kalpas make an asankya-kalpa ; four asankya-kalpas make a maha-kalpa.” 65. Cror : — 10,000,000. 66. Paramanus : — The invisible base of all aggregate bodies. 67. Paraisukshma : — Fairy atom. 68. Trasarene : — Ten trasarenes make one particle of dust. 69. Likhya : — A stroke of the pen. 70. Yuka : — A louse. 71. Mung : — Pulse. 72. A breath: — The distance to which a cooly can carry the native yoke, with a load attached at either end, without putting down the burden. 73. Gow : — Two to two and a half miles. 74. Yojana: — The length of a yojana varies greatly — from four and a half miles to sixteen miles. 75. Guru : — Master. 76. Devadatta : — Signifies god-given, a common name in India. This Devadatta is one of the five persons of whom it is recorded * Manual of Buddhism, p. 6. + Wilson’s Religions of the Hindus, vol. i, 308. 198 NOTES. tliev went to naraka — hell. His offense was that he tempted some of the followers of Buddha to forsake him, and fell into heresy. 77. Divan: — Court. 78. A hooded snake : — Cobra. 79. the pile flames for me : — Cremation, 80. In the mango-sprays ; — The mango is a spreading tree of rapid growth, thirty to forty feet in height, the stem only rising eight or ten feet before it divides into branches. The dark glossy leaves, about eight inches in length, have a sweet resinous smell, and are so densely set as to be impenetrable to the sun's burning rays, and form a most grateful shade. The fruit is abundant and highly prized. 81. Sun-birds : — Paroquets. 82. Mynas : — Indian robin. 83. Egret : — A dark, plain plumaged bird, that is a constant com- panion of the black, hairless, domestic buffalo. 84. About the painted temple peacocks flew : — The Hindu temples are built of brick and stuccoed over with a white cement. Its shining surface is gayly ornamented with outlined paintings of gods, saints, sacred animals and geometric designs. Peacocks are considered sacred, and often belong to temples. 85. The blue doves cooed from every well : — The wells are built up with wide masonry curbs, on the. top of which are little shallows for resting the round water jars. The water gathers in these shal- lows, and from them the birds drink. In the temporary wells, dug in the sand, doves build their nests in the holes in the sides. 86. Village drums : — are the constant attendants of feasts, and are beaten almost without cessation, night and day, during the two, three or four days of feasting. 87. Bulbul : — Nightingale. 88. Jambu-tree : — In Jainbudwipa, a fabulous country supposed to lie south of Mount Sumeru, is a wonderful tree called the jambu-tree. It is one thousand miles high, covers a space three thousand miles in circumference, and bears continually a golden fruit as large as a water vessel capable of holding sixteen gallons. “ The fable probably arises in an exaggerated account of a pine tree — the deodar, god wood — found in the Himalaya mountains. It grows to great size, and bears catkins of a bright yellow color in great profusion. The wind shakes from these a golden dust that apparently sheets the ground with gold for some distance about the tree.” * The deodar pine, however, grows only on the mountains at an elevation of seven thousand feet or higher, and could not survive at Kapilavastu on the hot, dry plain. The introduction of the jambu-tree in the poem, though allowed by poetic license. * Manual of Buddhism. NOTES. I 99 hardly accords with fact. A nimbu, or lemon tree, more probably shaded the young philosopher. 89. Dhyana .'—Contemplation, the first of the four stages to- ward Buddliahood. 90. ItishiH : — Saints. BOOK THE SECOND. 1. Champaks : — Trees bearing gold colored flowers so exceeding- ly fragrant that the bees seldom alight on them. The timber is used in ship building. The tree is sacred to Vishnu. Michelia champaca. 2. Subha : — Pleasant or spring palace. 3. Suramma : — Winter palace. 4. Eamma : — Summer palace. 5. Maharaja : — Great prince. 6. Barasingh : — Great-horned deer. 7. Command a festival Where the realm’s maids shall be competitors la youth and grace. In Vedic times the daughters of princes had the choice of a hus- band from a crowd of candidates for her hand, or was given as a prize to that warrior who proved most skillful in the use of the bow. In Buddha’s case he seems to have been given the choice first, and showed his prowess afterward. This day of choice by a maiden was called her Swayamvara. The description of the young Rajas — princes — as they appeared at the Swayamvara of Damavanti, is a fine companion picture to Mr. Arnold’s picture of the Kapilavastu maidens. “ At length the day of harpy omen, the great day of the Sway- amvara of Damayanti, dawned upon the city of Vidharba. And all the Rajas, sick with love, passed through the glittering portals, and the court of great columns, and entered the Hall of State, like lions entering their mountain lairs. And all the Rajas were adorned with fragrant garlands, and rich earrings of costly gems were hanging from their ears. And some had long arms, ro- bust and vigorous as the ponderous battle-mace ; whilst others were soft and delicately rounded as a smooth serpent. With bright and flowing hair, and arched eyebrows, their faces were as radiant as the stars ; and they filled the Hall of State, as the ser- pents fill the under world, or as tigers fill the caves in the moun- tains. But when Damayanti entered the hall, every eye was fixed, and every soul entranced, at her dazzling loveliness ; and all the Rajas gazed upon her beauty and were stricken with deep and 200 NOTES. passionate desire. Then the name of every Raja was proclaimed aloud, and Damayanti glanced around at the glittering crowd of suitors.” * 8. Kapilavastu : — Buddha’s birthplace, situated a little north of Goruckpur, in the eastern part of the province of Kosala. It was on the Rohim river, that empties into the Raptl 9. Soorma-stick : — Pencil of lead used to darken the eyelashes. 10. Slender hands and feet new-stained With crimson. The women of India still follow the fashion of coloring the palms of their hands and soles of their feet with henna. 11. Tilka-spots : — A bit of gold tinsel, or a stamp of colored powder, worn between the eyebrows. 13. Yasodhara : — was born on the same day as Buddha, and fore-ordained to be his queen. The horse Kantalca, the nobleman Channa, the personal attendant Ananda, and the messenger Udayi, were all born at the time of Buddha’s birth. 13. Parvati : — was the wife of Shiv, one of the Hindu trinity. Her gait was like that of an elephant, gently swaying from side to side, a style that is greatly admired in India. 14. Yamun : — The river Jumna that flows past Agra and Delhi. 15. Nandadevi : — A sacred peak of the Himalayas. 16. Ardjuna : — Named for one of India’s great warriors. 17. Nanda : — Named for a god. 18. Maiddn : — Plain, or park. 19. With music. — The instruments accompanying wedding pro- cessions are mostly drums and horns. Of a list of thirty-five musical instruments given in an Indian hand-book, ten are varie- ties of drums, eleven are stringed instruments, mostly stringed gourds, and eight are horns or pipes ; the remaining sis are cym- bals and smaller instruments. The singers all sing one part, as harmony is unknown to the Hindus ; many of their melodies, however, are pleasing, and if introduced to the Western world, would become popular. 20. — and with litters gaily dight, And gold-horned oxen, flower-caparisoned. The wedding color is red, usually that known as “Turkey red.” The bride is, if possible, dressed in red silk ; the palanquins are hung around with red, also the carriages. The horns of the oxen are gilded or colored with red ; also their tails and hoofs ; also the manes, tails and hoofs of horses that may be in the pro- cession ; bells are hung upon the carriage- wheels, and garlands of strung jasmine blossoms are put about the necks of the oxen. 21. Ten gows : — Twenty miles. * Wheeler’s History of India, vol. i, 483. NOTES. 201 22. A cowry-sliell : — is about two-thirds of an incn in length. 23. Gold sari: — A large veil nearly enwrapping the whole person. 24. Sinhahdmu’s boro : — The bow of his grandfather. 25. Then the Prince, lightly leaning, bent the bow : — The legend, with usual extravagance of description, says that Siddhartlia took “ this bow that required the strength of a thousand men to bend it, and placing the lower end on the nail of the great toe of his right foot, without standing up, thrummed the string of the bow with his finger nail as easily as if it were merely the bow by which cotton is cleaned.” The vibration rolled ten thousand miles. Then he placed four plantain trees at the corners of a square, and by one flight of the arrow pierced them all. Marvel- ous archery is a favorite theme in the mythology, history and poetry of India. In the Ramayan, the great epic poem of India, an archery feat even greater than this of Siddliarta’s is described. Rama, the hero of the poem, at the winning of his wife Sita, used a bow which had required the combined strength of five thousand youths to fetch in its casket. Rama “ Before the thousands of the court. The weapon by the middle raised, That ail the crowd in wonder gazed. With steady arm the string he drew, Till hurst the mighty bow in two. As snapped the bow in awful clang. Loud as the shriek of tempests rang. The e ;rth affrighted shook amain, As when a hill is rent in twain ; Then senseless at the fearful sound, The people fell upon the ground ; None save the king, the princely pair. And the great saint the shock could bear.” In the Mahabharata several* wonderful feats of archery are described, but none can be more appropriately given in this con- nection than some extracts from the Swayamvara of Draupadi. “ And when they reached that city they found a vast number of Rajas encamped, with a great host of troops and elephants, and multitudes of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, traveling merchants, show- men and spectators. And there was set apart without the city a large plain inclosed by barriers, in which the Rajas were to ex- hibit their skill in archery ; and around the plain were many glit- tering pavilions for the lodging of the more distinguished guests, and also raised galleries from which to behold the performances. And at one end of the plain was a tall pole, and on the top of this pole was a golden fish, and below the fish was a chakra ever whirling round ; and the rule of the Swayamvara was, that wlio- * Methodist Quarterly Review, Jan. 1880. 202 NOTES. ever discharged an arrow through the chakra at the first shot, and struck the eye of the golden fish, that man should be the husband of the daughter of Raja Draupada.” After sixteen days of feasting, “the moment arrived when the young Princess was to exhibit herself in all her loveliness to those who hoped to gain her for a bride, and the beautiful damsel was dressed in elegant array, and adorned with radiant gems, and led into the arena, carrying in her hand the garland which she was to throw over the neck of that fortunate hero who might have the fortune to win her to be his wife. Then the different choirs of Brahmins chanted Vedic hymns to the glory and praise of the gods, and filled the heavens and the earth with the music of their prayers. After this, and amidst a universal silence, the Prince Dhrislita-dyumna, who was the brother of Draupadi, stood by the side of his resplendent sister, and proclaimed that whosoever shot the arrow through the chakra in the first attempt and struck the eye of the golden fish should have the Princess for his wife. Then the Prince told into the ears of Draupadi the name and lineage of every one of her suitors ; and he also told her, in the hearing of all, that she must place the garland round the neck of the man who struck the fish, and accept him for her husband from that day. Dhrislita-dyumna then turned to the Rajas and chief- tains and said. ‘ Here stands this lady, my sister ; whoever feels confident in his skill and strength that he can hit the mark in a single trial, let him arise and fulfill the conditions of the Sway- ant vara. “ At these words the Rajas arose from theirseats and approached the pole on which the golden fish was fixed, and the chakra below it ever turning round, and they viewed the strong and heavy bow from which the arrow was to be discharged. Now every man was jealous of the other, and yet for a long while no chieftain would take up the bow, lest he should fail to bend it, and thus excite the laughter of the multitude. Presently a Raja stepped before his fellows and tried to bend the bow, but could not, and another and yet another essayed in like manner to string the bow, but all were alike unable to do so because of its great size and strength. Then many of the Rajas made the attempt, and they strained themselves to the very uttermost, casting aside their robes and collars, and putting forth their whole strength, but not one amongst them could bend the bow. “ All this time the Pandavas — five brother princes — had been standing amongst the crowd disguised as Brahmins, but suddenly Arjuna, one of the brothers, advanced and lifted the bow, and a cry of astonishment ran through the assembly at seeing a Brah- min attempt to compete at a Swayamvara. Some there were who jeered at Arjuna, and said, ‘ Shall a Brahmin do this great thing NOTES. 203 which all the mighty Rajas have failed to do ? ’ Others cried, ‘ Unless the Brahmin knew his own skill and strength, he would not make the essay. And all the real Brahmins that were pres- ent were fearful lest the attempt should offend the Rajas, so that the Rajas should give them no gifts, and they entreated Arjuna to withdraw ; but Arjuna was heedless alike of words of blame or words of encouragement, and he offered up a mental prayer to his tutor Drona, and then bent the bow and drew the cord, and fitting the arrow to the string, he discharged it through the center of the chakra, and struck the eye of the golden fish. Then a roar of acclamations arose from the vast assembly like the crash and roll of distant thunder, and the Brahmins waved their scarfs in the greatness of their delight, and the drums and trumpets filled the air with joyous music. And the beautiful Draupadi was filled with joy and wonder at the youth and grace of the hero who struck the golden fish, and she came forward as she had been commanded by her brother, and threw the garland round the neck of Arjuna and permitted him to lead her away, according to the rule of the Swayamvara.” * To the single arrow test of the earlier centuries, other feats of strength and skill were subsequently added ; but ultimately the Swayamvara was abandoned on account of the feuds and wars that arose from the jealousies and hatreds that these assemblies excited, and the custom of infant marriages was introduced, thus preclud- ing such occasions of war. 26. And dove a Tulas-tree : — Palm-tree. 27. Six fingers thick: — This must be understood as the width of six fingers laid one against another, not as six fingers’ length. 28. Syces : — Grooms. 29. Bhut : — Evil spirit. 30. Mogra : — Double Arabian jasmine. 31. Kusd grass : — “Every law book and almost every poem in Sanskrit contains frequent allusion to the holiness of this plant, and in the fourth veda we have the following address to it at the close of a terrible incantation : ‘ Thee, O Dliarba, the learned pro- claim a divinity not subject to age or death ; thee they call the armor of Indra, the preserver of religions, the destroyer of enemies, a gem that givetli increase to the fields. At the time when the ocean resounded, when the clouds murmured, and the lightnings flashed, then was Dharba produced, pure as a drop of fine gold 1’ Some of the leaves taper to a most acute evanescent point, whence the Pandits often say of a very sharp-minded man, that his intel- lects are as acute as the point of a kusaleaf.”f Pandits — Hindu teachers — say that the kusa grass is equal in sanctity to gold, as both * Wheeler’s History of India, vol. i, 19. t Sir Wm. Jones, vol, ii, Essay on Plants of India. 204 NOTES. are produced from the earth, and as gold is the chief of metals, so is this of grasses, it is especially holy, and is in great demand in al- most all the native offerings and religious ceremonies of the Hin- dus, particularly in presenting water to the manes of their ances- tors. The reason of selecting it is, that the mouths of these ghosts are so small at first that the libation offered them can only enter by being poured along one of these fine sharp roots. It is considered very desirable that a man should die upon a bed of kusa, and it is consequently the duty of attendant relations to spread the grass on the floor, and after covering it with a cloth, to lay the dying man upon it, in order that he may emit his last breath in that hallowed position.” * 32. Jhcel : — Marsh. 33. Neem : — Margosa, or bitter tree, — Melia azadiraclita — or ash leaved bead tree ; considered sacred, as it once had the honor of supporting the sun. An eminent saint visited another saint named Bliaskara Acharya, who was supposed to have been an incarnation of the sun. The two saints were engaged in discussion until sunset, when Bliaskara offered his guest food. Neither of them could eat after dark, so Bliaskara stopped the further descent of the sun, and ordered him to take up his abode in a neighboring neem tree until the food should be cooked and eaten, and the sun obeyed. 34. Mesha : — The sign of Aries. 35. Gadi : — Cushion, throne or exalted seat. 36. The arm-threads tied: — This ceremony is conducted with more state and solemnity than any other during the marriage festi- val. It consists in fastening on the right wrist of the young man, and on the left of the girl, a bit of saffron, called the kau- kanam. 37. The rice and attar thrown : — During the wedding ceremo- nies, which usually last about five days, two baskets, made of bamboo, are placed close together ; the bride steps into one, the bridegroom into the other. Two other baskets are brought filled with ground rice ; the husband empties one over the head of the bride, and she pours the other over him ; this they repeat until they are weary or are admonished that it is enough. In the mar- riage of princes pearls and perfumes are sometimes used in place of rice.-(- The seven steps taken thrice around the fire : — The sacred fire, and the three circuits which the young couple make around the fire, indicate the ratification of a mutual agreement between them, as there is nothing more solemn than what is transacted over this element, which, among the Hindus, is the most pure of * Phillips’ Missionary Vade Mecum, 221. t Abbe Dubois’ Works. NOTES. 205 the deities, and therefore fitter than all others to ratify the solemn oaths of which it is the most faithful memorial.” * 38. Mantras: — are variously hymns, incantations, prayers or ascriptions of praise to the gods. It is with great reluctance that the Hindus communicate these to any other than those of their own caste. Mr. Wilson fully understood the dislike Hindus have ofimparting these sacred words, and seriously doubted if they could be trusted even when they professed to impart them. 39. Rohini : — A river in the eastern part of Oude. 40. Gunga : — Ganges. 41. Sal : — A common timber tree, Shorea robusta. 42. Ganthi flowers : — Clusters of. 43. Northwards soared The stainless ramps of huge Eimala’s wall. This is a beautiful and most accurate description of the Him- alaya mountains. The closing lines under these the plain Gleamed like a praying-carpet at the foot Of those divinest altars are unsurpassed for truth and beauty. The combined views of the snowy range and the plains from the lower ranges — seven to ten thousand feet — are magnificent beyond description. The specta- tor, looking away to the snows a hundred miles distant on the one hand, and over the plains for thirty or forty miles on the other, with hill, mountain and valley rising and falling far away to the east and west, has such a view as no other place on earth affords. 44. Iiadha and Krishna and the sylvan girls : — Krishna was one of the nine incarnations of Vishnu, and is one of the most worshiped gods of India. His life was so foul that no literal translation of his history could be published in this country, and jet the story is read to persons of all ages and both sexes in India. Many fine sayings are attributed to Krishna, and these Sanskrit scholars have given to the Western world ; but the parts most attractive to uncultivated and carnal minds are necessarily suppressed. Radlni was the chief of his thirty thousand mis- tresses, and she, not his lawful wife, is always pictured and worshiped with him. 45. Sita : — was the beautiful wife that Rama won when he broke the bow that five thousand youths could scarcely carry. Later, when Rama’s father would have placed this, his eldest son, on the throne, a second wife steps in and claims the fulfillment of a long-forgotten promise that her son should be heir to the throne. Rama, to avoid discord, and upon the advice of his father, becomes a hermit. Sita insists on accompanying him, though he in the * Abbe Dubois’ Works. 2o6 NOTES. most tender language beseeches her not to undertake such hard- ships and discomforts for his sake. Sita insists that “ wherever the husband may be, the wife must dwell in the shadow of his foot,” and for ten years they wander in the jungle. They visit the dwellings of the most celebrated hermits ; a female hermit named Anasuya, talks to Sita, who tells Anasuya of her birth, and says : “ My preceptor taught me ever to reverence my mother earth, and to strive to be as pure and true and brave as she, and he called me Sita because I sprang out of a furrow of the ground.” Ana- suya says : “Thou hast indeed the courage of the brave earth mother, for thou hast not feared to face the scorching heat, and the biting winds, and the angry storm ; and thou art so noble, too, Sita, for thou hast lavished thy beauty on the sorrowful, and hast sought to make even the path of exile sweet to thy beloved.” Rawan, the monstrous king of Ceylon, one day in the absence of Rama made the beautiful Sita his most unwilling captive, and carried her through the air to his capital. Sita has naught but bitterness for her captor, and tells him that Rama will deliver her and destroy him. Rama instituted a search for her, and with the assistance of Hanumau — the monkey god,— who took a flying leap of sixty miles from the mainland to Ceylon — found Sita. A mighty war ensued, the giant was slain, and Sita recovered. To prove her purity to Rama, she passed through a tire ordeal, and ever since her name has been the synonym for wifely constancy and noble devotion. 46. Draupadi : — was the maiden won by Arjuna, who shot the fish through the whirling chakra. By the unfortunate exclama- tion of his mother, who, on being told by the brothers that they had made a fine acquisition, said, “Go and share it, you five brothers, amongst yourselves and eat it,” she was compelled to be a wife for all of them. Her difficult place she filled with rare credit and honor. 47. God Ganesha With disc and hook, tobring wisdom and wealth — Propitious sate, wreathing his sidelong trunk. Ganesli is the god of wisdom, eloquence and obstacles. The Abbe Dubois gives the following account of the cause of the re- markable elephant head which Ganesh bears: “ The god Kumara, who had long entertained a grudge against Ganesh, finding him alone one day, cut off his head. Shiv, his father, was much grieved when he heard of the misfortune, and being desirous to repair it, he made a vow that he would cut off the head of the first living creature he should find with his head lying toward the north, and unite to the trunk of Ganesh. In acting on this design, the first animal he met with lying in this position was an elephant, NOTES. 207 the head of which he cut off, and set on the neck of Ganesh, and thus restored him to life. The mother of Ganesli was terrified and ago- nized to find her son with such a deformity, but was pacified on be- ing assured by Brahma that Ganesli should be the most worshiped of all gods. Ganesli, as the god of obstacles, though he has no temples, is more frequently invoked than any other God in India, as every undertaking, even the worship of the gods, must be prefaced with prayer to him. Every book in the Hindi and Sanskrit languages opens with an invocation to Ganesli, usually Sri Ganeslia minia — to the honorable Ganesh respect. ” The following is an introduction to a treatise on geometry: “ Having bowed to Ganesh, whose head is like an elephant, whose feet are adored by the gods, who, when called to mind, restores his votaries from embarrassment, and bestows happiness 011 his worshipers, I propound this easy method of computation.” 48. Nelumbo : — Dark blue flowers. 49. Ofnakre : — Silvery whiteness, or panes of mica. 50. Purdiih : — Curtain. 51. And silven' vina-strings : — The vina is one of the most ancient of the musical instruments of India. A hollow gourd is fastened near either end of a bar that is strung with three steel and four brass or silver wires ; these are played with plectrums, usually fish scales fastened with springs or tied with thread to the little finger and two first fingers of the right hand. An English writer claims that “it is an instrument of the greatest capacity and power ; and a really superior vfna, in the hands of an expert per- former, is perhaps little inferior to a fine-toned piano.” 52. To that great stature [of fair sovereignty : — To be a chakra- vartin. BOOK THE THIRD. 1. Chitra : — The name of the 14th mansion of the moon. 2. Nullahs : — Ravines. 3. Maiddn: — Plain. 4 Kos : — About two miles. 5 Crors : — Ten millions. 6. The water-carriers spinkled all the streets From spirting skins. The water carriers of India bear water in goat-skins on the back. The neck of the skin is left open ; this the carriers grasp with the left hand, and by a little dexterous movement, are able to throw the water in small streams quite a distance. 7. Tulsh-bush : — Ocymum sanctum, Sweet basil. The basil is considered sacred by the Hindus, and is constantly used in re- ligious services. One tradition says that Tulsi was a nymph be- 208 NOTES. loved by Krishna and by him metamorphosed into this plant. A more commonly received tradition is that Tulsi wished to become the wife of Vishnu, but was turned by the curse of Lakshmi, Vishnu’s wife, into the basil or tulsi plant. Vishnu, not pleased with this, promised Tulsi that he would always continue with her in the form of the Salagram, or Ammonite stone, found in the rivers of Nepal. For this reason the Hindus who worship Vishnu keep leaves of the basil above and below a salagram in the tem- ples, and adorn their temples and houses with pictures of the sala- gram and basil, the women paying particular attention to the cul- tivation of the latter. “ By Tulsi’s leaf the truth I speak” is a favorite mode of affirmation. 8. Suryadeva : — The sun god, who is represented in statuary as seated on a chariot drawn by seven horses. 9 Came forth in painted car, which two steers drew : — The pleasure carriages of the Hindus usually have two, sometimes four, heavy untired wheels. The floor of the carriage is made of interlaced bamboos, and is without springs or seats. On this the rider sits tailor fashion, or for a change with feet hanging in some convenient place among the wheels. The driver sits in front astride the cumberous and ornamented tongue. The top of the carriage is dome-like in shape, and hung with fringed curtains of white cot- ton, or red silk, as the owner can afford. The oxen used for these carriages are as much objects of pride and care as carriage horses in the W est. They are never used for labor, and are beauti f ul animals. They trot with considerable speed, and, on the ordinary country roads, are not excelled by the European horse and buggy. 10. Bright-clad : — Probably no people present a brighter appear- ance on a gala day than do the Hindus, of the north country par- ticularly. The great majority of the men dress in white muslin coats and trousers, that, on such occasions, are marvelously white and clean. The turbans are of white, rose pink, pale green, lav- ender or other delicate shade, or often of turkey red with red kam- marband, or waist-scarf. Priests and religious mendicants wear ocher colored garments ; the native police have uniforms of rifle green with red turbans and kammarbands ; the women generally wear skirts of dark blue or red, with large veils of white or bright colored muslin spangled or gayly bordered ; and among the crowd is sure to be a sprinkling of grandees in silks, cashmere shawls, cloth of gold, or brilliant array of some sort, attended by white- robed servants, wearing scarlet sashes, swords and gay turban*. 11. Jai! jai ! — Hail, hail! 12. Jalini : Feminine for Galen. 13. Hastd : — Named for the 14th mansion of the moon 14. Gautami : — Feminine for Gotama. 15. Gunga ; — Named for the Ganges. NOTES. 209 16. “Ah, Sweet,” he said, “such comfort that my soul . Aches, thinking it must end, for it will end. ” Compare this mournful, hopeless fear of love’s decay, as seen from a heathen stand-point, with dear old “ John Anderson, my Joe, John,” the song of Christian lovers. 17. Indra, : — was one of the original deities of India, and before the introduction of Brahminism, held in the Indian pantheon about the same relation as Jupiter in the Grecian. 18. The ten great gifts of wisdom signify : — Mr. Hardy enumer- ates these gifts as follows : “1. The wisdom that understands what knowledge is necessary for the right fulfillment of any par- ticular duty, in whatsoever situation. 2. That which knows the re- sult or consequence of karma. 8. That which knows the way to the attainment of Nirvana. 4. That which sees the various sakwalas. 5. That which knows the thoughts of other beings. 6. That which knows that the organs of sense are not the self. 7. That which knows the purity produced by the exercise of the dhyanas. 8. That which knows where any one was born in all his former births. 9. That which knows where any one will be born in all future births. 10. That which knows how the results proceeding from karma — action — may be overcome.” 19. Are those four fearless virtues: — The first path or virtue is the awakening of the heart when it is perceived that pain is in- separable from existence, that all earthly good leads to sorrow; then he is awake and has entered upon the first stage. In the sec- ond he loses all impure desires, and all revengeful feelings; in the third he becomes free from evil desires, ignorance, doubt, heresy and unkindness and vexation ; universal charity follows opening Nirvana. 20. At Chandra’s temple ; — The temple of the moon. 21. Merchant’s robe : — The shop-keepers of India generally wear turbans of white, or pale colored muslin, that are made on light frames, in a very set fashion of many tiny folds, one over the other ; the coat is a short waist jacket ; about the loins is wrapped the dhoti (three or four yards of cloth that is folded to assume a trowsers-like appearance, each leg being covered to below the knee), and about the shoulders an ample sheet is loosely thrown. 22. Clerkly dress : — The trousers for this dress are white, long and close-fitting ; the white coat is long and narrow, surmounted by a short waist jacket, frequently made of colored muslin ; the turban is of loose and ample folds of white muslin. 23. The traders cross-legged ’mid their spice and grain : — Native stores in India have neither shelves, counters, chairs, stools, nor boxes or bins. Six or eight feet square of a verandah floor with a closet or two, is quite an establishment. The merchant spreads a few goods on the open side of his shop and sits on his heels in 2IC NOTES. the midst. The grain merchants spread their shoulder cloths on the ground, in the bazar square, and dump the grain upon them ; from these they sell by weight, using balanced baskets. Large numbers of regular traders in spices, pottery, jewelry, toys and other wares simply spread a cloth on the ground, display the goods and sit cross-legged beside them. 24. The buyers with their money in the cloth: — A Hindu’s gar- ments are made without pockets; pocket-books are unknown, so a bit of cloth carried in the hand, or tucked in the waist-band, serves both purposes. 25. The war of words to cheapen this or that : — The seller always asks three or four times the sum he expects to receive for any article ; the buyer understands this, and offers what he thinks right, what he can afford, or as small a sum as he thinks may be received. ‘ ‘ The war of words ” is indefinitely continued, and to a foreigner, when not exasperating, is extremely amusing. 26. The shout to clear the road: — As there are no sidewalks, and the hucksters lay their goods as near the road as possible when the trade and war over prices is fairly begun, every passing wagon must send forward some one to shout and shove, to make a pass- age and prevent injury. Persons of rank always send on a fore- runner on any road. 27. The singing bearers with the palanquins : — Four men bear a palanquin, and three or four run alongside for relief. It is neces- sary that the men carrying should keep step, both for their own ease, and the comfort of the person in the palanquin. To aid themselves they call back and forth, “Hu, hu, ho, ho,” in a sub- dued tone. This call they vary, by chanting in measure, and in the same tone, remarks about the person they are carrying. Except as regards weight, these sentences are usually highly com- plimentary, and calculated to induce a larger gift of buckhsheesli. 28. Hamals : — Associate cattle. 29. The housewives bearing water from the well With balanced chatties, and athwart their hips The black-eyed babes. A cliattie is a globular water jar, with a short neck on one side. The poorer women who go to the wells will carry two or three such jars, each holding from two to four gallons, one above the other, on their heads; also a jar in one arm resting on one hip, and a baby astride the other hip. 30. The fly-swarmed sweetmeat shops : — Candy stores are in about the same proportion to other stores in India as are liquor saloons to our stores in American cities. The sweetmeats are not adul- terated with as hurtful materials as Western confectioners use, and they are seldom colored. Ghee, or clarified butter, is largely used in candies, making them distasteful to most Europeans. NOTES. 2 1 1 31. The weaver at his loom : — The looms are worked by hand, and are most primitive, but by careful skill, fine textures and rich materials are produced from them. 32. The cotton-bozo twanging : — The cotton-bow is a stout bow five or six feet in length, with a strong rawhide string. This is twanged sharply upon the heap of cotton, and by its vibration causes the dust and dirt to fly off, leaving the cotton clean and white. By striking the bow at different points a kind of music is produced. 33. The school Where round their Gurzi, in a grave half -moon. The Sdkya children sang the mantras through, And learned the greater and the lesser gods. In the school the teacher and scholars, boys only, sit cross- legged upon the floor, without desks or other school apparatus than a book, reed pens, ink and coarse paper. The instruc- tion, until the introduction of English methods of instruction by that government, was almost entirely confined to religious pre- cepts and stanzas, and histories of the gods and their worship. 34. The dyers stretching waistcloths in the sun : — These cloths add greatly to the picturesqueness of the scene in the Indian bazar, as they hang and wave like great ribbons in the still air from floor to housetop, on horizontal poles set in gables, roofs, balconied windows or towers. » 35. The Brahmin proud : — The Brahmins are usually taller and fairer than other castes. For thousands of years their pro- genitors have been the best fed and most comfortably housed class. The result is everywhere apparent. 36. The martial Kshatriya; — Soldier caste. 37. Sudra : — The lower castes and laborers. 38. Nag : — Serpent. 39. or charm the hooded death To angry dance zoith drone of beaded gourd. The snake charmers capture the most fatally venomous of all snakes, the cobra, and carry them about in baskets for exhibition. The charmers seat themselves beside the baskets, in which the snakes lie apparently asleep, and begin to blow upon their gourds and pipes, that sound not unlike a Scotch bagpipe. Presently the snakes begin to stir, then to arise until they stand upon their bellies to a height of eighteen inches or more, when they expand their hoods, thrust out their tongues, and sway back and forth, as long as the music lasts. 40. Or beg a boy next birth : — A man’s funeral ceremonies cannot be properly performed by any but a son, hence the great anxiety of parents for sons. A woman may be lawfully divorced if she have no sons, or her husband is expected to take a second wife. 2X2 NOTES. frequently at the request of the first wife, that the name and honor of the house may be sustained. 41. Lotas : — Globular water vessels, usually about, a quart measure. 42. Striped murderer : — Tiger. 43. Karunda bush: — Corinda, or carissa carandas. 44. An earthen bowl with lighted coals : — In ancient times when Agni, the god of fire, was worshiped, every householder was the family priest, and the sacred or sacrificial fire was kept con- tinually burning on the hearth-stone. This has passed away, but remains of the old fire worship are still seen in many religious ceremonies among the Hindus. Carrying lighted coals in a bowl before the dead signifies that that on the family hearth-stone is out, and its remains are to be used in performing the last cere- monies of burning. 45. The kinsmen shorn: — Upon the death of a son, father or brother, the nearest male relatives are required to shave every part of the body. 46. Lama: — A leading divinity; the hero of the epic poem, the Ramayan. 47. To where a pile was reared beside the stream : — Those who have borne the dead and lighted the funeral pile cannot return to their families or eat until they have bathed in flowing water, hence the dead are generally burned beside streams. Not unfrequently when the relatives cannot afford sufficient fuel to entirely consume the body it is thrust half burned into the stream, to become food for vultures and alligators. The funeral ceremonies are many, and vary in different parts of the country. Frequently years elapse before the last can be performed. 48. Such is man’s round ; — Transmigration of soul. 49. Brahm : — The divine essence, the original Creator; he from whom sprung the three principal gods, Brahma, Shiv and Vishnu. BOOK THE FOURTH. 1. Chaitra Shud ; — The full moon of March and April. 2. Asoka buds; — The vegetable world scarce exhibits a richer sight than an Asoka tree in full bloom ; it is about as high as an ordinary cherry tree. The flowers grow in dense clusters, beauti- fully diversified with tints of orange scarlet, of pale yellow and of bright orange, which grows deeper every day, and forms a variety of shades according to the age of each blossom that opens in the cluster.* 3. Lama’s birthday comes: — The birthday of Rama is celebrated * Sir William Jones’ Works. NOTES. 213 with great ceremonies and festivities. Near the larger towns open air theatricals are held representing the hermitage of Rama, the theft of liis wife Sita by Rawan, the King of Ceylon, the war that followed, the retaking of Sita, and the triumphal return of Rama. The play lasts two or three days, and is witnessed by thousands of eager spectators. 4. Mudra ; — A seal, a signet. 5. Angana : — A court. 6. Denis : — Feminine for Devas, bright ones, or lesser gods. 7. Larikd : — Ceylon. 8. The chuddah : — A veil worn over the head and nearly enwrap- ping the whole person. 9. Karitha-stone : — Precious stones worn in a necklace are called kantlia. 10. Vishnu : — The second deity of the Hindu triad is variously represented in paintings and sculpture, but is most commonly figured as a black or deep blue man, with four arms in vchich he holds a discus, a conch, a mace and an Egyptian lotus flower, em- blematic of his attributes or power. He is the source of the greater part of Hindu incarnations. Nine of Vishnu have already appeared. The tenth, that is to bring in the golden age, is expected toappear in a temple in Sembhal, a town near Moradabad. A few years since a long lease of this temple was for sale, and if the mission- aries resident in the place had had money enough, they could have bought it for a preaching place. 11. Shim : — The third of the Hindu trinity. In appearance he is always disgusting or frightful. In one form he appears as a white man, with three eyes (one in his forehead), a tiger skin barely covering his loins, and three snakes curled about his head and shoulders. From his miserable wickedness the famous Ling had its origin. 12. Surya ; — The sun. 13. So with his brow he touched her feet, and bent The farewell of fond eyes, unutterable. Upon her sleeping face. Wherever, and in whatever form, this legend of the renunciation is found, it always betokens deepest, truest love yielding only to stern duty and greater benevolence. The legend of the Southern Buddhists says that the son was already born. “ The Prince, in order that he might see his son, went to the apartment of Yasodliara, and on opening the door he saw the Princess upon a couch, surrounded by flowers ; but she was asleep, her hand em- bracing the infant, which was also asleep, and laid upon her bosom. Siddartlia perceived that in order to take up his son Rahula he must remove the mother’s arm, which would probably cause her to awake, and as he knew that if she awoke she would 214 NOTES. speak to him, which might shake his resolution, lie remained upon the threshold, holding the door-post with liis hand, but not proceeding any further. He thought, ‘ I can see my child after I become Buddha ; were I, from parental affection, to endanger the reception of the Buddhaship, how could the various orders of being be released from the sorrows of existence?’ Then resolutely, like a man attempting to root up Mount Sumeru, he withdrew his foot from the doorway, and descended to the court-yard.” * This de- cisive step taken, the legend again narrates the marvels that oc- curred at the time of Buddha’s birth, wherein all nature puts forth freshness and beauty in honor of the great event. 14. Numdah : — Felt, or coarse woolen cloth formed without weaving, and used as a covering for horses, or to keep off rain. 15. Buddah Dcvas : — Demi-gods from Indra’s heaven. 16. Mohr a- flowers:— The molira tree bears sweet-scented flowers, from whose petals a spirituous liquor is distilled; from the nuts an oil is extracted, Bassia latifolia. 17. But when they reached the gate ; — The King, who had fore- seen that his son would attempt to escape by stealth, had placed a thousand men as wardens. This marvelous horse Kantaka, eigh- teen cubits in length and of proportionate height, proud to assist his master at this time, to which the horse had so long looked for- ward, resolved that if the gate were not open he would leap the ramparts of the city with the Prince on his back, and Clianna hang- ing to his tail. Clianna, equally as loyal, resolved to leap the bar- rier with the horse on one shoulder and the Prince on the other ; but the devas, knowing that through Buddha they too should ob- tain entrance to the city of peace — Nirvana— noiselessly opened the gate. 18. Malwa ; — A province of India where fields of poppies are grown for opium. 19. Anemia’s wave; — This name has two significations — illustrious and saltless. 20. and spake Full sweet to Lhanna. In India it is the custom for the grooms to run beside, or at least in full sight of, master and horse when on a journey. These men become remarkable for speed and endurance. Channa was evidently well trained, hence stood ready to take Siddartlia’s horse at the close of the wonderful ride. Clianna requested that he might be his master’s companion in his asceticism, but Siddartha be- sought him to return, that his father and wife might know whither lie had gone. The horse, knowing that his service for his master was ended, became greatly distressed and fell dead. A temple was afterward erected to his memory on that spot. * Manual of Buddhism. 161. NOTES. 2I 5 BOOK THE FIFTH. 1. Rdjagriha ; — A Prince’s house. The town was formerly fa- mous for beauty and wealth. It was the capital of Magadha. The place has been in ruins for centuries. 2. Baibhara ; — Distant gardens, the cultivated lands near a town. 3. Sarsuti : — Thread of the gods, a little stream. 4. Tapovan : — Place of devotees. 5. Sovereign earth-butter : — Liquid bitumen. 6. Sail&giri : — Cool hill. 7. Jujube trees : — Native of Arabia. 8. here Lord Buddha sate. This place of meditation was chosen with strict regard to the rules laid down in the sacred books that say : “ Curbing the senses and appetites, and breathing gently through the nostrils, while meditating the scholar should concentrate his thoughts. On a clean smooth spot, free from pebbles, from gravel, or from scorching sand, where the mind is tranquillized by pleasant sounds, by running water and grateful shade, with naught to offend the eye, let him apply himself to his task.” Though Buddha sat “ motionless as the fixed rock his seat,” the old saint of the Maliabharata beat him all hollow. “ And the old Rislii had sat in one place so many years that a tree had grown up between his legs, and birds had built their nests upon the tree, and serpents had made their holes all round him. And the Rislii said that he had remained there during twenty Brahmas, and had frequently seen the world come to a close and begin again.” A day of Brahma is more than 4,000 millions of years. In the effect of meditation the infant of the Vishnu Purana excels both Buddha and the Rislii. ‘ ‘ Dliruva, aged five years, performed a penance as enjoined by Mariclii and the sages. He contemplated Vishnu, the sovereign of all gods, seated in himself. Whilst his mind was wholly absorbed in meditation, the mighty Hari, identical with all beings and with all natures, took posses- sion of his heart. Vishnu being thus present in his mind, the earth, the supporter of elemental life, could not sustain the weight of the ascetic. As he stood upon his left foot one hemisphere bent beneath him, and when he stood upon his right foot, the other half of the earth sunk down. When he touched it with his toes it shook with all its mountains and rivers, and the seas were troubled and the gods partook of the universal agitation. ” The celestials interfered with many strategems, but could not induce him to forego his penances, until Hari himself came to him and granted his wish that he should be above all worlds and creations, V 2l6 NOTES. 9. Thus would Tie muse from noontide : — Tliat a deep religious life was attained chiefly through contemplation se. ms to have been a ruling idea since very early times in India. The most ancient histories tell of devotees seeking union with Deity by con- templation. The sacred books prescribe various methods and atti- tudes to assist the mind in concentrating thought. “ The devotee must attend to the gradual suppression of breathing, since the animal soul and the mind act in conjunction. In this work he must first endeavor to fix the understanding by some act of the senses ; for example, he must place his sight and thoughts on the tip of his nose, by which he will perceive smell ; then bring his mind to the tip of his tongue, when taste will be realized ; and afterward fix his thoughts on the root of his tongue, by which sound will be suggested. After this, if the mind be full of the principle of grandness, and free from passion and ignorance, it will escape the waves of passion and become truly fixed . He who meditates on God, placing his mind on the sun, moon, fire, or any other lumi- nous body, or within his heart, or at the bottom of liis throat, oi in the center of his skull, will, by afterward ascending from these gross images of the' Deity to the glorious original, secure fixed- ness of thought.” * The experience of an ex-devotee, as given by the Abbe Dubois, is not only curious but amusing. “I was a novice,” said the devotee, “ under a celebrated Sunyasis, who had fixed his her- mitage in a remote situation near Bellaburam. As he prescribed, I devoted the great part of the night to watchfulness, and to en- deavors to expel from my mind every thought whatever. Agree- ably to other instructions daily repeated to me by my master, I exerted all my might to restrain my breathing as long as it could be possibly endured. I persisted in thus containing myself, con- tinually, till I was nearly ready to faint away. Such violent efforts brought on the most profuse perspiration from all parts of my body. At length, one day while I was practicing as usual, I imagined I saw before me the full moon, very bright, but tremu- lous. At another time I was led to fancy, in broad day, that I was plunged into thick darkness. My spiritual guide, who had often predicted to me that the practice of penitence and contem- plation would disclose to me very wonderful appearances, was quite delighted with my spiritual progress when I related to him what I had experienced. He then set me some new tasks. Wearied out at last with these tiresome follies, I gave them up, fearing they would altogether discompose my brain ; and I again betook myself to my old employment of a laborer.” 10. False-dawn : — The slight stir and awakening that occurs * Small’s Sanskrit Literature. NOTES. 217 about two o’clock in the morning. The only pure divinity in the whole Hindu pantheon is Uslias, or the dawn, represented as a beautiful maiden. The sun and the moon both wished to woo her, but she turned them into caives for their audacity, and only released them at the earnest request of their wives 11. the King Of Life and Glory cometh ! People brought up in the Christian faith, when reading of Buddha and his teachings, should constantly bear in mind the caution of W. Rhys Davids in his article on Buddhism in the Cyclopedia Brittanica. He says, “ Christian ideas must not be put into Budd- hist expressions.” In reading the above quotation our minds at opce revert to God as the “ King of Life and Glory,” but the king intended is Surya, the Sun. 12. After the manner of a Rishi, hailed The rising orb. “ Before the rising of the sun the devout Hindu must have rinsed his mouth, cleaned his teeth with a particular twig, in a particular attitude, and bathed in a stream or body of water, with repeated dippings, gesticulations and prayers. The Gayati, held to be the most sacred verse in the Vedas — ‘ Let us meditate on the sacred light of that divine sun, that it may illuminate our minds,’ — must be repeated “mentally, as often as the worshiper can do it while he closes liis mouth and nostrils, effecting the latter by rule. It is the most orthodox of gesticulations, and is performed by placing the two longest fingers of the right hand on the left nostril, inhaling through the right, closing the right with the thumb, and when the breathing can be no longer suspended rais- ing the fingers and exhaling by the left nostril.’* After many prayers, addressed with proper gestures to the ten minds lodged in various parts of the body, to the four cardinal points of heaven ; heaven, earth, himself, the elements, his prayer and the whole of the gods in a body, he addresses the following to the sun : ‘ Thou art Brahma when thou risest ; Siva in thy middle course ; Vishnu at thy setting : Thou art the precious stone of the air ; king of day ; observer of our deeds ; the eye of the world ; the measure of time ; Lord of the nine planets ; he that blotteth out the sins of those who honor him, and expels darkness on the return of the twenty-four hours ; he who, in his chariot, bounds over the mountains of the north, which stretches ninety millions five hun- dred and ten yojanas ; Thee will I praise with my utmost strength ; and do thou, in thy mercy, forgive all iniquities.’ This prayer is closed with twelve, twenty-four or forty-eight obeisances to the * Wilson’s Religion of Hindus. 2l8 NOTES. Sun.” * These seemingly senseless gesticulations and attitudes are followed with the thought that they assist in fixing the mind upon the object to be venerated, and drawing it away from the distractions of material life. 13. Yogis : — The term Yogi is applied to the followers of the Yoga school of philosophy, whose chief tenet is that it is possible, even in this life, to acquire entire command over elementary matter by means of certain ascetic practices. Their principal methods are, long-continued suppressions of the breath, of in- haling and exhaling in a particular manner, of sitting in eighty- four different attitudes, and of fixing the eyes on the top of the nose. They profess to be able to attain the power of performing miracles, which leads them into the cultivation of the arts of necromancy, until at present they are little better than traveling mountebanks. They carry with them trained goats, monkeys, or animals with some sort of lapsus natures , as a fifth leg, and beg and perform various tricks. 14. Brahm&charis : — A student class of mendicants. 15. Bhikshus : — A higher order of Buddhist ascetics. 16. A gaunt and mournful band : — No nation has devised so many painful methods of seeking final salvation as have the Hin- dus; the religious orders and sects are numerous, and are followed by men of all dispositions ; the truly religious, who in darkness feel after God if haply they may find Him ; the lazy, who had rather beg than work ; the vain, who love to attract attention by their seeming holiness ; and the vicious, who in a saint’s robe find larger liberty for passion. A few of these sects as at present existing in India may be noticed. The Khakis are so called on account of their rubbing their bodies all over with ashes. They go about almost naked, and lead a wandering life. The Visaktas go bare-headed, and must have but one garment and one water pot. The Sakbi Bliaras worship Kadha, the mistress of Krishna, so exclusively that they even clothe themselves as women, and follow their occupa- tions. The Sunyasis are sturdy beggars bedaubed with ashes to make themselves hideous. The Nagas go entirely naked, and of all classes are the most worthless and profligate. They carry arms, and are a dangerous people. The Akalis go fully armed; they carry the chakra or discus, and are very expert in its use. They can throw it a hundred feet and cut off a man’s head with unerring certainty. The Mahansas go naked in all weathers, and never speak or beg. They are almost entirely helpless; the people think it a merit to care for them. The Aglioris, a sect nearly rooted out by the English government, required human victims for their sac- rifices. They carry a pole with a shoe, a water pot, a skull and * Abbe Dubois, vol. ii. NOTES. 219 human bones fastened on the top. They eat carrion and filth, and rub themselves with it to make themselves disgusting, thus com- pelling decent people to comply with their requests, that they may be rid of them. The Vakis believe in the great merit of per- sonal torture; they distort their limbs, cause the nails to grow through the hand, or hold their hands above the head for years. The Vamacliaris require flesh, fish, wine and women in their wor- ship, that is conducted with great secrecy. Everywhere in India these mendicants may be seen wandering about in their filth or yel- low robes colored with red ocher. They are at once objects of ter- ror and veneration to the common people, who give of their hard- earned and scanty store to support these miserable creatures. 17. Only great Brahm endures : the Gods but live : — The great aim of Hindu devotees who enter upon their painful life from religious conviction is to obtain liberation from future terres- trial existence, and speedy absorption into great Brahm, the creative spirit. That this union will eventually occur is to them a settled matter, but as the time is tolerably far removed, they seek to hasten the event. “ The elements of form developed from primary matter remain unaltered for a day of Brahm, an interval of 2,160,000,000 years. At the end of this period, Brahm sleeps. The material forms which then occupy the world and the lower spheres of the universe are then consumed by fire ; the fire is ex- tinguished by mighty rains, and the globe becomes a shoreless ocean. The sages, the gods, the elements survive, and when Brahm awakes and finds what mischief his slumbers have gene- rated, he sets to work to repair it. With the materials ready to his hands he remanufactures the earth and its inhabitants, and this is what is intended by a secondary creation. This creation is re- peated daily during the one hundred years of Brahm’s existence. At the end of this term Brahma himself expires, and with him die all the gods and holy sages, and all forms whatever retrograde successively into their constituent elements, until the whole is finally merged into the single or double rudiment of being, uni- versal spirit, or primary matter and primary spirit, according to the theories of the dualistic or non-dualistic philosophers. After a considerable interval, similar causes produce similar effects ; nature and spirit are again in movement, the creation is renewed, and the universe thus eternally fluctuates between existence and non-existence, without any motive, without any end.” * This universal, unconscious spirit is known to most of the Hindu sects as Brahm, the creator of Brahma, who in turn creates the universe. 18. Rdjdputra : — Prince’s son. 19. Malaya : — The islands of the Indian Archipelago. * Wilson’s Religions of Hindus. 220 NOTES. 20. Tola : — Two ounces. 21. Sona’s distant stream : — The river Golden. 22. Cowries: — Small shells ; from one hundred to one hundred and twenty make the value of a cent. 23. from the unwatched rice Shiva’s white hull fed free. In the temples of Shiv white hulls are kept as emblems of the god ; these are frequently turned loose in the streets, and none dare abuse them whatever they may do. The grain merchants have their stores dumped on cloths on the ground in a most con- venient manner, as the bulls soon learn. The merchants, to save themselves from loss, when they see a bull approaching meet him with handfuls of grain and entice him beyond their stalls. 24. Lota : — See note 41, Book the Third 25. Sdkra : — Indra. 26. Devaraj : — The prince god. 27. Mantras : — See note 38, Book the First. 28. Of ghee : — Clarified butter ; milky juice of the moon plant ; acid ascelpias. 29. Soma juice : — This drink was very much used in ancient worship; but at present is almost unknown, and it is with difficulty that a priest can be found who understands its preparation. It is supposed to give health, wisdom, inspiration, even immortality, when received from the hands of a twice-born priest. Dr. Haug, an eminent Sanskrit scholar who resided some years in Western India, found a priest who, for a very mercenary consideration, consented to reproduce the ceremonies of the ancient sacrifices. He brewed Soma juice, of which Dr. Haug says : “ The sap of the plant now used at Poona appears whitish, has a very stringent taste, is bitter, hut not sour : it is a very nasty drink, and has some intoxicating effect. I tasted it several times, hut it was im- possible for me to drink more than some spoonfuls.” 30. Munja grass : — A grass of which roofs are made, also ropes and girdles. The laws of Manu require that a priest’s girdle shall be made of Munja grass. 31. Yajnas: — Sacrifices. 32. Bimbsdra : — The prince who became one of Buddha’s earliest disciples, and who gave to him the Bamboo garden where he spent a large part of his life. 33. But Buddha softly said : — Though Buddhism as a religion has long since departed from India, the effects of Buddha’s teach- ings remain in a most marked degree. Through his teachings sacri- fices of blood and animals, that previously were considered in- dispensable, were almost entirely abandoned. The killing of animals, eating flesh and drinking intoxicants were generally dis- continued save by the lowest of the people. Buddhism left the NOTES. 221 people of India vegetarians and total abstainers from spirituous liquors. 34. His sacred thread: — When young, boys of the Brahmin, and some of the princes at nine years of age, are invested with the triple cord. It consists of coarse cotton threads, that when a man marries is increased to nine. The ceremonies of investiture last four days and are full of trifling detail, and very expensive. Hindus of every caste believe it to be a meritorious act to contribute to the necessary expenses. The cotton of which the cord is made is sown, watered, gathered and spun by Brahmins . The instant it is touched in any stage by a person of another caste it loses its sacredness and must be re- placed. It is worn over the left shoulder, and hangs down to the right hip. 35. Sdkra : — Indra. 36. Hems : — Bright ones, goddesses. 37. Shusters : — Scriptural writings of the Brahmins. 38. Uravilva : — is situated on the northernmost smir of the Vindhya range. 39. Sruti : — Revealed Scriptures. 40. Smriti : — Traditional Scriptures. 41. Jnana-Kdnd /—rheological portion of the Vedas. 42. Karmma-Kdnd : — Ritual portion of the Vedas. BOOK THE SIXTH 1. Thousand Gardens: — See on the map of India in Colton’s large Atlas-Hazareebagli. 2. Mahua : — Same as mohra ; see Note 16, Book the Fourth. 3. Sansdr : — Hemp. 4. Bir : — Fig trees. 5. Barabar hills : — The eastern portion of the Vindhya range. The origin of this range is given by the Hindus as follows : When Hanuuian, the monkey god, and liis hosts were assisting Rama to regain his wife Sita from the King of Ceylon, they were obliged to build a bridge from the main-land to Ceylon ; for this purpose they brought rocks from the Himalaya mountains, nearly 1,500 miles distant. When the bridge was completed word was sent back to the monkeys still coming with rocks that no more were needed, whereupon they cast down their loads, hence these hills. Between the main-land and Ceylon a rocky causeway still makes it necessary for ships to circumnavigate the island, instead of pass- ing the channel. 6. Village of Sendni : — Named for the army general, who was at that time the peaceful head man of the place. 7. 1 he marks, tldrty and two : — See note 40, Book the First. 222 NOTES. 8. Sal-branch : — See note 41, Book the Second. 9. Jambu-branches : — See note 88, Book the First. 19. i/ilk in the shepherd’s lota: — In his drinking cup. 11. “/ am a Sudra, and my touch defiles:” — Caste causes strange contradictions. Brahmin and Sudra will take milk from one goat or cow, but not from the same cup, nor water from the same well or spring. The Brahmin will take from the Sudra uncooked food, and fruit, but not cooked food. When I was traveling in the Himalayas our coolies, dirty, lousy, ill-smelling fellows, would not take water from a spring in which any of our company had dipped our cups, or from the stream unless they could go some distance above and get the water higher up. They would travel thirsty for miles, rather than defile themselves. 12. Tilka-mark: — The tilka-mark ar.d sacred thread are never given to any one of low birth. The tilka-mark varies in different castes and sects. One sect, the Kamanujas, have two perpendicu- lar white lines drawn from the root of the hair to the commence- ment of each eyebrow, and a transverse streak connecting them across the root of the nose ; in the center is a perpendicular streak of red, made with a preparation of rice, turmeric, and lime with acid. They also have streaks on the breast and each upper arm. The marks are supposed to represent the shell, discus, club and lotus which Vishnu bea-s in his four hands, while the central streak is Lakslimi. Some have the objects carved on wooden stamps with which they impress the emblems on their bodies, and some even cicatrize themselves with heated metallic representa- tions. Another sect wear two red perpendicular lines, meeting in a semicircle on the top of the nose, with a round spot of red be- tween them ; others mark the forehead with transverse lines of ashes, and others put the sign of worship and caste on the temples and ears. 13. the nautch-dancers, Of Inara's temple. In families where there is a surplus of girls, one is frequently dedicated or married to the god of a temple. The girl has no choice whatever in the matter, and is usually very young when placed in the temple service. Her life is one of the lowest prosti- tution. They are taught to dance, a performance which in itself is not so indecent as the dances of Western nations, but the object is frankly admitted. They are also taught to read and several accomplishments to make them attractive— a fact that has stood greatly in the way when respectable women desired education, lest they should be set down in the same class. 14. T he piping bdnsuli : — A hollow bamboo played as a flute. 15. A three-string sitar : — The introduction of the sitar in this poem is something of an anachronism, as the sitar was invented by NOTES. 223 a Muhamedan over a thousand years later. Sitar is derived from the Persian si, three, and ta, string. It resembles a guitar with a hollow gourd for a body. 16. Sendni : — An army general. 17. Sujdta: — Nobly born. 18. Wherefore with many prayers she had besought Lakshmi; and many nights at full-moon gone Round the great Lingam, nine times nine, with gifts Of rice and jasmine wreaths and sandal oil. On a certain moonlight night in mid winter, Shiv, or his emblem, the Lingam or Ling, is to be worshiped with jasmine flowers, and particular offerings are made to his bride by the women, of flowers, incense, lights and condiments, in hope of securing children. At this season, also, “ women walk in the forests with a fan in one hand, and eat certain vegetables in hope of beautiful children.” Mr. Ward gives a fuller account of these observances : “ The worship is performed by a Brahmin, under the vata tree — Fiscus Indica — or under a branch of this tree planted in the house. At the time of this worship every woman of the village, dressed in her best clothes, with her face painted, her ornaments on, and her body anointed with oil, goes to the place of worship under the tree, taking in her hand an offering, over each of which the officiating Brahmin performs the usual sacrifices. The offerings are sent to the house of the Brahmin, or distributed to the eager bystanders. Among others who are eager to obtain some of these offerings are childless women, each of whom sits down pensively among the crowd, and opens the end of her garment to receive what the mothers are glad to bestow, when the giver says, ‘ May the bless- ing of Shasti be upon you, and next year may you bring offerings with a child in your arms.’ ” 19. Lakshmi : — Goddess of fortune and prosperity. 20. Lingam : — Carved representation of the male organs. 21. Dens : — Gods. 23. Sari : — Skirt and veil in one piece. 23. And tie the scarlet threads around the tree : — “ On a day dur- ing a most popular festival held in March, the women worship the Anola tree — Pliyllantlius Emblica — a kind of myrobalan. On this occasion libations are poured at the foot of the tree, a red or yel- low thread is bound round the trunk, prayers are offered up for its fruitfulness, and the ceremony is concluded by a reverential inclination of the head to the ancient tree, whose branches bear the marks of village reverence and care.” * 24. Ln silver lotas : — See 41, Book the Third. 25. Tulsi-plant : — See 7, Book the Third. * Missionary’s Vade Mecum. 224 NOTES. 26. When by his side I stand and serve the calces : — No wife eats with her husband among the Hindus. She sets the meal before him, and eats what he sees fit to leave her. 27. Swerga : — The Swarga of the Hindus, and Bihisht of the Muliamedans, indicate Paradise as a place of luxury and sensual enjoyments, while Narak and Jahannam are those cares and pains that make a hell upon earth. 28. Champak : — See Note 1, Book the Second. 29. 1 should mount The pile and lay that dear head in my lap. This refers to Suttee, or the practice of burning the living wife with her dead husband. Suttee was abolished in 1829, by Lord Bentinck, Governor General of India. 30. Cror : — Ten millions. 31. BodM-tree : — The peepul tree, or tree of wisdom. A few hundred yards west of the Nilajan river, in a plain of great extent, about five miles from Gaya Proper, there are remarkable remains, that now consist of a confused heap of brick and stone, exhibiting traces of having once been regularly arranged. There is a build- ing called the temple of Buddha, built of brick, and lofty, now so honeycombed with age as to excite surprise that it continues erect. On the terrace behind the temple a peepul tree is growing, which the Hindus suppose to have been planted by Brahina. It is sup- posed by the Buddhists to be exactly in the center of the earth. In 1812, this tree was in full vigor, and appeared to be about one hundred years of age; a familiar one may have been in the place when the temple was entire.* Miss Brittain gives an account of an old stone pillar which is said to be of Buddhist origin, and to have been built by Asoka, 240 B.C. , for the purpose of inscribing upon it his edicts with regard to spreading the Buddhist religion. It was formerly the custom to place in front of these monuments a peepul tree. This pillar had at one time such a tree beside it, but many years ago the tree was removed, and placed in an old temple near by. “ You enter this temple, which is now only a dark cave, or grotto, and are led down a long, dark, narrow passage by a Brahmin priest carrying a torch, the smell and smoke of wTiich, combined with the damp fumes of the place, render a long visit impossible. At the end of the dark passage is a large square, which must formerly have been a court-yard ; further on is the principal chamber of the temple. Here is the peepul tree. It is just the trunk of a tree separated near the ground into two large limbs or arms. These limbs are cut off short, so that the whole length cf the tree is probably only ten or twelve feet. From this body and * JIanual of Buddhism. NOTES. 225 arms there proceed a great many young sprouts ; these, however, are prevented from ever becoming larger by the number of pil- grims visiting this holy spot, who each carry away a leaf or twig. The leaves are perfectly white. It is a wonderful thing, this tree, thus living and growing for hundreds of years, under ground, and in utter darkness. 32. The Jcoil sang her hymn : — The cuckoo. 33. Voices of earth and air joined in one song: — Oriental writers with glowing descriptions always represent all nature, celestial and terrestrial, as cognizant of, and acting in accord with, spiritual manifestations. When the Hindu King Bijala, in a moment of wickedness, commanded the eyes of two holy men to be put out, his fortune left him, and grievous signs followed : the crows crowedin the night, jackals howled by day, the sun was eclipsed, storms cf wind and rain came on, the earth shook, darkness over- spread the heavens, and the inhabitants of the city were filled with terror. In Persian writings the idea that nature is “ ’ware and glad” though men, by the hardness of their hearts, may not per- ceive it, is constantly presented. The following is from the Gulistan, by Sheikh Sadi in the 13th century. “ Once I traveled to Hejaz along with some young men of virtuous disposition, who had been my intimate friends and constant com- panions. Frequently, in their mirth, they recited spiritual verses. There happened to be in the party an Abid, who thought un- favorably of the morals of Durweshes, being ignorant of their sufferings. At length we arrived at the grove of palm trees of Beni Hullal, when a boy of a dark complexion came out of one of the Arab families, and sung in such a strain as arrested the birds in their flight through the air. I beheld the Abid’s camel danc- ing, and after flinging his rider, he took the road of the desert. I said : ‘ O Sheikh, those strains delighted the brutes, but made no impression on you ; knowest thou what the nightingale of the morning said to me? What kind of a man art thou, who art ignorant of love ? The camel is thrown into ecstasy by the Arabic verses, for which, if thou hast no relish, thou art a cross-grained brute. When the camel is captivated with ecstatic frenzy, that man who can be insensible is an ass. The wind blowing over the plains causes the tender branches of the fan-tree to bend before it, but affects not the hard stone. Everything that you behold is ex- claiming the praises of God, as is well known to the understand- ing heart ; not only the nightingale and the rose bush are chant- ing praises to God, but every thorn is a tongue to extol him. ’ ” 34. But he who is the Prince Of Darkness, Mara. The legend says that Mara came to Siddartha as he was leaving his home and besought him to remain and enjoy life as a chakra var- 8 226 NOTES. tin, but the Prince answered in a mighty voice : “ A thousand or a hundred thousand honors such as these to which you refer would have no power to charm me to-day. I seek the Buddliaship. I want not the seven treasures of the chakravartin ; therefore, begone, hinder me not.” Mara, perceiving that his kingdom would eventual- lybecome depopulated through Buddha’s merit, left him, angrily de- claring that he should not cease to tempt him by every device in his power. He kept his word, but on the day when the Prince should become Buddha, he assembled his hosts for the final battle. This is described in the curious, but tedious, extravagance of Buddhist writers in the legends, of which but a hint can be given. It is said that Mara mounted on an elephant one thousand miles high, and marched to the assault with an attendant army one hun- dred and sixty-four miles long, each warrior in the shape of some horrid monstrosity. He sent a mighty wind against Buddha, which hurled rocks thirty miles high, but it could not lift a hair of his head. He poured a rain whose drops were as big as palm trees, but their scattering spray could not touch Buddha. One hundred thousand burning mountains were transformed by the gentleness of the Buddhist spirit into flowers that fell at his feet. The result of the temptation was that one hundred and thirty-six burning hells opened, scattering the hosts of evil, when the ele- phant, with his trunk in his mouth and his tail between his legs, ran away. All this extravagant story was probably first given as an allegorical description of an enlightened mind struggling with the power of evil. 35. Arati : — Pain. 36. Trishnd : — Avarice, desire, or thirst. 37. Raga : — Passion. 38. Kama : — The Indian Cupid, whose history bears much re- semblance to the Cupid of Grecian mythology. In Shakespeare’s “Hindustani Dictionary ” the story is given as follows : Kama was consumed by the fiery rage of Mahadeva for interrupting him in his devotions, and Rati, Kama’s wife and Venus of the Hindus, being disconsolate for the loss of her husband, was informed by Parvati, the wife of the enraged Mahadeva, that he would be born in the house of Krishna, and would have the name of Prady- umna ; but that Raja Sambara would steal him away and cast him into the sea ; that thence he would be taken in the belly of a fish to the kitchen of Sambara, and she must go and wait for him there. Following this advice, she remained in the kitchen of the Raja till it happened that a large fish, on being opened by the cook, was found to contain another fish, and when this was opened a child issued from its belly. Rati, by command of the Raja, reared this child. When Kama was grown she made him ac- quainted with what Parvati had told her, and advised him to kill NOTES. 227 Sambara and return with her to the house of Krishna where he was born. This was accomplished, and Rati was married to him on his return to his parents. Hence Rati is considered as both wife and mother of Kama. 39. Samma Sambuddh : — To perceive thoroughly, with calm peace of mind. 40. Ten great Virtues : — or Dasa sil, are ten obligations bind- ing upon a priest. They forbid : 1. The taking of life. 2. The taking of that which is not given. 3. Sexual intercourse. 4. The saying of that which is not true. 5. The use of intoxicating drinks. 6. The eating of solid food after midday. 7. Attendance upon dancing, singing, music and masks. 8. The adorning of the body with flowers and the use of perfumes and unguents. 9. The use of seats or couches above the prescribed height. 10. The re- ceiving of gold and silver. 41. Abhidjna : — The line of all his lives in all the worlds. Many volumes of Buddhist literature are given to the ante-natal life of Buddha. According to one author his retrospect of past lives extended through ten millions of millions and one thousand kalpas, the shortest of which was sixteen millions of years, the longest thirty -two millions. 42. Kalpas — Mahakalpas : — See Note 64, Book the First. 43. Sakwal : — “ There are innumerable systems of worlds, each system having its own earth, sun, moon, etc. The space to which the light of the sun or moon extends is called a sakwala. Each sakwala includes an earth, with its continents, islands and oceans, and a mountain in the center called Maha Meru, as well as a series of hells and heavens. The sakwalas are scattered throughout space, in sections of three and three. All the sakwalas in one section touch each other, and in the space between is the Lokanta- rika hell. Each sakwala is surrounded by a wall of rock called a sakwala-gala.” * These sakwalas are innumerable, but were all Visible to Buddha and under the power of his teaching. 44. Dukhya-satya : — The power of sorrow. 45. Noble Truths : — Mr. Gogerly gives one of the most intelli- gible translations of these truths. They are ; “ 1. That every ex- istent thing is a source of sorrow. 2. That continued sorrow re- sults from a continued attachment to existing objects. 3. That a freedom from this attachment liberates from existence. 4. The path leading to this state containing eight sections.” 46. Karma : — is that which controls the destiny of all things, and includes both merit and demerit. This doctrine of Karma constantly appears in both Buddhist and Braliminical writings, with many shades of meaning and endless explanation. Buddha’s ♦Manual of Buddhism. 228 NOTES. own definition is : “ All sentient beings have their own individual Karma, or the most essentia] property of all beings is karma : karma comes by inheritance, or that which is inherited — not from parentage, but from previous births, is karma ; karma is the cause of all good and evil, or they come by means of karma, or on account of karma ; karma is a kinsman ; karma is an assistant, or that which promotes the prosperity of any one is his good karma, ; it is the difference in the karma, as to whether it be good or evil, that causes the difference in the lot of men, so that some are mean, and others are exalted, some are miserable and others happy.” The listening disciple still found himself like a man with a ban- dage over his eyes, and unable to see the point, so he asked expla- nation at length ; after which he perceived that the d fferences in the lot of men, as at present seen, are produced by the karma of different births. 47. Skandhas : — Elements of sentient existence. 48. Upadanas : — Subordinate duties, or the cleaving to existing objects. 49. Nirvana : — Buddhism, in common with all other religions, is divided into many sects, each holding their peculiar shades of doc- trine and belief. The great subject with them for debate and speculation is Nirvana. Not more continuous or prolix are our disquisitions, or wordy and heated are our debates on the subject of future punishment, than are the treatises and discussions in bazar and temple, by Brahmins as well as Buddhists, on Nirvana. The most generally accepted idea among Brahmins is that of re- union with original -spirit, Brahm. The Vedas say of the soul : “The soul is a portion of the Supreme Ruler, as a spark is of fire. The relation between them is not that of master and servant, ruler and subject, but both that of whole and part.” Among some this idea prevails : “ The living soul, at the death of the body, attended with all its faculties, retires within a rudiment body composed of light, with the rest of the five elements in a subtile state. In that condition the soul, united to a subtile elementary frame, conjoined with the vital faculties, remains till the dissolution of the world, when it merges in the Supreme Deity. That frame is impercep- tible to those who see the death of the body. It is not injured by the burning of the body or anything else. It can be known by its heat as long as it remains in the gross body.” The following ex- tracts represent a few shades of opinion respecting Nirvana among Buddhists. “ Spence Hardy and Bigandet find in the modem Singhalese and Burmese books the same opinion concerning Nirvana as Alvis Gogerly, and especially Childers, have found in the more ancient authorities ; and though the modern books of the Northern Bud- dhists are doubtful, Eugene Burnouf has clearly proved that their NOTES. 229 older texts contain only the same doctrines as that held in the south. Buddhism does not acknowledge the existence of a soul as distinct from the parts and powers of man which are dissolved at death, and the Nirvana of Buddhism is simply extinction.” * “ Nirvana is not extinction or going out of the soul, but it is the going out in the heart of the three fires of lust, anger and de- lusion, and the craving from which they come.” f The Buddhists of Burmah define Nirvana or Nigban as freedom from old age, disease and death. Professor Max Muller says: “According to the metaphysical tenets, if not of Buddha himself, at least of his sect, there is no reality anywhere, neither in the past nor in the future. True wis- dom consists in perceiving the nothingness of all things, and in a desire to become nothing, to be blown out, to enter into Nirvana. Emancipation is obtained by total extinction, not by absorption into Brahm, or by a recovery of the soul’s true state. If to be is misery, not to be must be felicity ; and this felicity is the highest reward which Buddha promised his disciples. “One school believes that Nirvritti or Nirvana is nature or sub- stance in repose, another claims that it is annihilation. The earli- est written works which we possess on Buddhism were composed by Buddha’s pupils and friends; these teach that Nirvana is anni- hilation, not absorption.” J Professor Wilson says that in the Saddharma Lankavatarva, Sakya is represented as confuting all the Braliminical notions of Nirvana, and concludes by expounding it to be the complete anni- hilation of the thinking principle, illustrating his doctrine by the comparison generally employed, of the exhaustion of the light of a lamp which goes out of itself. In the Brahmajala, or Pali Sutra, where again Sakya is made to confute sixty-two Brahminical here- sies, he winds up by saying : “ Existence is a tree; the merit or demerit of the actions of men is the fruit of that tree, and the seed of future trees ; death is the withering away of the old tree from which others have sprung ; wisdom and virtue take away the ger- ) minating principle, so that when the tree dies there is no repro- duction. This is Nirvana.” 50. Koil : — Cuckoo. 51 . Bulbul : — N ightingale . 52. Myna : — Indian robin. 53. Brets : — Evil spirits. 54. Shuts : — Ghosts. 55. j Ran : — Wilderness. 56. Jungle : — Wild country. * Cyclopedia Brittanica. t T. W. Rhys Davids, in Fortnightly Review. X Chips from a German Workshop. 230 NOTES. 57. Cheetahs : — Small hunting leopards. 58. Bddhi-tree : — See Note 31, Book the Sixth. 59. Many a House of Life, etc. : — These stanzas are thus trans- lated by Tumour : “Performing my pilgrimage through the eternity of countless existence, in sorrow have I unremittingly sought in vain the abode of the passions (i. e., the human frame). Now, O, artificer ! art thou found. Henceforth no receptacle of sin slialt thou form, thy frames broken; thy ridge-pole shattered; thy soul — or mind — emancipated from liability to regeneration — by transmigration — has annihilated the dominion of the passions."’ Mr. Gogerly translates thus: “ Through various transmigrations I must travel if I do not discover The builder whom I seek;— Painful are repeated transmigrations. I have seen the architect — and said — 1 Thou shalt not build me another house ; Thy rafters are broken, Thy roof timbers scattered. My mind is detached from all existing objects; I have attained to the extinction of desire.’ ” Mr. Hardy gives still another translation : ‘ 1 Through many different births I have run (to me not having found) Seeking; the architect of the desire resembling house. Painful are repeated births ! 0 house-builder ! I have seen thee— Again a hou-e thou canst not build for me. 1 have broken thy rafters, Thy central support is destroyed ; To Nirvana my mind is gone. I have arrive i at the extinction of evil-desire.” Our minds, trained to the idea of a creating Deity, and the need of a knowledge of Him, naturally suppose that this architect, this “ Builder of this Tabernacle,” must refer to some divine person ; but in so doing we make the mistake of putting “ Christian ideas into Buddhist expressions.” Mr. Gogerly’s and Mr. Hardy’s translations indicate that desire is the occasion of recreation, and in overcoming this, in blotting out desires, good or evil, the end is attained. Mr. Arnold in his translation says: “Delusion fashioned it.” This interpretation would bring Buddha’s mean- ing of architect in accord with the doctrine of Maya, Illusion, or Delusion, one of the most ancient and popular doctrines of India. Maya is personified in Hindu scriptures as the wife of Brahm. Brahm, after seventy-two ages of silence, desired to renew the world ; his desire became manifest in a female form — Maya, from whom all the mistaken notions current among mankind originate. The Hindu triad — Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv — were the offspring of Brahm and Maya ; Brahm disappears, and Maya, de- NOTES. 231 ceiving her own sons, becomes by them the mother of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Uma, whom she weds to her sons, and, establishing herself at J wala mukhi, leaves the three wedded pairs to frame the universe and give currency to the errors of practice and belief she has taught them. In the schools of philosophy it is asserted that “the illusive power of ignorance produces the universe from the eggs of Brahm. ” It is also affirmed that matter exists not independent of perception, and that substances are indebted for their seeming reality to the ideas of the mind. Our intellects are purified by abstraction, and until we have attained a just ap- preciation of our own nature, and of that of universal spirit, our ideas are all wrong. Until the day of true knowledge dawns upon us we are asleep — in a dream ; we misconceive of all we perceive, we take a rope for a snake ; an oyster-shell for mother- of-pearl, mirage for real water. All that we see in our unillumi- nated condition is Maya, deception, illusion. There are no two things in existence ; there is but one in all. There is no second, no matter ; there is spirit alone. The world is not God ; there is nothing but God in the world. Nature is compelled to assume the corporeal form that the ends of Spirit may be fulfilled, namely, that it may be embodied, until by a series of transmigrations it has no longer need of such a state ; it has attained knowledge, which is the cause of its liberation, and its connection with matter ceases.” * “ Soul desists,” says the Sankliya Rarika, “ because he has seen — or fully understood — nature. Nature ceases, or withdraws, because she has been seen.” “The union of spirit and matter, as the receiver and received, is without beginning. The origin of this union is Maya. The perfection of spirit is to be attributed to liberation from this union, and this is sought in the acquisition of discriminating wis- dom. Actions performed under the influence of Maya are fol- lowed by eight millions of births in connection with some caste, with an appointed period of life, and subjection to the fruit of actions. This illusion, from whence arise the effects of actions, is to be destroyed by discriminating wisdom in reference to the Divine nature, leading to the reception of truth — God— and de- liverance from the sorrows of transmigration.” Another class of Hindu philosophers, in their subdivision of Sakti, or Maya, into four qualities — knowledge, desire, energy and deception — show even more plainly what we are to understand by “the architect of the desire resembling house.” They olaim that the first Sakti, or knowledge, by its partial extension, produces pain and sleep ; but the Sakti of Desire unfortunately obscures that of knowledge, * Wilson’s Religions of the Hindus. 232 NOTES. and hinders it from perceiving that there is no other deity but the material body, propagation, life and death. From this ignorant deviation, occasioned by Desire, the inclinations of men are de- rived. The truly wise man, who would acquire knowledge of truth and nature, must therefore renounce desire. “ But,” asks a new proselyte of a sage, “ as all individuals are so many deities, or rather modifications of the same god, why are they not all endowed with the same talents and equal penetration; why are the greater part devoid of sublime intelligence?” The sage answered, “The evil proceeds entirely from the fourth Sakti Maya, or Illusion. It is the cause of all deception, and makes men take what is false for what is true. It has misled men into the belief that there are gods; that there are such vicissitudes as living and dying pollution and purification. The only means of shunning the errors of Maya is to cling to the doctrine of Buddhism.” BOOK THE SEVENTH. 1. Wasanta-time : — A festival held in the spring in honor of Kamadeva, the god of love. 2. Hastinpur: — Ancient Delhi, the remains of which still exist about fifty-seven miles north-east of the modern city, on the banks of the old channel of the Ganges. 3. Purdah; — Curtain. 4. With naked feet; — The people of India never wear shoes in the house. They always slip them off on the verandah. 5. When they came without the purdah’s folds: — The women of India who are of high rank and caste are not allowed to go outside of their own apartments except they are closely veiled and attended, neither may any man save husband, father or brothers, go behind the curtains separating the women’s rooms from the rest of the house. The curtains are made of long, fine splints of bamboo, and lined with gauze. The women can look through these into the lighter outer apartments, but those outside cannot look within. These merchants standing outside the curtain displayed their goods and told their news, but saw not Yasodliara. 6. BddM-tree: — See Note 31, Book the Sixth. 7. TeMrika ; — A tree, Pinus Longifolia. 8. Mara’s wrath: — See Note 34, Book the Sixth. 9. Twelve Nidanas: — Twelve treasures, or the eleven degrees of contemplation that lead to Nirvana the last and twelfth degree. 10. lie taught the Five: — The five ascetics who were Buddha’s companions during the six years he sought the truth. 11. Vaishya: — This month corresponds to half of April and May 12. Ihe IlisMs;—- refers to the five ascetics, Buddha’s former companions. NOTES. 233 13. Four Truths : — See Note 45, Book the Sixth. 14. Yasad the Prince: — was the son of Sujata, who gave to Bud- dha the food that refreshed him for his mighty conflict with Mara. Yasad went to Buddha by night to inquire the way ; he became a priest and entered the first path. His fifty-four companions went to the monastery to induce him to return and play with them as usual, but when they saw his changed appearance they resolved to be- come priests also, and shortly entered the paths. 15. Gatlid : — A hymn not from the Vedas. 16. Yojans : — About ten miles. 17. Son a : — River Golden. 18. Kos : — A kos is two miles. 19. Rahula’s mother : — A Hindu never calls his wife by name : before she becomes a mother she is known as “that one,” or “ admi,” a person ; afterward the husband always speaks of his wife as such a boy’s mother. The woman also speaks of her hus- band as the son’s father. 20. As the night-blowing moon- flower’ s swelling heart ; — The moon-plant is a climber. The leaves, in shape, are like those of the convolvulus major, but much larger, and on the under side are covered with a silvery down. The flowers are white and like huge morning-glories, each one measuring from four to five inches across. They open only by moonlight. 21. as pale asaka buds Wait for a woman' s foot. The blossoms of the asoka tree (see Note 2, Book the Fourth} emit a delightful fragrance when wet with the dew just after sun- set and before sunrise, or at the time when women step forth for air and exercise. 22. Mogras • : — Double Arabian jasmine. 23. JJdayi : — Named for the great Eastern mountain behind which the sun is supposed first to rise. Udayi was born at the same time as Buddha, and his part in the renunciation was fore- ordained. 24. Tree-wool : — The cotton from the sembhal, or cotton tree. Not all men were so profoundly impressed with Buddha’s teach- ing. An old hymn of the Northern Buddhists tells how Buddha met, full of his newly-discovered mission, an acquaintance on the way as he was going to the Deer Forest the day after his ' attain- ment of Buddhaliood to preach his doctrine to his old friends. He was struck with Buddha’s appearance, and asked him what religion made him so glad and yet so calm. Buddha told him that he had now become free from all desires. His acquaintance appar- ently cared little for this, and asked him where he was going. The reply is striking. Buddha said: “I am now going to the city of Benares, to establish there a kingdom of righteousness, to 234 NOTES. give light to those enshrouded in darkness, to open the gate of immortality to men.” His acquaintance sneered at his high-flown pretensions, and asked what he meant. Buddha replied : “I have completely conquered all evil passions, and am not tied down to material existence. I only live to be the prophet of perfect truth.” “In that case,” answered the man, “venerable Gotama, your way lies yonder, mine opposite,” and left him. Probably most of us would have had the same feeling, if not the same words. 25. Nirvana : — See Note 49, Book the Sixth. 26. Neem : — See Note 33, Book the Second. 27. Mango : — See Note 80, Book the First. 28. Masakhs : — Goat-skins in which Muhamedan water-carriers bear water. 29. With silver howdahs : — Chairs of state, made purposely to strap on the elephant’s back. 30. Nigrodlia : — Landscape garden. 31. Bel-trees : — Thorny Bengal quince. 32. Kshatriya : — Soldier caste. 33. Chares : — A nearly obsolete English word, signifying labors. The same word in India, used adjectively, has nearly the same meaning. 34. Lingam : — See Note 20, Book the Sixth. 35. Rishi : — Saint. 36. Noble Paths : — See page 227 of the poem. 37. Bodhisats : — Candidates for the Buddahood. 38. Lanka : — Ceylon. 39. Three seers : — Six pounds. 40. Twelve Niddnas : — See Note 9, Book the Seventh. 41. Meru : — Same as Mount Sumeru. See Note 17, Book the First. 42. And so the feet of siceet Yasodhara Passed into peace and bliss, being softly led. The story of Yasodhara’s attainment of Nirvana is very beauti- ful, as a few outlines will indicate. “ When Siddartlia became an ascetic the Princess resolved upon following his example, but Suddhodana, in order to prevent it, placed guards around the city, declaring to her that the Prince would return ; he was also fearful that, as she was so extremely beautiful, unless she was well pro- tected the Princes of other countries might hear of her situation and come and take her away by force. But although she was thus prevented from going to the forest, she resolved to keep the ordinances of the recluse in the palace ; and for this purpose she had her head shaved, put on a yellow robe, and ate her food out of an earthen bowl. When Buddha visited Kapilavastu, after the attainment of his office, and on the second day after his ar- rival, she requested permission to become a priestess, but it NOTES. 235 was not granted, as Buddha saw that the right of entrance into the order of the female priesthood belonged to the queen- mother Mahaprajapati. ... In due time Yasodhara be- came the rightful inheritor of all that had belonged to Suddlio- dana, Mahamaya, Mahaprajapati, Siddartlia, Nanda, Rahula, Devadatta, and Suprabudlia, but she regarded the whole with aversion, even as if it had been a dead snake tied round her neck. She walked with her attendant princesses nearly five hundred miles to reside near Buddha, refusing all offers of assistance on the journey, as all the luxuries of the world had been renounced. While at Sewet, she sometimes went to hear Buddha preach, and sometimes to inquire after the health of Rahula. On the evening of a certain day, as Yasodhara was sitting alone, she thought of all her friends who had already entered Nirvana. ‘ I was born on the same day as Buddha, and in regular order ought to enter the city of peace upon the same day ; but this would not be decorous to the great teacher. I am now seventy-eight years of age. In two years from this time Buddha will attain Nirvana. 1 will there- fore request permission to obtain this privilege from Buddlia.’ Accompanied by her attendants, she went to the monastery of Buddha, and asked forgiveness for the faults she might at any time have committed, and then presented her request. Buddha said, ‘You are the most virtuous of women; but from the time you became an ascetic you have not performed any miracle, so that some persons have doubted whether you are a raliat or not.’ A great company assembled, but the Princess thought that on account of the extreme beauty of her person it would not be proper to per- form a miracle in the same way as others, lest evil should arise in the minds of such of the faithful as were not yet free from evil desire. She therefore related the history of her former births, then rose in the air and worshiped Buddha. The discourse that she delivered was upon the seven kinds of wives there are in the world of men. When all this was concluded, she retired to her own residence, and in the same night, while passing from contemplation to con- templation, saw the city of peace.” 43. Mahasammat : — the first monarch of the world, of the race of the sun, received existence by the apparitional birth. The ances- try of Buddha is traced through individuals all of royal dignity, by Buddhist historians back to this monarch ; these have evident- ly borrowed names or invented them, determined to shed all honor possible upon his name. 44. Four noble Truths : — See Note 45, Book the Sixth. 45. Those eight right Rules : — Right views, high aims, kindly speech, upright conduct, harmless livelihood, perseverance in well-doing, intellectual activity, earnest thought. 46. Stages Four : — Professor Max Muller thus describes the 236 NOTES. effects of each stage : “ Entering the first ensures freedom from sin, a knowledge of the nature of things, and leaves no desire ex- cept for Nirvana, Pleasurable feelings and reasoning and dis- criminating powers remain. In the second stage these cease, leav- ing satisfaction arising from intellectual perfection, which is lost in the third stage ; but self-consciousness remains. In the fourth stage this also vanishes, and Nirvana is open. The Buddha now enters the infinity of space, then into the infinity of intelligence, and thence into the region of nothing. But even here there is no rest. There is still something left, the idea of nothing in which he rejoices. That also must be destroyed, and it is destroyed in the fourth and last region, where there is complete rest undis- turbed by nothing, or what is not nothing.” 47. Precepts Eight : — These precepts are most clearly expressed in the Buddhist Beatitudes. “Not to serve the foolish, but to serve the wise, to honor those worthy of love, this is the greatest blessing. To dwell in a pleasant land, good works done in a for- mer birth, right desires in the heart, this is the greatest blessing. Much insight and education, self-control and pleasant speech, and whatever word be well-spoken, this is the greatest blessing. To bestow alms and live righteously, to give help to kindred, deeds which cannot be blamed, this is the greatest blessing. To support father and mother, and to cherish wife and child ; to fol- low a peaceful calling, this is the greatest blessing. To abhor and cease from sin, abstinence from strong drink, not to be weary iu well-doing, this is the greatest blessing. Reverence, lowliness, contentment and gratitude, the hearing of the Law at due seasons, this is the greatest blessing. Beneath the stroke of life’s changes, the mind that shaketh not, without grief and passion. On every side are invincible those who do acts like these, on every side they walk in safety, and this is the greatest blessing.” BOOK THE EIGHTH. 1 . At Nagara : — A town lying about eighty miles almost direct- ly north of Benares. 2. In ox-wain : — Sixteen miles is an average day’s journey for an ox-cart. 3. Four hundred crors : — According to all authorities a cror is ten millions ; this would bring the number of living Buddhists to forty billions, an evident mistake. The values of weights, meas- ures and stated quantities differs so greatly iu different parts of India that it is possible that cror may have been used, where Mr. Arnold resided, to indicate a million, making his calculation of four hundred million living Buddhists corrrect. 4. Lakhs : — One hundred thousand. NOTES. 237 5. Mlech : — A barbarian, not speaking Sanskrit, nor subject to Hindu institutions. 6. The birds and beasts and creeping things : — In all these listen- ing animals were human souls in the progress of transmigration, awaiting the death of the animal, when possibly they might again be born in human form, and therein find Nirvana attainable. One of the principal reasons the Hindus give for not killing any crea- ture, however dangerous or loathsome, is that possibly the soul of some deceased friend or relative may be in the creature’s body. 7. Om : — This sacred syllable occupies a distinguished place among the objects of careful and special meditation. The student must devoutly repeat it again and again, and fix his mind in in- tensest degree upon its several meanings. The Mandukya Upan- ishad declares them to be four in number. The A in it denotes Brahma in the form of Vaishwanar, the human soul in its waking state. The U refers to him as Taijasa, in the state of dreaming. The M represents him as Prajna, in the state of deep sleep. The combined syllable Om, i.e., AUM, denotes him at once as the Su- preme invisible, blissful, without a second. The Sutras attribute to the syllable three elements of meaning, and declare the efficacy of its repetition to depend upon the sense in which it is viewed by the devotee. “He who meditates on all three, like a serpent which casts its skin, ascends at once to Brahma. After sharpening the arrow by devotion, fix to it that great weapon, the bow found, in the Upanishad, and after drawing it, and carefully aiming at thy mark, pierce him, 0 I 1 beloved, who is the imperishable.” It is said that Om is the bow, the soul the arrow, and Brahma the mark. 8. Amitaya : — Immeasurable. 9. Bralim : — See Note 17, Book the Fifth. 10. Pray not ! ike Darkness will not brighten! Ask Nought from the Silence, for it cannot speak! Vex not your mournful minds with pious pains / Ah! Brothers, Sisters! seek Nought from the helpless gods by gift and hymn. Nor bribe with blood, nor feed with fruit and cakes ; Within yourselves deliverance must be sought ; Each man his prison makes. These stanzas against prayer are the saddest of all Buddha’s teachings, and that with which liis followers are the least able to comply. All passions, all desires they may subdue, but ever and ever the heart seeks in prayer some light, some release. No reli- gionists pray so much, with so many repetitions, or by so many de- vices of rosaries, bells, wheels, machinery, or substitutes, as the Buddhists. 238 NOTES. 11. Indrd : — See Note 17, Book the Third. 12. Dharma : — Law, the “ Power divine.” 13. k 'esamum : — was created on the lltli of February by Tama, the god of the lower regions, hence the day and plant are consid- ered sacred. The oil of the sesamum seeds is very largely used in India for religious service, cooking and lights. 14. Nirvana : — See Note 49, Book the Sixth. 15. Om : — See Note 7, Book the Eighth. 16. Mani : — Sage. 17. Padme ; — Lotus or Golden Lotus. 18. the Dewdrop slips Into the shining sea. This is a Brahminical, not a Buddhist, idea of Nirvana, and is a favorite form of expression among them. The Buddhist phrase- ology is, that the soul is blown out like a lamp, or as blowing out is applied to a fire, or to a sage.” * 19. Karma: — See Note 46, Book the Sixth. 20. Kalpas; — See Note 64, Book the First. 21. Birdn-weed: — Foreign weed. 22. If any teach Nirvana is to cease. Say unto such they lie. If any teach Nirvana is to live, Say unto such they err. If any one hopes to arrive at a full understanding of this subject, let them be well forewarned of its impossibility. Mr. Hardy states that there are forty-four Buddhist sects, each holding different views of the future. 1 — 16. Those who hold a future state of con- scious existence, and that it is either material, immaterial, a mixed state, or neither material or immaterial ; that it is either finite, in- definitely extended, a mixture of both states, or neither one nor the other; or that its perceptions are either simple, discursive, limit- ed, unlimited, happy, miserable, mixed or insensible. 17 — 24. Those who hold a future state of unconscious existence. 25 — 32. Those who hold a state between consciousness and unconsciousness. 33 — 39. Those who hold that death, at once, or ultimately, is annihilation. 40—44. Those who reason on the mode in which perfect happiness is to be obtained. According to Buddha, the pure unmixed truth is not to be found anywhere but in his own preaching. To other teachers the truth may appear partially; but to him alone does it appear in unshroud- ed clearness and in its utmost amplitude. In him it is not acqui- sition gained by means of some mental process, nor is it a lesson taught by another. It is an intuitive underived power; a self-gen- erated effulgence. By this unerring sage it is declared that none Chips from a German Workshop. NOTES. 239 of the above opinions are consistent with the truth . And yet death is not annihilation. We exist, and we do not exist. We die and we do not die. There will be a future state of existence, but not of the individuality that now exists; and though death is the dis- solution of that which now exists, it is not annihilation of a poten- tiality inherent in that existence. * 23. Soma juice : — See Note 29, Book the Fifth. 24. while he threw Bice, red and white, from both hands. It is the duty of every Hindu householder to offer certain prayers with food and water each morning. Having bathed and put on clean clothes, he must devoutly offer libations, scattering water thrice for gods, also thrice for rislffs, progenitors, friends and rel- atives and many others, accompanied by a lengthy prayer address- ed to all manner of gods, men, animals, plants “and all creatures.” After this, having rinsed his mouth, he makes offerings to the sun, household gods, residents of earth, air, heaven and hell, to parents, teachers, family, kinsmen near and remote, to the cardinal points, atmosphere, twilight etc., etc. Then taking other rice, let the householder at pleasure cast it upon a clean spot of ground, as an offering to all beings, repeating with collected mind this prayer; “May gods, men, animals, birds, saints, yakshas, serpents, demons, ghosts, goblins, trees, all that aesire food given by me; may ants, worms, moths and other insects, hungered and bound in the bends of acts, may all obtain satisfaction from the food left them by me, and enjoy happiness; may they who have neither father nor mother, nor relations, nor food, nor means of preparing it, be satisfied and pleased with the food presented for their contentment; may all beings that are comprehended in the fourteen orders of existent things be satisfied with the food bestowed by me for their gratifi- cation, and be delighted. ” Having uttered this prayer, let the de- vout believer cast the food upon the ground for the nourishment of all kinds of beings, for the householder is thus the supporter of them all. Let him scatter food upon the ground for dogs, outcasts, birds and all fallen and degraded persons. 25. Dasa sil : — See Note 40, Book the Sixth. 26. Three Doors : — There are three entrances, whence proceed that which is good, and that which is evil ; 1. The body. 2. The speech. 3. The mind. 27. Triple Thoughts : — There are three subjects upon which the mind of the ascetic ought constantly to dwell ; 1. Impermanency. 2. Sorrow. 3. Unreality. 28. The Sixfold States of Mind : — 1. Evil desire. 2. Anger. S. Ignorance. 4. Purity. 5. Budlii. 6. Attention. * Manual of Buddhism. 24 ° NOTES. 29. Fivefold Powers : — 1. Purity. 2. Persevering action. 3. Ascertainment of truth. 4. Tranquillity. 5. Wisdom. 30. Fight High Gates of Purity: — 1. Correct ideas upon religious subjects. 2. Correct thoughts. 3. Correct words. 4. Correct works. 5. Correct life. 6. Correct endeavors. 7. Correct judg- ment. 8. Correct tranquillity. 31. Modes of Understanding : — 1. The meaning of any matter, in its separate divisions. 2. The doctrines of Buddha. 3. The power of the Buddhas to perceive all truth intuitively, without study and without the teaching of another. 4. The power of the ascetics to know the roots and the properties of things. 32. Iddhi : — The power of working miracles. 33. Upeksha, : — is freedom from all kinds of desire. 34. Five Great Meditations : — 1. Purity. 2. Persevering action. 3. The ascertainment of truth. 4. Tranquillity. 5. Wisdom. 35. Amrit : — The food of the gods that gives immortality. The lower people sometimes drink the water in which eminent Brah- mins have bathed their feet, calling it amrit. 36. Jh/mas : Wisdom. 37. The Three Chief Refuges : — 1. The benefits of the world of men. 2. The enjoyment of the dewa and brahma-lokas. 3. Nir- vana. 38. Strainer : — A thin piece of cloth for straining water before it is drank. Some sects in India, particularly the Tains, still use a strainer, lest unknowingly they should swallow some insect, and thus take life. The mysteries revealed to them by the microscope amaze and perplex them greatly. 39. Sangha : — Society or community. 40. Tathdgato : — Teacher. 41. Om mani padme hum: — is generally translated "Glory to the Lotus bearer, Hum.” Hum is not here used with its origi- nal Sanskrit meaning, but has come to be used in the sense of praise. Among some of the Buddhists, the ascription is under- stood as “ Om praise to the Golden Lotus Saint.” THE END. Date Due *P 17 31 ) F a * Me fta