the omens would be, thought to himself: " They tell me I shall conquer," and went away quite satisfied. This report spread abroad. And when Assaka heard it, he summoned Nandisena and said, "Kalinga, they say, will be victorious and we shall be defeated. What is to be done?"

"Sire," he replied, "who knows this? Do not trouble yourself as to who shall gain the victory and who shall suffer defeat."

With these words he comforted the king. Then he went and saluted the Bodhisatta, and sitting respectfully on one side he asked, "Who, Reverend Sir, will conquer, and who will be defeated?"

"Kalinga," he replied, "will win the day and Assaka will be beaten." "And what, Reverend Sir," he asked, "will be the omen for the one that conquers, and what for the one that is defeated."

"Your Excellency," he answered, "the tutelary deity of the conqueror will be a spotless white bull, and that of the other king a perfectly black bull, and the tutelary gods of the two kings will themselves fight and be severally victorious or defeated."

On hearing this Nandisena rose up and went and took the king's allies--they were about one thousand in number and all of them great warriors--and led them up a mountain close at hand and asked them saying, "Would you sacrifice your lives for our king?"

"Yes, Sir, we would," they answered.

"Then throw yourselves from this precipice," he said.

They essayed to do so, when he stopped them, saying, "No more of this. Show yourselves staunch friends of our king and make a gallant fight for him."

They all vowed to do so. And when the battle was now imminent, Kalinga came to the conclusion in his own mind that he would be victorious, and his army too thought "The victory will be ours." [6] And so they put on their armour, and forming themselves into separate detachments, they advanced just as they thought proper, and when the moment came for making a great effort, they failed to do so.

But both the kings, mounted on horseback, drew nigh to one another with the intention of fighting. And their two tutelary gods moved before them, that of Kalinga in the shape of a white bull, and that of the other king as a black bull. And as these drew nigh to one another, they too made every demonstration of fighting. But these two bulls were visible to the two kings only, and to no one else. And Nandisena asked Assaka, saying, "Your Highness, are the tutelary gods visible to you?"

"Yes," he answered, "they are."

"In what guise?" he asked.

"The guardian god of Kalinga appears in the shape of a white bull, while ours is in the form of a black bull and looks distressed."

"Fear not Sire, we shall conquer and Kalinga will be defeated. Only