"I listen to the bidding of these sages great and wise:
My heart is bent to good intent, no counsel I despise.

"Elephant troops and chariotmen, guard royal, infantry--
I took no toll of daily dole, but paid them all their fee.

"Great nobles and wise counsellors waiting on me are found;
With food, wine, water (so they boast) Benares doth abound.

[135] "Thus merchants prosper, and from many a realm they come and go,
And I protect them. Now the truth, Uposatha, you know."

Prince Uposatha listened to this account of his character, and then repeated two stanzas:

"Then be above your kith and kin, and rule in righteousness,
So wise and prudent, Samvara, your brethren you shall bless.

"Your treasure-heaps your brethren will defend, and you shall be
Safe from your foes as Indra's self from his arch enemy ."

[136] King Samvara gave great honour to all his brothers. They remained with him a month and half a month; then they said to him, "Great King, we would go and see if there be any brigands afoot in our provinces; all happiness to your rule!" They departed each to his province. And the king abode by the admonition of the Bodhisatta, and at the end of his days went to swell the hosts of heaven.

The Master, having finished this discourse, added, "Long ago, Brother, you followed instruction, and why do you not now sustain your effort?" Then he declared the Truths and identified the Birth: (now at the conclusion of the Truths this Brother was established in the fruit of the First Path:) "At that time this Brother was the great king Samvara, Sariputta was Prince Uposatha, the Elders and secondary Elders were the other brothers, the Buddha's followers were their followers, and I myself was the courtier who advised the king."

Footnotes

^82:1 This last incident is an addition to the narrative in the Ramayana, ii. 115, nor is it found in Tulsi Das' Hindi version.

^82:2 Kambugivo: three folds on the neck, like shell-spirals, were a token of luck.

^82:3 Gotama Buddha's father and mother.

^82:4 Gotama Buddha's wife.

^83:1 An arhat is called apado, sc. devoid of conditions for rebirth, such as human passion, desire, karma, kleca, &c. (Childers, p. 313); padaparamo seems to mean the opposite.

^83:2 The quotation should include Jetavanam. gantva, as is shown by line 7.

^85:1 The King of the Asuras or Titans.