Page:Gospel of Buddha.djvu/133

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

wandered from place to place, he came at last to Benares, and lived there with his consort in a potter's dwelling outside the town.15

"And the queen bore him a son and they called him Dīghāvu.16

"When Dīghāvu had grown up, the king thought to himself: 'King Brahmadatta has done us great harm, and he is fearing our revenge; he will seek to kill us. Should he find us he will slay all three of us.' And he sent his son away, and Dīghāvu having received a good education from his father, applied himself diligently to learn all arts, becoming very skilful and wise.17

"At that time the barber of king Dīghīti dwelt at Benares, and he saw the king, his former master, and, being of an avaricious nature, betrayed him to King Brahmadatta.18

"When Brahmadatta, the king of Kāsi, heard that the fugitive king of Kosala and his queen, unknown and in disguise, were living a quiet life in a potter's dwelling, he ordered them to be bound and executed; and the sheriff to whom the order was given seized king Dīghīti and led him to the place of execution.19

"While the captive king was being led through the streets of Benares he saw his son who had returned to visit his parents, and, careful not to betray the presence of his son, yet anxious to communicate to him his last advice, he cried: 'O Dīghāvu, my son! Be not far-sighted, be not near-sighted, for not by hatred is hatred appeased; hatred is appeased by not-hatred only.'20

"The king and queen of Kosala were executed, but Dīghāvu their son bought strong wine and made the guards drunk. When the night arrived he laid the bodies of his parents upon a funeral pyre and burned them with all honors and religious rites.21

"When king Brahmadatta heard of it, he became afraid, for he thought, 'Dīghāvu, the son of king Dīghīti, is a

105