desirous of solitary retirement, was sitting with crossed legs in his garden on the border of a pond of lotuses. That spot was beset by fair and fine trees bent down by the weight of their flowers; swarms of bees were humming; a gentle, fresh, and odoriferous wind was blowing agreeably. Suddenly Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, presented himself before the king. Being asked who he was, he answered:
32 a. 'I am Sakra, the Lord of the Devas, I have come to you.'
Thereupon the king welcomed him and said that he waited for his orders. After being thus complimented, he again addressed the king:
32 b. 'Choose some boon, holy prince (râgarshi); say on what thou desirest.'
Now the king being ever wont to give, and having never trodden the way of miserable begging, in conformity with his astonishment and his lofty mind spoke to him:
33, 34. 'Great is my wealth, Sakra, my army is large and strong; my blindness, however, makes death welcome to me. It is impossible for me, after supplying the wants of the mendicants, to see their faces brightened by gladness and joy; for this reason, O Indra, I love death now.'
Sakra said: 'No more of that resolution! Only virtuous persons come in such a state as thine. But this thou must tell me:
35. 'It is the mendicants who have caused thee to come in this state; how is it that thy mind is occupied with them even now? Say on! do not hide the truth from me and thou mayst take the way to immediate cure[1].'
The king replied: 'Why dost thou insist upon my boasting myself? Hear, however, Lord of the Devas.
- ↑ This way is the Act of Truth, as Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, 197, calls it. In the Pâli Gâtaka, Sakka invites the king to it in plain terms. Other instances of the sakkakiriyâ, as it is styled in Pâli, will occur in Stories XIV, XV, XVI.
