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" Then assuming his own form Sekra informed Wessantara that all the d^was and brahmas had rejoiced in the gifts he had offered ; and assuring him that he would most cer- tainly attain the Budhaship, he informed him that in seven days his relatives would come to him, together with his children, and that he would again receive the kingdom. The earth had trembled at the presenting of each gift, and Maha M^ru and the other rocks expressed their approbation. Jujaka and the children were carried a distance of sixty yojanas before night, and placed under a tree that bent its branches over them as a canopy. Two d^was came to them in the shape of their parents, and ministered to all their wants. The brahman, overawed by this occurrence, took them the next day to the house of their grandparents. The previous night Sanda had had a dream, in which he saw a man bring to him two lotus flowers. Baving assembled the brahmans learned in the four Vedas to know the meaning of this dream, they in- formed him that it betokened the coming of two children that would be to him the cause of much joy. Whilst they were speaking, the brahman approached with J&liya and Elrishn&jin^; and the king asked them whence they came. The old man intended to say some other country, lest some harm should happen to him if the truth were known ; but through the inter- V. g<5tama b<5dhisat: his viktues, etc. 127 ference of the dewas lie replied, " They were given to me as an abns-offering by Wessantara." When Sanda found that they were his grandchildren, he placed the boy upon one knee, and the girl npon the other, greatly rejoicing, and ordered many presents to be given to the brahman, who, however, from eating too mnch, died at midnight. The next day his body was bnmt npon a costly pyre. The king, without further delay, went with the children, the citizens, and a grand array of nobles and princes, to the rock Wankagiri, that they might bring back Wessantara ; who, when he heard the noise of their approach, sent the princess to the top of the rock to see whence it pro- ceeded. On seeing the procession, she informed him that their relatives had come from the city. When the prince perceived that among the elephants was the animal he had given to the king of K^inga he felt ashamed, as it had been presented in alms ; when told, however, that it had been returned by the people, as there was now plenty in the land, lie was satisfied. Thus the king Sanda, the queen Fhusati, the prince Wessantara, the princess, Madrid6wi, and their children Jdliya and Ejrishndjina, accompanied by a great multitude of people from Jayaturd and Ch6tiya, went from the rock Wan- kagiri to the city. Wessantara and the princess again received the kingdom; and after reigning in conformity with the ten precepts of kings, he was reborn in the dewaldka called Tusita. The brahman J^jaka afterwards became the prince D^wa- datta; Amitta^tdpa became the female heretic Chinchi; the brahman Acchnta became the priest Seriyut ; the d^wa Sekra became the priest Anurudha ; the king Sauja became Sudhtfdana, the father of G6tama Budha ; the queen Phusati became Ma- hamiLya-d^wi, his mother ; Madrid^wi became Tas6dhara-d6wi, his wife ; J£liya became Rdhula, his son ; Krishndjina became the priestess Upphala ; and Wessantara became Odtama Budha. VI. THE ANCESTORS OF GOTAMA BUDHA. THB FIB8T ICOKASCH, ICAHA BAHKATA. — HIS 8UCOB880BS. — THB TBBASUUBS OP THB OHAKBAWABTTI. — ^THB OKK^KA BACB. — THB 8AKYA BACB. — THB OBIOIir OF KAPII*AWA8TT7 AND OF KOLI. In this chapter, the ancestry of G6taina Budha is traced, from his father, Sudh6dana, through various individuals and races, all of royal dignity, to Maha Sammata, the first monarch of the world. Several of the names, and some of the events, are met with in the Purdnas of the Brahmans, but it is not possible to reconcile one order of statement with the other ; and it would appear that the Budhist historians have intro- duced races, and invented names, that they may invest their venerated sage with all the honors of heraldry, in addition to the attributes of divinity. Yet there may be gleams of truth in the narrative, if it were possible to separate the imaginary from the real. There are incidental occurrences that seem like fragments of tradition from the antediluvian age ; and we might find parallel legends in the lore of nearly aU nations that have records of remote antiquity. It will be observed that there are several discrepancies between the following narrative and the extract on the origin of caste, inserted in the third chapter. In the beginning of the present antah-kalpa, the monarch Maha Sanunata, of the race of the snn, received existence by the appa- ritional birth. As it was with the nnanimous consent, or appointment, sammata, of all the beings concerned, that he was anointed king, he was called Maha Sammata. The glory pro- ceeding from his body was like that of the son. By the power of irdhi he was able to seat himself in the air, without any visible support. On the four sides of his person as many d^was kept watch, with drawn swords, There was a perfume like that of VI. THE ANCESTORS OF G(5tAMA BUDHA. 129 sandal- wood, extending from his body on all sides to the distance of a jojana ; and when he spoke, a perfume like that of the lotus extended from his month to the same distance. Daring the whole of an asankya* he reigned over Jambudwipa ; and was a stranger to decay, disease, and sorrow. Indeed all the beings in the world of men were similarly situated ; they lived an asankya ; and as they committed no sin, the power of their merit freed them, from all evil. They did not regard their age ; they knew not at what period they were bom, nor when they would die ; and at this time a residence upon earth was more to be desired than in the dewa-ldkas, as the happiness of the brahmas who resided here was greater than that of the d^was. Sammata was succeeded by his son B<5ja, who reigned an asankya, and afterwards there reigned in lineal succession, Wara- r6ja, Kaly&na, Wara-kaly4na, Maha-mandhdtu-up6satba,t and Maha-mandh^tu, a chakrawartti. Each of these kings reigned an asankya. The chakrawartti;^ is a universal emperor. There are never two persons invested with this office at one time. He is bom only in an asanya kalpa ; he never appears in any sakwala but this, nor in any continent but Jambudwipa, nor in any country but Ma- gadha. He must have possessed great merit in a former state of existence. He is at first a yuwa-raja, or secondary king ; then * The ancient Egyptians had a king who reigned three mjriads of jean ; but even this period is nothing to an asankja. Satyavarta, the first of the •olar race of princes among the Hindus, reigned the whole of the satya-yug, or 1,728,000 years. Berosus informs us that the first ten kings of Chaldsea reigned 120 sari, the sarus being a period of 3600 years. Thus the ten kings give 432,000 years, the same extent as a kali-yug. t Tumour in his Examination of the Pali Budhistical Annab (Joum. As. Soc. Nov. 1838), calls the sixth monarch simply Uposatho, and on the name of the succeeding monarch he has the following note : " In the Maha- wanao I have been mi^ed by the plural Mandata, and reckoned two kings of that name. I see by the tika explanation that the name should be in the singidar. The twenty-eight rajas who Uved for an asankheyyan included therefore Maha Sammato." { *' A chakra-vartti is one in whom the chakra, the discus of Vishnu, abides (varttate) ; such a figure being delineated by the lines of the hand. The grammatical etymology is. He who abides in, or rules over, an extensive territory, called a chakra." — Wilson's Vishnu Pur&na. The ancient kings not unfrequently laid claim to universal empire. " Thus saith Cyrus, kmg of Persia, The Lord Gh>d of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth." — Ezra i, 2 ; Judith ii. 1. The Boman empire, as well as others tliat preceded it, was called oicov/xevi}, " the world." — Luke ii. 1. The same spirit still lives in the seven-hilled city, and the same pretensions are set forth ! but it is ii) vain ; as no chakrawartti will be permitted to appear, until the sceptre of Jesus Christ shall be extended over all nations. 130 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. the monarcli of one continent only ; and afterwards of all the four continents. There are seven most precious things that he possesses. 1. The chakraratna, or magical discus. 2. The hasti- ratna, or elephant. 3. The aswa-ratna, or horse. 4.