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The oldest of them soon afterwards died ; when his son^ Kondanya, became an ascetic, and went to Isipatana, in the forest of Uruwela, where he determined to remain until the prince became Budha; but when he went to call the sons of the other brahmans, and reminded them of the advice given them by their fathers, only four of them, Bhaddaji, Wappa, Mahanami, and Assaji, were willing to accompany him to the forest. The 80,000 relatives of the prince who were present on the day that he was named, reflected that if he became a Chakrawartti he would require a retinue ; and that if he were a Budha, he would be attended by royal priests ; so that in either case their children might through him obtain great advantG^es. They therefore sent their sons to be educated with him as his com- panions. In order to procure a proper nurse for his son, Sudhddana assembled the princesses of the two cities of Kapilawastu and K6li. She was not to be too tall, or the neck of the infant would be stretched : nor too short, or his body would be bent ; nor too large, or his legs would be contracted ; nor too weak, or his body would not acquire firmness ; nor of too full a habit, or * It was not unusual to recognise persons of superior power, or divine beings^ by particular marks or signs. Twenty-nine signs were required in the bull that was chosen as the god Apis, the knowledge of which was regarded as a secret to be imparted only to the priests. t The establisher. — Tumour. Vn. LEGENDS OF G<iTAMA BUDHA. 153 her milk would be Hot, and cause his skin to become red ; nor of too dark a complexion, or her milk would be cold, and cause his flesh to be in lumps, in some parts hard and in others soft. A hundred princesses* were chosen, free from these faults. Five months after the birth of Sidhdrtta there was a festival, at which the king was accustomed to hold the plough. With the rest of the rojal household, the prince was taken to the field where a couch was prepared for him with a canopy of many colours, under the thick foliage of a damba tree ; and around this place curtains were hung, and a guard appointed to keep watch. The king was richly attired, and attended by a thousand nobles. At this festival all the people were accustomed to attend, in the gayest dresses, and with every token of pleasure. About a thousand ploughs start at once ; of these, 108 are made of silver, and the horns of the bullocks that draw them are tipped with silver, and adorned with white flowers ; but the plough held by the king is of gold, and the horns of the buUooks attached are also tipped with gold. The king takes the handle of the plough in his left hand, and a golden goad in his right ; and the nobles do the same with their ploughs and goads of silver. The king makes one farrow, passing from east to west ; the nobles make three ! and the rest of the ploughmen then contend with each other who shall perform their work in the best manner. On the day that Sudh6dana went to the field, the sight that was presented was extremely beautiful, as the ploughmen and drivers were dressed in garments of the gayest colonrs ; gold and silver flags were seen, and banners, fans, vessels, and caskets; so that it seemed like a sky studded with shining stars. The one hun- dred nurses of the prince went outside the curtain, that was placed around him, attracted by the splendour of the sight. When Bddhisat saw that he was left alone, he arose from his couch by the power of dndpdna-smerti-bhiLwand, and ascended into the air, where he sat at a little distance from the ground, without any support. The nurses, on returning, saw him in this position ; and running to the l^ing they said, '* Sire, this is the manner of your festival ; but come and see the festival that is kept by the prince." No sooner did the monarch receive this inti*- mation, than he went to the place ; and as be approached the tree * Borne authorities say that the prince had sixty-four nurses, each of -whom gare milk for a single day ; and CHoma EiirOsi says thirty-two. 154 A MANUAL OF BUDHI8M. he perceived that the shadows caused by the sun's rajs were not slanting, as they ought to have been from the early hour of the morning, but directly perpendicular, as if the sun were then in the zenith ; by which means the spot was shaded in which the prince was placed. When the king saw his son sitting in the air, he wept with joy, and placing his feet upon his head, for the second time worshipped him,* saying, " Had your royal mother been here, and seen you, she would have made an offering to you of her life ; but now that I am left alone, why do you exhibit to me these wonders ?" Like the moon gradually increasing the prince continued to grow until he was seven years of age, when Wiswakarmma, the architect of the d^was, at the command of Sekra, made for him a magnificent bath, filled with water ex- ceedingly cold. When Sidhirtta was twelve years old, the king assembled the brahmans, and enquired from what cause it would be, that he would become an ascetic ; and they informed the king that he wonld see four things, viz., decrepitude, sickness, a dead body, and a recluse, which would induce him to leave the palace and retire to the forest. The king said^ '* I do not wish my son to become a Budha ; as by so doing he will be exposed to great dangers from Wasawartti Mara and the yakas ; I had rather that he were a Chakrawartti, as he will then be able to pass through the air, and visit the four continents." To prevent the prince from seeing the four signs that the brahmans had enu- merated, Sudh6dana commanded that they should be kept at a distance from him, and caused three palaces to be built, called Bamma, Suramma, and Subha, suited to the three seasons of the year.t They were all of the same height ; but the first had nine stories, the second seven, and the third five. On all sides, extending to the distance of four miles, guards were placed; * '' One day the father of Thomas H Becket came to see his son, and when the hoy was introduced into the presence of his father and the prior, the father prostrated himself at his feet. At seeing this the prior said in anger, ' What are you about, you foolish old man ; your son ought to fall down at your feet, not you at his ! ' But the father afterwards said to the prior in private, * I was quite aware, my lord, of the nature of what I was doing ; for that boy of mine will one day or other be great in the sight of the Lo^." — Giles's Thomas k Becket. t The three capitals of Persia, Susa, Babylon, and Eobatana, each enjoyed every year the privilege of being for a certain period the residence of the monarch. The spring was spent at Ecbatana, the three summer months at Susa, the autumn and winter in Babylon. vn. LEGENDS OF g6tama budha. 155 that the dreaded objects might not be permitted to come near him. 2. Ths MarricLge of Odtama, cmd his suhsequettt ahcmdonmerU of the World. When the prince attained his sixteenth year,* his father, Sabh6dana, sent to Supra-bndha, king of Koli, to demand in marriage his daughter, Yas6dhara-d^wi ; but that monarch thought that as Sidhdrtta was to become a reclase, his daughter would soon be left a widow ; and he therefore refused to send her to Kapilawastu. The princess, however, firmly declared that even if Sidhixtta were to become a recluse on the day after his marriage, there was no one else in the world to whom she would be united. When the prince was made acquainted with the opposition of Supra-budha, and with the reason upon which it was founded, he said that he had no wish to receive the kingdom though its rejection would include the loss of Yas6dhar4 as his wife. But as Sudh6dana was the lord paramount of the Sakya race, he went to K6H, and notwithstanding the displeasure of her father, brought away the princess, with much state. On his return to Kapilawastu, after this successful expedition, he ap- pointed Yasddhard to be the principal queen of Sidhartta ; and placing them upon a mound of silver, he poured the oil of con- secration upon them from three conches, one of gold, another of sOver, and the third a shell opening to the right hand ; after which he bound upon their heads the royal diadem, and delivered over to them the whole of his kingdom.