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The d^was who had remained hid among the sakwala rocks now lifted up their heads to see what was going on ; and exclaimed in fear, " This day the glory of Sidhiirtta disappears; Mdra has thrown the discus!" But when Mara saw that he could not shake the prince by the power of this formidable weapon, he went in front of him, burning with anger Hke the fire at the end of a kalpa, and rolling round his red eyes he took his thousand weapons into his thousand hands, and brandishing them before the prince, he said, " I will take thee by thy two legs, and hurl thee into the next sakwala ; begone from my throne !'* When former B6dhisats received the Bndhaship, the M&raa who came to oppose them saw at once the glory of their sacred mouth (which extended to the sakwala gala), trembled, and were overcome. But upon the present occasion, M&ra had an advantage not possessed by his predecessors in the same struggle. For this there was a cause. In the Wessantara birth, B6dhisat gave away his children, Jdli and EIrishniljina, to the brahman JtiJ£ika, who beat them until they bled, and in other ways used Vn. LEGENDS OF GdTAMA BUDHA. 181 them craelly. On account of those hardships, KrishnAjini looked np snbmifisiyely in her father's face, weeping; at which he felt exceedingly sorrowful, from the strength of his parental afiEection, and began to consider whether he should not by force take his children again< It was on account of this hesitancy that Mira now received power to approach the b6-tree, and say with a tremendous voice, "Begone from my throne!" Not- withstanding this stem command, the prince had no fear ; he answered with a smile, speaking in a sweet voice from his lotus- like mouth, " Sinful Mara ! to gain this throne I have practised the p&ramitds during four asankyas and a kap-laksha. I am therefore the rightful owner of this throne. How canst thou possess it, who hast never accomplished a single pdramitd ? '* When he said this, Mdra became still more enraged, like a fire into which oil is poured, and replied, " I have given more in alms than thou hast given : I have accomplished more pdramit&s. The prince asked, " Where are your witnesses ? " on which Mdra stretched out his thousand arms towards his attendant army, and said, " Here are my witnesses P " Then the warriors re- plied, " We are witnesses ; we are witnesses ! " lifting up their bands at the same time ; and the sound was enough to cleave the earth ; it was like the roar of the sea, and struck the brahma-loka. Mdra proceeded, " Oh, prince SidhiLrtta ! so great an army has become witness that I have accomplished the pAra- mit^ ; that you have fulfilled them, produce a single witness." " Your witnesses," replied the prince, " are alive and partial ; mine are not alive, and they are without any partiality ; " and like lightning launched from a red cloud, he stretched forth his hand from his robe. He said further, " When it was announced by Dipankara Budha that in due time I should become a Budha, and I was reflecting on the accomplishment of the thirty p4ra- mitiB, the ten thousand sakwalas cried aloud ; and thou thyself didst say, Sadhu ! Leaving out the other births, in the Wes- santra birth, when I was eight years of age and determined to offer an alms ; when I gave the elephants, and 700 of all the articles that I possessed, and went from the city to the rock of Wankagiri, and gave my children, and my queen Mandri dewi, and the sl^ower of yfatier lilies fell ; at these sev^en periods thou thyself didst cry out (in approbation.) Why did not the earth cry out at the utterance of thy lying witnesses P" At the same 182 A MANUAX OF BUDHISM. time lie stretclied out hia liand toward the earth ; and the earth gave out a hundred and a thousand sounds at the same instant, like the striking of a drum the size of a sakwala with a stick the size of Maha Meru. Then the earth opened, and mountains of fire rose up from the 136 hells, and the army of M&ra fled away with a great noise, like leaves driven by the wind, each in a dif- ferent direction. They threw down their ornaments and weapons, and their outer garments ; and covering their faces with both hands, without looking at , their leader, they went ofE in great trepidation. The elephant, Girim^khala, fell upon his knees, trembled with fear, throw down Mdra from his back, curled up his trunk and thrust the end into his mouth, put his tail between his legs, growled fiercely, and without looking at his master, fled away. When the d^wa fell to the ground, bereft of his thousand wea- pons, he exclaimed, " Oh, prince Sidhdrtta, I perceive that thou 9Jrt powerful, and that thou art glorious ; thou hast fulfllled the thirty paramitis ; I will proclaim thy courage to the world ; I will proclaim, thy power ; forgive, forgive ! " Three times did he make this exclamation, after which he fled to his own world ; but being ashamed to look at his attendants, he lay down and concealed his face.* The d6was of this sakwala now called out to the dewas of the next, *' Mdra is overcome, and has fled ; our prince Sidhartta is conqueror ! '' The nitgas of this sakwala called out to those in the next ; as weU as the garundas and brahmas. The Sekras of the 10,000 sakwalas, the Maha Brahmas, nilgas, garundas, supamnas, and other beings, brought celestial flowers and per- fumes ; and assembling around the prince, they put their hands to their foreheads, and made obeisance. As Mdra was unable to bear the ridicule that the d^was heaped upon him on account of his discomfiture, he arose from his couch, and came to a certain place in Jambudwipa, where he assumed the appearance of a traveller ; but hii^ mind was still filled with sorrow, as he reflected that notwithstanding all his opposition, the prince had become Budha, and would in a little time preach the bana, by which many beings would obtain nir- w&na. Whilst indulging these reflections he made ten marks * In the Pur&Das there is an aooonnt of a battle between Durga and a giant called Durgu, which bears a considerable resemblance to this legend of the contest between the prince Sidhartta and Mara. vn. LEGENDS OF gcJtabia budha. 183 apon the ground, as tliere were ten tilings that were presented to his mind ; and as he tried to reckon np the many hundreds of thousands of ways in which he was inferior to Bndha, the marks were extended to twelve. When Tanh^, E>ati, and Ranga, the daughters of Mara, perceived that their father had vanished from the d6wa-16ka, they looked with their divine eyes to see whither he had gone ; and when they had discovered the place of his retreat, they went to him in the snapping of a finger, and enquired why he was so disconsolate. Having learnt the cause, they told him to become cheerful, as they themselves would overcome the prince ; and when M4ra replied that their attempts would be in vain, they said that there was no being whatever who could withstand their wiles even for a single moment. They then transformed themselves into 600 beautiful maidens, of different ages, their dress being arranged in the most wanton manner. Approaching the prince, they praised the beauty of his person, and asked why he remained under the tree ; had he no queen, or had he quarrelled with her, or was it to meet some one whom he loved that he had come to this spot P But Sid- hartta remained unmoved. Tanhd continued to praise his beauty, and to flatter him ; and when this was to no purpose, she reminded him that at other times he had sought the enjoy- ment of what he now refused. But Budha did not even look at the tempters, and after they had long tried to overcome him without effect, they fled away. 5. The Reception of the Budhaship, The sun had not gone down, when the prince overcame Mdra. At the tenth hour, he received the wisdom by which he knew the exact circumstances of all the beings who have ever existed in the endless .