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Budha reflected, " Were I to send forth a blast, it would bum up the universe, as though it were only a cobweb ; nevertheless, I 0 194 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. must try to bring clown this serpeDt's pride." Accordingly, he sent forth a fiery vapour, as from a burning wisp of straw, but it would not hurt an ant or a fly ; and when it approached the naya, he felt the pain of sorrow, but the flesh of his body re- ceived no injury. The nayd. sent forth a flame to destroy Budha ; but he made a flame seven times more powerful, and subdued the nayd. The light was perceived by Uruwel, and he said that G6tama must have perished from not attending to his advice. When Budha had overcome the nay4, he put it in his alms-bowl, after extracting its poison. The next morning he called Uruwel, and told him to look at the nayi about whicli they had boasted so much the day previous ; and when he saw- it in the alms-bowl, its attention was directed towards Budha, as if ashamed. The brothers said that he might subdue the nayd, but that still he was not a rahat. At another time, Budha was not far from the residence of Uruwel, when the four guardian dewas came and kept watch around him ; and he, like a golden ddgoba surrounded by lamps, said bana to them. The next morning Uruwel asked him tho meaning of the bright shining at the four quarters when he said bana, and was informed it was the four guardian d6was, who had come to listen. But the brothers were not yet convinced that he was a rahat equal to themselves, though Sekra and Maha Brahma came to do him homage, and hear bana. One day great multitudes came from Anga and Magadha, with offerings for Uruwel, who thought if the people were to see Budha, they would liken him and his brothers to monkeys, and therefore wished that he would not come in their direction that • day. Budha knew his thoughts, and as he was desirous to bring him into the right way, he went to receive a repast in Uturukukuru, and drank water from the Anotatta lake, returning on the third day. Uruwel then invited him to pay him a visit, as he said that he had just received a great number of offerings, and enquired where he had been the two previous days. Budha replied, " I know the thoughts of all, from the lowest being to Maha Brahma ; what has passed through your mind is open to me ; you may deceive others, but me you cannot deceive." About the same period, Budha received the ofiering of a robe, and when he reflected where it should be washed, Sekra instantly caused a pool of water to appear, with two stones, one for VII. LEGENDS OF GCJTAMA BUDHA. 195 the robe to be beaten against, and the other for it to be dried upon ; and when the sage descended into the water, a d6wa brought the branch of a tree upon which he laid hold. Thus assisted, he washed the robe ; and the assistance he had received was known to Uruwel. On another occasion, he was invited by Umwel to eat rice with him. Budha told him to go, and he won Id follow. In the interval he went to the forest of Himala, plucked a leaf from the jambu tree that is 100 yojanas high, and arrived at the residence before Uruwel. The fire-worshipper enquired how it was that he had arrived first, when Budha told him where he had been in the mean time ; but said that this was nothing, aa in the same period he could have gone round the sakwala gala a hundred thousand times. Another day Budha fetched two flowers, one from the forest of Himala, and the other from the garden of Sekra, and showed to Uruwel ; but he said that though he could not, like GcStama, go useless journeys, he knew a road that Q6tama did not know, the road to nirwina ; and after all that he had seen, he would not confess the superiority of Budha. One day Uruwel went with his 500 disciples to make prepara- tion for a fire offering, and all at the same instant attempted to cleave the wood that was required ; but Budha caused the wood not to cleave. The axes of some seemed like lead, and others like pitch : and some lifted up their axes and were unable to bring them down again. They concluded that it was the work of Budha. Then the sage looked in the face of Uruwel, and ordained that the wood should cleave ; and before the axes could be brought down, the wood clove of its own accord. The jdtis at another time intended to make an offering, but Budha would not allow the fire to bum though the smoke continued ; and when they perspired with fear, he asked them if they wished the fire to bum, upon which the fire at once burnt brightly without their interference. When they wanted to put out the fire they could not ; they brought water, but it acted like oil, and made it blaze more fiercely. Budha afterwards extinguished it in a . moment. At another time, after the jdtis had bathed, they were seized with a cold shivering ; but Budha caused a fire to approach each of them, by which they were warmed. Again, out of the usual season there was a great rain ; the waters over- flowed ; but when they approached Budha, they gathered round 0 2 196 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. bim like a silver wall. Umwel went in a boat, thinking to rescne him ; but found bim in the manner described. Bndba reflected, that from the time of the subduing of the nay& be bad performed 3516 wonders: but that still the scepticism of the Are worshippers continued. He then said bana, and at once Uruwel was overcome ; he confessed that Gotama was Budha, and entered the path sowdni The disciples of Uruwel, and bis two brothers, with their disciples, followed his example. Then Budha went to the rock Gdya, at the bead of the Gdya river, and delivered the disco Qrse called Adittapariyd-stitra, by which the thousand priests became rahats. 9. Bimasara, king of Bajagaha, becomes a Disciple of Budha. To fulfil the promise that he had given to Bimsara, Budha went to the forest of Yashti, twelve miles from Rajagaha, where be remained at the foot of a tree. The king was informed of bis arrival by a forester, and with a retinue of 120,000 nobles, went to visit him. When the nobles saw Uruwel, who was as famous among them as the banner of the city, they knew not whether he or Budha was the superior, but G6tama looked in his face, and asked why he had forsaken the fire- worshippers ; in answer to which, he rose into the air, by the power of dhydna, did reverence to Budha, and after performing many wonders, declared to the nobles that Budha was like the sun whilst he was like the fire-fly, by many other comparisons setting forth his own infe- riority. Then the ruler of the world repeated the first jataka, called Mah&ndrada-ldLsyapa. It was to this effect : — There was a king in Miyula,* called Angdti, who bad a daughter, Ruch&. At first he lived correctly, but one day he heard some false teachers ; who declared that there is no future world, and that the whole man at death is resolved into the four elements, the aqueous particles returning to water, the fiery particles to fire, and so forth ; after which he thought it was better to enjoy the present moment ; and he therefore became cruel, and ceased to give alms. The daughter, who was able to see the events of the fourteen preceding births, went to the king ; and when he asked * Miyulu, or Mithila, is the modem Tirhut. The Eilmdyans places a grince named Mithi between Nimi and Janaka, whence comes the name rithila. — ^Wilson's Vishnu Furdna. VIL LEGENDS OF G(5tAMA BUDHA. lU? if all things were provided for her that she required, she said " Yes ; " and then requested the king to give het a thousand masurans, as the next day was a festival, and she wished to make an offering. But the king replied that as there is no future world, no reward of merit, it was better to enjoy herself in the present life. Ruchd then related what had occurred to her in former births, and the reason why she was now ouly u woman. Fourteen births, previously she was a nobleman, but an adulterer. In the next birth she was again a noble, through the power of previous merit, and gave much alms. But when she died, she had to leave the merit thus acquired, like a mine of wealth hidden in the ground, and for her previous demerit she was bom in the Bowra hell, where she remained 2880 kdtis of years.