[Footnote 7: Their speech was somewhat unconnected, but natural enough
in the circumstances. Compare the whole account with the narrative in 1
Samuel v. about the Ark and Dagon, that "twice-battered god of
Palestine.">[
CHAPTER XXI
~The Three Predecessors of S‚kyamuni~
Fifty li to the west of the city brings the traveller to a town named Too-wei, the birthplace of K‚syapa Buddha. At the place where he and his father met, and at that where he attained to pari-nirv‚na, topes were erected. Over the entire relic of the whole body of him, the K‚syapa Tath‚gata, a great tope was also erected.
Going on southeast from the city of Sr‚vasti for twelve yojanas, the travellers came to a town named Na-pei-ke‚, the birthplace of Krakuchanda Buddha. At the place where he and his father met, and at that where he attained to pari-nirv‚na, topes were erected. Going north from here less than a yojana, they came to a town which had been the birthplace of Kanakamuni Buddha. At the place where he and his father met, and where he attained to pari-nirv‚na, topes were erected.
CHAPTER XXII
~Legends of Buddha's Birth~
Less than a yojana to the east from this brought them to the city of Kapilavastu; but in it there was neither king nor people. All was mound and desolation. Of inhabitants there were only some monks and a score or two of families of the common people. At the spot where stood the old palace of king Suddhodana there have been made images of his eldest son and his mother; and at the places where that son appeared mounted on a white elephant when he entered his mother's womb, and where he turned his carriage round on seeing the sick man after he had gone out of the city by the eastern gate, topes have been erected. The places were also pointed out where the rishi ¬-e inspected the marks of Buddhaship on the body of the heir-apparent when an infant; where, when he was in company with Nanda and others, on the elephant being struck down and drawn on one side, he tossed it away; [1] where he shot an arrow to the southeast, and it went a distance of thirty li, then entering the ground and making a spring to come forth, which men subsequently fashioned into a well from which travellers might drink; where, after he had attained to Wisdom, Buddha returned and saw the king, his father; where five hundred S‚kyas quitted their families and did reverence to Up‚li [2] while the earth shook and moved in six different ways; where Buddha preached his Law to the devas, and the four deva kings and others kept the four doors of the hall, so that even the king, his father, could not enter; where Buddha sat under a nyagrodha tree, which is still standing, with his face to the east, and his aunt Mah‚-praj‚pati presented him with a Sangh‚li; and where king VaidŻrya slew the seed of S‚kya, and they all in dying became Srot‚pannas. [3] A tope was erected at this last place, which is still existing.
Several li northeast from the city was the king's field, where the heir-apparent sat under a tree, and looked at the ploughers.
Fifty li east from the city was a garden, named LumbinÓ, where the queen entered the pond and bathed. Having come forth from the pond on the northern bank, after walking twenty paces, she lifted up her hand, laid hold of a branch of a tree, and, with her face to the east, gave birth to the heir-apparent. When he fell to the ground, he immediately walked seven paces. Two dragon-kings appeared and washed his body. At the place where they did so, there was immediately formed a well, and from it, as well as from the above pond, where the queen bathed, the monks even now constantly take the water, and drink it.