There are also companies of the followers of Devadatta still existing. They regularly make offerings to the three previous Buddhas, but not to Śâkyamuni Buddha.[23]
Four le south-east from the city of Śrâvastî, a tope has been erected at the place where the World-honoured one encountered king Virûdhaha,[24] when he wished to attack the kingdom of Shay-e,[24] and took his stand before him at the side of the road.[25]
[1] In Singhalese, Sewet; here evidently the capital of Kośala. It is placed by Cunningham (archæological Survey) on the south bank of the Rapti, about fifty-eight miles north of Ayodyâ or Oude. There are still the ruins of a great town, the name being Sâhet Mâhat. It was in this town, or in its neighbourhood, that Śâkyamuni spent many years of his life after he became Buddha.
[2] There were two Indian kingdoms of this name, a southern and a northern. This was the northern, a part of the present Oudh.
[3] In Singhalese, Pase-naḍi, meaning ‘leader of the victorious army.’ He was one of the earliest converts and chief patrons of Śâkyamuni. Eitel calls him (p. 95) one of the originators of Buddhist idolatory, because of the statue which is mentioned in this chapter. See Hardy’s M. B., pp. 283, 284, et al.
[4] Explained by ‘Path of Love,’ and ‘Lord of Life.’ Prajâpatî was aunt and nurse of Śâkyamuni, the first woman admitted to the monkhood, and the first superior of the first Buddhistic convent. She is yet to become a Buddha.
[5] Sudatta, meaning ‘almsgiver,’ was the original name of Anâtha-piṇḍika (or Piṇḍada), a wealthy householder, or Vaiśya head, of Śrâvastî, famous for his liberality (Hardy, Anepidu). Of his old house, only the well and walls remained at the time of Fâ-hien’s visit to Śrâvastî.
[6] The Aṅgulimâlya were a sect or set of Śivaitic fanatics, who made assassination a religious act. The one of them here mentioned had joined them by the force of circumstances. Being converted by Buddha, he became a monk; but when it is said in the text that he ‘got the Tâo,’ or doctrine, I think that expression implies more than his conversion, and is equivalent to his becoming an Arhat. His name in Pâli is Aṅgulimâla. That he did become an Arhat is clear from his autobiographical poem in the ‘Songs of the Theras.’
[7] Eitel (p. 37) says:—‘A noted vihâra in the suburbs of Śrâvastî, erected in a park which Anâtha-piṇḍika bought of prince Jeta, the son of Prasenajit. Śâkyamuni made this place his favourite residence for many years. Most of the Sûtras (authentic and supposititious) date from this spot.’
[8] See [chapter xvii].