The president, addressing again the assembly, requested them to designate him who, in their opinion, appeared to be best fitted for answering all questions on the third part of the sacred scriptures, the Abidama. They unanimously selected the venerable Anooroudha. When the choice had been fixed upon and agreed to, Anooroudha accepted the honour conferred on him, rose from his seat and saluted his brethren. He then gravely ascended the pulpit, sat down, and held the ivory fan in his hand.
The president questioned him on the seven divisions of the Abidama, following the same order he had observed previously in treating of the two first parts called Pitagat. The occupant of the pulpit having returned due answers, and the assembly having testified their approbation in a unanimous manner, the council was brought to a close. It had lasted seven months, from the full moon of Wakhaong to the full moon of Tabaong.[31]
The first council is called Pitzasatika Sangarana, because it was composed of five hundred religious. It is also named Terika-sangarana, because it was composed of religious of the first order. The soul of Kathaba, at the happy conclusion of this important undertaking, overflowed with the purest joy. He felt that with such a work the religious institutions rested on a strong basis, and would last the whole period of 5000 years assigned to the duration of religion by Gaudama himself.
It was at the conclusion of the council that King Adzatathat, with the concurrence of the Buddhist patriarch, did away with the Eetzana era, and substituted the religious era beginning in the year 148 of the said era; that is to say, on the year of Gaudama’s death, on a Monday, the first of the waxing moon of Tabaong.
Here is inserted, as a genealogical link, the names of the kings who reigned at Pataliputra, from Adzatathat to Kalathoka, under whose reign the second council was held.
Agreeably to the prediction of Gaudama respecting the calamities that were to befall Wethalie on the third year of the religious era, Adzatathat, having contrived to sow, through the instrumentality of a famous pounha, the seed of dissension among the princes of that city, flung himself on a sudden with a large force on the devoted city, possessed himself of it, and totally destroyed it. On his return to his own territories, the conqueror carried away as captives three hundred of the princes and nobles of the conquered state. His reign lasted altogether thirty-five years. He died in the year 25 of the religious era. He was slain by his own son Oudaia-badda, who succeeded him and reigned until the year 40. He was in his turn murdered by his son Anoorouda, who also fell after a short reign by the hand of his son and successor, Manta. This prince reigned until the year 49. He met with a similar tragical end. His son Nagata-saka killed him and ascended the throne. He reigned until the year 53. The people of Pataliputra, justly shocked at the horrible and barbarous murders which incessantly sullied the very steps of the throne, revolted against the race of these bloody princes, and put an end to the line of kings who are aptly called the parricide kings.
Among the three hundred princes and nobles whom Adzatathat had brought over from Wethalie, one of them had a daughter remarkable for the attractions of her person and the accomplishments of her mind. She was by the order of the king raised to the position of a courtezan in Radzagio. Whilst engaged in that course she had a male child, whom, with unnatural feelings, she ordered to be thrown during the night into the midst of bushes, outside the city. A Naga guardian of the place watched over the infant and carefully protected him. On the following morning, the king, happening to pass by, heard the sound thoo-thoo many times repeated. It was the Naga who made this noise in order to attract his attention. The king having sent one of his officers to the spot the sound was coming from, was informed that an infant still alive was lying there under the guard of a Naga. Moved with compassion, he ordered the child to be forwarded to his palace and had him carefully brought up. On account of the sound thoo-thoo which had been heard, and of the Naga that had been met on the spot, the child was named Thoo-thoo-naga. He grew up and became an accomplished prince. The people, who had rid themselves of the line of parricide kings, unanimously proclaimed him king in 63.
That monarch, not unmindful of his mother’s origin, re-established the city of Wethalie, and fixed in it the royal residence. From that time Radzagio lost her rank of royal city, which she never after recovered. He died in 81, and was succeeded by his son Kalathoka, who, as we shall see subsequently, had a long reign of twenty-eight years.
We must show now how there has ever been a regular and uninterrupted succession of eminent doctors, who have successively communicated to each other the genuine doctrine, from Buddha down to the time of the third council, that is to say, during more than two hundred years. The venerable Oopali had learned the Wini at the feet of Buddha himself, and had for his chief pupil the venerable Dantaka, who in his turn became the teacher of the venerable Thaunaka. The latter was the instructor of the venerable Seiggiwa, who also brought up in the knowledge of the true doctrine the venerable and renowned Mauggalipatta. Dantaka belonged, by birth, to the pounha race of Wethalie. Having become a patzin, he attained to so great a proficiency in the religious science, that Oopali appointed him the instructor of a thousand religious in the three Pitagats. Thaunaka was the son of a rich merchant. He became a convert to Buddhism, and entered as a religious at Radzagio. His remarkable mental attainments induced his superior to give him the charge of initiating others into the knowledge of the sacred doctrines. Seiggiwa was the son of a nobleman of Pataliputra. On a certain day he went with many companions into the monastery of Thaunaka, and found him in a state of trance. The young visitor wondered at what he saw. From admiration he passed to respect and love, and wished to become a disciple under him. He succeeded so well in his studies that he merited to become the master of the most celebrated of all, Mauggalipatta. Previous to his present existence, the latter was in one of the seats of Brahmas. He was incarnated in the womb of a pounha woman. When he was born, he grew up and showed a decided inclination to become a Buddhist, and tread in the footsteps of Gaudama. It was in 163 that the future president of the third council became a patzin.