15. His feet were tied upwards by a clotted cord of munja grass, and his head hung downward towards the ground beneath; and this gave him the appearance of an offshoot of the banian tree rooted in the earth below.
16. Having then after a while, approached to him at that place, I saw him to have his two folded palms affixed to his breast (as if he was intent upon the meditation of the lord, with the devoutness of his heart).
17. Advancing nearer to the body of the Bráhman, I found it to be alive by its respiration, and from its having the feeling of touch, and the perception of heat and cold, and that of the breeze and change of weather.
18. Afterwards I employed myself solely, in my attendance on that devout personage only; and underwent all the rigours of the sun and seasons, until I was received into his confidence.
19. I then asked him saying; who art thou lord, that hast thus betaken thyself to this sort of painful devotion; say, O long sighted seer, what is the aim and object of this thy protracted state of self-mortification at the peril-expense of thy precious life.
20. He then replied to my question saying:—Tell me first O devotee, what is the object of thy devotion and those of all other persons, that are devoted to the particular objects of their pursuit. (So it is useless to inquire into the aim and object of another, when there is no body without his particular end in view).
21. This he said as introductory to his speech to me; but being pressed further by my importunate inquiries, he gave the following answer to my questions.
22. I was born, said he, at Mathura where I grew up from childhood to youth in the house of my father; and acquired my knowledge of philology and the arts in course of this time.
23. I then learnt this also, that princes are the receptacles of all pleasures and enjoyments, and that it is the early bloom of youth, that is capable of the fruitions of life.
24. Since then I began to reflect on my being the possessor of the seven continents of the earth; and to foster the ardent expectation, of the gratification of all my desires of this life.