Page Text
________________
12
THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA.
1, 17.
Arahats vanished from the summit of the Yugandhara mountain, and appeared in the heaven of the Thirty-three.
17. And Sakka, the king of the gods, beheld those brethren of the Order as they were coming from afar. And at the sight of them he went up to the venerable Assagutta, and bowed down before him, and stood reverently aside. And so standing he said to him : 'Great, reverend Sir, is the company of the brethren that has come. What is it that they want? I am at the service of the Order. What can I do for you?'
And the venerable Assagutta replied: 'There is, O king, in India, in the city of Sagala, a king named Milinda. As a disputant he is hard to equal, harder still to overcome, he is the acknowledged superior of all the founders of the various schools of thought. He is in the habit of visiting the members of the Order and harassing them by questions of speculative import.'
Then said Sakka, the king of the gods, to him : 'That same king Milinda, venerable one, left this condition to be born as a man. And there dwells in the mansion Ketumati a god, Mahasena by name, who is able to hold converse with him and to resolve his doubts. [7] That god we will beseech to suffer himself to be reborn into the world of men.'
18. So Sakka, the king of the gods, preceded by the Order, entered the Ketumati mansion; and when he had embraced Mahâsena the god, he said to him : 'The Order of the brethren, Lord, makes this request of you—to be reborn into the world of men.'
'I have no desire, Sir, for the world of men, so overladen with action (Karma). Hard is life as a
Diglized by Google
| SR No. | 007673 |
| Book Title | Zend Avesta Part 03 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | L H Mills |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1887 |
| Total Pages | 2618 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 49 MB |