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THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE.
CH.
of Pâtaligâma had departed thence, entered into his private chamber.
26. At that time Sunidha and Vassakâra, the chief ministers of Magadha, were building a fortress at Pâtaligâma to repel the Vaggians, and there were a number of fairies who haunted in thousands the plots of ground there. Now, wherever ground is so occupied by powerful fairies, they bend the hearts of the most powerful kings and ministers to build dwelling-places there, and fairies of middling and inferior power bend in a similar way the hearts of middling or inferior kings and ministers.
27. And the Blessed One, with his great and clear vision, surpassing that of ordinary men, saw thousands of those fairies haunting Pâtaligâma. And he rose up very early in the morning, and said to Ânanda: 'Who is it then, Ânanda, who is building a fortress at Pâtaligâma?'
'Sunidha and Vassakâra, Lord, the chief ministers of Magadha, are building a fortress there to keep back the Vaggians.'
28. They act, Ânanda, as if they had consulted with the Tâvatimsa angels. [And telling him of what he had seen, and of the influence such fairies had, he added]: 'And among famous places of residence and haunts of busy men, this will become the chief, the city of Pâtali-putta, a centre for the interchange of all kinds of wares. But three dangers will hang over Pâtali-putta, that of fire, that of water, and that of dissension '.'
1 This paragraph is of importance to the orthodox Buddhist as proving the Buddha's power of prophecy and the authority of the
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| SR No. | 007674 |
| Book Title | Dhammapada |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Max Muller |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1881 |
| Total Pages | 2540 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 45 MB |