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ethnic.
At the seventh stride the Bodhisatta utters the (metrical) words of an "eminent person" (as nowadays Windisch's rendering by "indem er die stiergleiche Rede von sich gehen ließ" is translated) ,132 viz. aggo 'ham asmi lokassa (DN II 15 etc.). The expression asabha 'eminent person' (CPD) does not only remind us of a melody used at magic rites in order to acquire power and sung to the words of a rgvedic Indrahymn, 133, but also of the sound of a bull-skin kettledrum in use at the Mahāvrata ritual, where it is said: "The bull is the highest sound.o134 In post-canonical times this becomes, "He sang the song of victory."135 As can be seen, e.g. from Ja V 360,28, where scha-nada is said of a bird, it should not be rendered by 'lion's roar' and even less, of course, by 'halleluia' (PED), but as given in PWB: 'ein Wort, das ich mit Selbstvertrauen ausspreche und auf das man sich verlassen kann.'
The Tipitaka uses siha-näda with regard to the Buddha, 136 just as he is also called Sakya-siha 'Lion among the Sākyas', his tribe. Yet it is interesting here, that in late Vedic Simha-nada-nadin is the epithet of a form of Rudra-Siva, 137 whereas in the Jaina Siddhanta it is the Asura Camara who expresses himself in this way before his attack on Indra.138 More than once, as will be seen below, non-orthodox religions reflect first Saivite and later Vaişņavite influences.
According to tradition, Māyā - as in Christian mythology the mother of St. George the dragon slayer - died after seven days - thus apparently in childbed. This possibly historical fact must have been too ominous to be accepted by the faithful. In the Pāli canon no explanation for it is given, and it seems to contradict a passage stating the resistance on the part of prince Gotama's mother (!) and father though they knew of his glorious future: Gotamo a-kāmakānam mātā-pitunnam assu-mukhānam rudantānam (...) pabbajjito (DN 115,18 sqq.). But this may be an oversight on the part of the redactor of the text. In Ja I 52,2 and Mvu II 3,9 sq. the reason is that, after giving birth to a Bodhisatta, sexual intercourse does not befit his mother any longer, whereas the La
132 Windisch 1908: 131. 133 PVB 9,2,15 = JB 1,222 "abhi tra ursabhā (suté) sutám" (RV 8,45,22) ity ärşabham
kşatra-säma ksatram eväitena bhavati. 134 Paramä värsabho väk, JB 2,404 (Caland 1919 &165 = p. 215 "Der Stier ist der
höchste Klang"). 135 Rhys Davids' (1880: 156) translation of Ja I 53,19 āsabhim vācam nicchärento
siha-nädam nadi. 136 Hiltebeitel 1978: 775 note 27 connects the sihanada with the Bodhisatta's numerous
animal laksanas, which remind him of the numerous postures in classical yoga that are named after animals and thus suggesting an affinity between yoga and the
assimilation of powers of those animals. 137 AV Par 36,1,15. 138 Viy 3,2, p. 147 line 24.