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ministers held 800 less l silver ploughs and other men held other ploughs. They started ploughing the land from one end to the other.
There assembled a vast crowd of men to witness the occasion. Even the maids who held charge of the prince inside the enclosure could not check the temptation of coming out and be eye-witness of the occasion. When the BodhiSattva saw that there was no one near him, he got up quickly, controlled his respirations and sat down in meditation for the first time. At that time, the shadow of all the trees had changed their direction (i. e., became enlong ened), but the shadow of the tree beneath which the Bodhi-sattva sat remained round, without a change., This attracted the attention of the maids who hurried inside the enclosure to find the Bodhi-sattva on his bed sitting in meditation. They were ta ken by surprise and rushed to the king to report about this miracle. The king too rushed to the spot, witnessed the miracle and became surprised. At once, he bowed before his son, saying,
"My son! This is the second occasion when I bow before thee."
The Bodhi-sattva grew to become 16. The king erected three palaces to be used by his son during three seasons. One of these was nine-storeyed, another seven and the third one five. He employed 40,000 dancing girls to amuse the prince all the time. Like gods surrounded by nymphs, he was surrounded by these finely dressed girls who, in their turn, were attended by trained female instrument players. Thus the prince lived amidst grandeur, and moved from one pa lace to another with the change of seas on. (The prince was, however, already married, and) Rahul-mata was his principal consort.
Displaying technical skill: One day, there was a discusion among the relatives and kinsmen as follows:
'The prince is planted amidst, pleasure all the time. He takes no interest in learning crafts. How will he fare in case there is a war ?'
The king who had heard this discussion sent for the Bodhisattva and said unto him,
