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charged by the prince at one of the banana trees. arrow passed through a tree, took a turn, passed through the second tree, took a turn again, passed through the third, and likewise it passed through the fourth tree, and returned into the prince's hand. Thus the four trees were placed on a single thread. The people were delighted to witness this wonderful feat and hailed the prince with a tremendous applause.
The Bodhi-sattva displayed a few more skills named sara-yaşți (stick), sara-rajju (rope), sara-veni (braid), sara-prasada (palace), sara-mandapa (platform), Sarasopana (staircase), sara - puskarini (pond), sara-padma (lotus) and sara -varsa (shower of water). In all, he displayed 12 superhuman skills. After this, he pierced through seven very thick objects with his arrow. Among other things, these included wooden planks from fig tree of the thickness of eight fingers each (4 inches), copper sheets of the thickness of two fingers (1 inch) and iron sheets of the thickness of one finger (1⁄2 inch). Then he pierced 100 planks tied together. After these superhuman demonstrations, no one had even an iota of doubt about the skill and craftsmanship of the prince.
Four scenes One day, the Bodhi-sattva expressed a desire to go to the garden. He asked his charioteer to make his chariot ready which he did. The chariot was decorated, and four excellent horses from the Sindhudeśa were yoked to it. When the chariot was ready, it was announced to the prince. The Bodhi-sattva sat on the chariot, which looked like a divine thing, and started his journey. Meanwhile the gods thought that the time when the prince would become a Buddha was fast drawing near so that it was time for them to prepare and present before him the four scenes. So they deputed a young god in the guise of an old man who had lost his teeth, whose hairs had turned grey, whose body was bent under the weight of age, whose feet had become un - steady and who could move with great difficulty with the support of a stick. The old man appeared before Siddhartha and his charioteer who alone could see him (and none else). Said the Bodhi-sattva to the charioteer,
"Saumya! What sort of man is this? Why are his body and hairs different from those of others?"
