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speech. Then he was fully exhausted and retired asking me to carry on the sermon in his place for the benefit of the monks who were neither fatigued in their body nor exhausted in their mind. Then I took over from him. This is how he behaved towards me".
Addressing the monks, the Bud dha said,
"In ancient times, there was a great pool. There lived many elephants in its neighbourhood. Everyday, they came to the pool, pulled out the lotus stalks, washed them clean and ate them. This (diet) contributed to their beauty and physical strength and relieved them of all sufferings. Now, some young jackals started imitating the elephants. They also started eating the lotus stalks, but they did not care to clean them. So they were steadily losing their physical stamina and grace. They felt very unhappy and miserable. So you see, oh monks, in trying to imitate me blindly, Devadatta will die as a bankrupt. He is ominous, hellish, destined to a long, span of a kalpa and beyond any remedy (2)".
For vomitting hot (fresh) blood, Devadatta fell seriously ill. For full none months, he continued to suffer great pain. In his last days, he woke to his follies. With deep regret, he enquired where the Buddha was at that time. He was told that he was in Jetavana. He requested his followers to carry him thither so that he could at least see His followhis former preceptor before he left this earth. ers placed him on a cot and started. (But he could never reach his destination). In the vicinity of a tank near Jetavana, he fell into a crater and lost his life. He took birth in a hell named Avici where he will spent his life for
1, 00, 000 kalpas, and thereafter he will be born as a Pratyeka-Buddha named Atthissara, and in that birth, he will attain his liberation (3).
According to another source, (after his sojourn in hell), he will be born as a Buddha named Davarāja (4).
Jamāli
Gosalaka apart, another illustrious name among the rebel disciples of Mahavira is that of Jamali who happened to be his nephew as well as his son-in-law. The account
