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II, 6.
THE RETURN OF KANDAKA.
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long night past, that place I sought to reach now I have obtained.' 429
Then taking off his precious neck-chain, he handed it to Kandaka, 'Take this,' he said, 'I give it you, let it console you in your sorrow;' 430
The precious jewel in the tire that bound his head, bright-shining, lighting up his person, taking off and placing in his extended palm, like the sun which lights up Sumeru, 431
He said, 'O Kandakal take this gem, and going back to where my father is, take the jewel and lay it reverently before him, to signify my heart's relation to him; 432
"And then, for me, request the king to stifle every fickle feeling of affection, and say that I, to escape from birth and age and death, have entered on the wild (forest)* of painful discipline, 433
'Not that I may get a heavenly birth, much less because I have no tenderness of heart, or that I
1 The long night is the dark passage of continued transmigration, or change; the sense is, that Bodhisattva having sought for the condition of being, or life, he now has reached through a succession of previous births, the relationship or connection with his charioteer as master and man, is at an end.
. The head-jewel, or kuda-mâni. This crest-jewel is figured in various ways in Buddhist art; as a rule it may be taken to indicate
the highest' (the head), and in this form it is placed on the head of the figures of Buddha (in Ceylon); and is found at Sanchi and Amaravati as an object of reverence; it symbolises the supreme authority of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.
• Or, holding the jewel, worship reverently at the king's feet.
4 The forest of mortification,' i.e. the place where mortification was to be endured. For an account of Bodhisattva's penance (six years' penance (Shadvarshika-vrata]), see Rajendralála Mitra's Buddha Gayâ, p. 26.
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