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V, 23. BY SPIRITUAL POWER FIXING HIS YEARS. 257
KIOUEN V.
VARGA 23. BY SPIRITUAL POWER FIXING HIS
(TERM OF) YEARS ? At this time the great men among the Likkhavis ?, hearing that the lord of the world had entered their country and was located in the Amra garden, 1783
(Went thither) riding in their gaudy chariots with silken canopies and clothed in gorgeous robes, both blue and red and yellow and white, each one with his own cognizance. 1784
Accompanied by their body guard surrounding them, they went; others prepared the road in front; and with their heavenly crowns and flower-bespangled robes (they rode), richly dight with every kind of costly ornament. 1785
Their noble forms resplendent increased the glory of that garden grove; now taking off the five dis
* This title may also be rendered, 'By spiritual power stopping his years of life.' It probably refers to the incident related by Mr. Rhys Davids (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, p. 35), 'Let me now, by a strong effort of the will, bend this sickness down and keep my hold on life till the allotted time be come.' There is no mention, however, in the text of Buddha's sickness, which caused the determination here referred to. The sickness is mentioned in the Chinese copy of the Parinirvana Sätra, which in the main agrees with the Pâli.
· The Likkhavis were residents of Vaisalf. I have shown elsewhere (Journal of the R. A. S., Jan. 1882) that they were probably of Scythic origin. The account given in the text of their gorgeous chariots, cognizances, &c. is quite in keeping with the customs of the Northern nations. The account given in the Maha-parinibbanaSutta is in agreement with the text (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xi, p. 31).
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