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VII, 3, 7.
DISSENSIONS IN THE ORDER.
243
'I wanted a kingdom, O king !'
* If you then want a kingdom, O prince, let this kingdom be thine!' And he handed over the kingdom to Agâtasattu the prince 1.
6. Then Devadatta went to prince Agåtasattu, and said, 'Give such orders, O king, to your men that I may deprive the Samana Gotama of life.' And Agâtasattu the prince gave orders to his men : Whatsoever the worthy Devadatta tells you, that do!'
Then to one man Devadatta gave command : Go, my friend, the Samana Gotama is staying at such and such a place. Kill him, and come back by this path.' Then on that path he placed other two men, telling them, Whatever man you see coming alone along this path, kill him, and return by that path.' Then on that path he placed other four men [and so on up to sixteen men).
7. And that man took his sword and shield, and hung his bow and quiver at his back, and went to the place where the Blessed One was, and when at some little distance from the Blessed One, being
1 The early literature already mentions that Agatasattu eventually killed his father. (See, for instance, Sâmañña-phala Sutta, p. 154.) Bigandet I, 261 (3rd edition) adds that the mode adopted was by starving him to death in prison.
? The Buddhist writers being so especially careful in their accurate use of titles, it is particularly noteworthy that Agatasattu is here called prince (kumâra) and not king (râga). It is almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that this paragraph stood originally in some other connection; and that the events it describes must then have been supposed to have taken place before Agâtasattu actually became king. That the Dhammapada commentator says here (Fausböll, p. 143) tasmim (that is, Agatasattu) ragge patillhite, is no evidence the other way; for that account is either taken from this, or depends ultimately upon it.
R2
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