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TRANSLATION
323 419. So the meda gave the goat to the king but in his house it
excreted filth. Then Abhaya told him : "Bring the
jewels here again.' 420. Abhaya asked the meda : 'Is this a divine being ?' He
replied. It is.' Then Abhaya continued : 'In Rājagsha 421. cause to be made a great hall and a road giving easy : access to the Vaibhāra mountain and cause milk to be
brought from the ocean of milk, then your son 422. will bathe in it under the chattra of Śreņika and will
marry the king's lovely daughter.' When all was
accomplished he married the king's lovely daughter, 423. and then afterwards the eight girls chosen previously.
Meantime the god said again : ‘Take the vows.' 424. He answered : 'Spare me twelve years and for so long
let me dwell in the household life'. 'So be it,' said
the god and went to the world of the gods. -425. When the time fixed was fulfilled he came back and
said: 'Take the initiation'; but after an appeal by the women the god went away and came back a third
time. 426. Then Metārya took the vows and studied the sūtras.
His mind purified, as a proficient monk, he embarked
on the noblest austerity of the solitary life. 427. So whilst wandering over the earth which is adorned with
towns and villages and mines he arrived at the house
of a goldsmith in the city of king Sreņika. 428. He went inside the house in order to get alms. Then a
curlew pecked up some grains of gold which were being
fashioned for the Jina's temple. 429. When the goldsmith came back and could not see them he
asked the sādhu, who would not say anything. So he bound a thong round his head in the suspicion he
was a thief, 430. and drove in wedges so that his two eyes at once burst
out. Then destroying the accumulation of karma he attained to perfect knowledge and final release.
