Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)

p. 290

With their attendant Varuneian sprites,
And Soma with Yaso. Come, too, the gods
From Love and Pity born, with splendid train.
These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty power,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

14. Come Vishnu with his gods, the Sahalis,
The Asamas and the Yama twins 1 ; the elves
That dwell within the moon attend the Moon,
The solar fairies too attend the Sun,

While fragile spirits of the Clouds attend
The Constellations ; [260] Lord of the Vasus, too,
God Sakka, Generous One of yore 2 : —
These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty powers,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

15. Now too are come the fairies Sahabhu,
In flaming radiance like crests of fire : —
The Ari/Z/zakas, Rojas, like azure flowers,
With Varuwa and eke Sahadhamma,
And Accuta is come, Anejaka

And Suleyya and Rucira are come,

Come too Vasavanesi deities.

These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty powers,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren' met together there.

'&

16. Samanas, Great Samanas, sprites like men And sprites like Supermen, are come, the gods

» — — . — ■ ■ ■■ — ...... , . , , . .. . . ,

1 The Castor and Pollux of Indian mythology.

2 This seems to come in here most strangely : but it is an epithet of Sakka expressly designed to distinguish him from Indra, the Vedic god, whose epithet was 'Destroyer of Towns,' see p. 297.

B. ii. 261. THE GREAT CONCOURSE. 29 1

Debauched-by-sport x are come and those

Debauched- In-mind2, fairies that haunt the Green and they That wear the Red, they too that Pass-Over, And the Great Passers-o'er, with splendid following. These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty powers, And comeliness, with splendid following, Are come rejoicing to the forest glade To see the brethren met together there.

17. Sukka, Arufta, Karumha fairies too,
With Veghanasas, having at their head
Th' Odatagayhas, come ; Vicakkha/zas,
Sadamattas, Haragajas, and they

Called the Mixed gods with splendid following ;
Pajunna thundering is come, he who
Pours down the rains upon the quarters four.
These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty powers,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

18. [261] The Khemiyas and gods from Tusita
And Yama heav'ns, the Kanakas and suite,
Lambitakas and the chief Lama-gods,

The Fiery spirits, and the Asavas,
They who rejoice in shapes they make themselves,
And they who use creations not their own 2.
These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty powers,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

19. These sixty spirit hosts, of divers hues,
According to their name and class are come,

1 On these described in the Brahmajala Suttanta, see Dialogues I,

32> 33-

2 Nimmanarati, Paranimmita[vasavatti].

U 2

p. 292

And with them others, whosoe'er they be,
Saying " Him who has outlived birth, for whom
No barrier stands, for whom the flood is crossed,
The Asavas are not, Him shall we see,
Ferry-man o'er the flood, mighty through purity \
Moon that has passed beyond th' enshrouding dark."

20. Then Tissa, the Eternal Youth, and with
Him Paramatta and Subrahma, sons
Of the Potent One, came to the congress-wood.
Great Brahma, suzerain of thousand worlds
In Brahma-heaven, has thither been reborn2,
Mighty in power, and in shape awesome
And vast, of great renown. Ten of his lords,
Each regnant o'er a Brahma-world, are come,
And in their midst with all his suite comes Harita3.

1 In this word-play, Nago means also N'agu, not having sin, says the Cy. : — agum akarawato. So the gods, too, make bad puns! — untranslateable ones, alas.

2 Upapanno. Note the Buddhist care to bring even ' Great Brahma ' under the universal Law, ' rem inexorabilem.'