40. ' Just so, brethren, are the four wonderful and marvellous qualities in Ananda.
' If, brethren, a number of the brethren of the
order, or of the sisters of the order, or of devout
men, or of devout women, should come to visit
Ananda, they are filled with joy on beholding him ;
and if Ananda should then preach the truth to them,
they are filled with joy at the discourse ; while the
company of brethren is ill at ease, brethren, when
Ananda is silent.
4 Now these, brethren, are the four wonderful and marvellous qualities that are in Ananda/
41. When he had thus spoken 1 , the venerable Ananda said to the Blessed One :
* Let not the Blessed One die in this little wattel
and daub town, in this town in the midst of the
jungle, in this branch township 2 . For, Lord, there
are other great cities, such as isfampS, R^agaha,
SSvatthi, S&keta, Kosambi, and Ben&res. Let the
Blessed One die in one of them. There there are
many wealthy nobles and Brahmans and heads of
houses, believers in the Tath&gata, who will pay due
honour to the remains of the Tath&gata V
1 From here down to the end of section 44 is found also, nearly word for word, in the beginning of the MahH-Sudassana Sutta, translated below ; compare also MaM-Sudassana Gdtaka, No. 95.
* Ku^a-nagarake ti pa/irupake samb&dhe khuddaka- nagare: U^angala-nagarake ti visama-nagarake. (S.V.fol. Mau.) Kuto, if this explanation be right, seems to be merely an old and unusual form for kshudra, and the Burmese correction into khudda to be unnecessary : but I venture to think it is more likely to be=ku</ya, and to mean a wall built of mud and sticks, or what is called in India, of wattel and daub. When Buddhaghosa explains u^angala as 'lawless/ he is expressing his view that a town in the jungle is likely to be a heathen, pagan sort of place.
3 With reference to Childers's note in his Dictionary on maha- sald, with which every one must entirely agree, Buddhaghosa's
IOO THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. CH.
42. 4 Say not so, Ananda ! Say not so, Ananda, that
this is but a small wattel and daub town, a town in
the midst of the jungle, a branch township. Long
ago, Ananda, there was a king, by name Mahi-Sudas-
sana, a king of kings, a righteous man who ruled in
righteousness, Lord of the four quarters of the earth,
conqueror, the protector of his people, possessor of
the seven royal treasures. This Kusin&rd, Ananda,
was the royal city of king Mahi-Sudassana, under the
name of Kusavatl, and on the east and on the west it
was twelve leagues in length, and on the north and on
the south it was seven leagues in breadth.
43. ' That royal city Kus&vatt, Ananda, was mighty,
and prosperous, and full of people, crowded with
men, and provided with all things for food \ Just,
Ananda, as the royal city of the gods, A/akamandd
by name, is mighty, prosperous, and full of people,
crowded with the gods, and provided with all kinds
of food, so, Ananda, was the royal city Kus&vatt
mighty and prosperous, full of people, crowded
with men, and provided with all kinds of food.
44. ' Both by day and by night, Ananda, the royal
city Kus&vatl resounded with the ten cries ; that is
to say, the noise of elephants, and the noise of
horses, and the noise of chariots ; the sounds of the
explanation of the word will be interesting as a proof (if proof be needed) that the Ceylon scholars are not always trustworthy. He says, Khattiya-mah&sdla ti kbattiya-mah&s&r& sfira- pattd mahd-khattiyd. Eso nayo sabbattha.
1 The first three of these adjectives are applied at G&taka I, 29 (v. 212) to the religion of the Buddhas; and I think the right reading there must be phi t a m, in accordance with the corrections in two MSS. as noted by Mr. Fausboll, and not pi taw as he has preferred to read. The whole set of epithets is often used of cities.
maha-parinibbAna-sutta.
Toi
drum, of the tabor, and of the lute ; the sound of
singing, and the sounds of the cymbal and of the
gong ; and lastly, with the cry, " Eat, drink, and be
merry 1 !"
45. 'Go now, Ananda, and enter into KusinSrd,
and inform the Mallas of Kusin&rS, saying, " This
day, O Vfise//yfcas, in the last watch of the night, the
final passing away of the TathAgata will take place.
Be favourable herein, O V&se///&as, be favourable.
Give no occasion to reproach yourselves hereafter,
saying, * In our own village did the death of our
TathSgata take place, and we took not the opportu-
nity of visiting the Tath£gata in his last hours/ " '
' Even so, Lord/ said the venerable Ananda, in
assent, to the Blessed One ; and he robed himself,
and taking his bowl 2 , entered into Kusinara attended
by another member of the order.
1 This enumeration is found also at Gataka, p. 3, only that the conch shell is added there — wrongly, for that makes the number of cries eleven. The Mahd-Sudassana Sutta has in the corresponding passage, like the Burmese MS. noted here by Childers, conch instead of cymbal. My MS. reads cymbal here.
2 Niv&setva patta-£ivara#z dd&ya atta-dutiyo. Buddha- ghosa has, naturally enough, no comment on this oft-recurring phrase. It cannot be meant that he put on only his under-gar- ments, and carried his upper robe with him ; for then his shoulders would have been bare ; and it is quite against the rules to go into a village without all the robes having been put carefully on (Pati- mokkha, Sekhiya 1-3). I do not even understand how Ananda, with due regard to the rules of the brotherhood (see Pfoimokkha, Nisaggiya 21-29), could have had a spare robe then with him. And patta-^fvarazrc can scarcely mean simply 'bowl-robe/ refer- ring to the length of cotton cloth in which the bowl was carried over the shoulder ('Buddhist Birth Stories/ p. 71). 'With both his under-garments on, he entered Kusinard duly bowled and robed ' may be impossible English, but it probably correctly catches the
102 THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE.
46. Now at that time the Mallas of Kusin&ri
were assembled in the council hall on some public
affair \
And the venerable Ananda went to the council
hall of the Mallas of Kusin£r£ ; and when he had
arrived there, he informed them, saying, ' This
day, O V^se/Mas, in the last watch of the night,
the final passing away of the Tath&gata will take
place. Be favourable herein, O V&se/Mas, be
favourable. Give no occasion to reproach your-
selves hereafter, saying, " In our own village did
the death of our Tathigata take place, and we took
not the opportunity of visiting the Tathigata in his
last hours."'
47. And when they had heard this saying of the
venerable Ananda, the Mallas with their young men
and maidens and their wives were grieved, and sad,
and afflicted at heart. And some of them wept, dis-
hevelling their hair, and stretched forth their arms
and wept, fell prostrate on the ground, and rolled
to and fro in anguish at the thought : ' Too soon
will the Blessed One die ! Too soon will the Happy
One pass away! Full soon will the Light of the
world vanish away ! '
48. Then the Mallas, with their young men and
idea involved, though of course one (at least) of the under-cloths had been put on long before. See p. 122. AThera never goes about in public alone, he is always accompanied by a S£ma#era.
1 Kena^id eva karawiyena. Professor Pischel, in his edition of the Assalayana Sutta (p. 1), prints this expression kena£i deva- kara/nyena, and translates it (p. 28), 'for some religious pur- poses.' It seems to me that he has been misled by the commentary, which really presupposes the more correct division adopted by Childers.
maha-parinibbAna-sutta.
maidens and their wives, being grieved and sad
and afflicted at heart, went to the S&la Grove of the
Mallas, to the Upavattana, and to the place where
the venerable Ananda was.
49. Then the venerable Ananda thought : ' If
I allow the Mallas of Kusinari, one by one, to pay
their respects to the Blessed One, the whole of the
Mallas of KusinSri will not have been presented to
the Blessed One until this night brightens up into the
dawn. Let me, now, cause the Mallas of Kusindra
to stand in groups, each family in a group, and so
present them to the Blessed One, saying, " Lord ! a
Malla of such and such a name, with his children,
his wives, his retinue, and his friends, humbly bows
down at the feet of the Blessed One." '
50. And the venerable Ananda caused the Mallas
of Kusindrd to stand in groups, each family in a
group, and so presented them to the Blessed One, and
said : ' Lord ! a Malla of such and such a name, with
his children, his wives, his retinue, and his friends,
humbly bows down at the feet of the Blessed One/
51. And after this manner the venerable Ananda
presented all the Mallas of Kusinari to the Blessed
One in the first watch of the night.
52. Now at that time a mendicant named Su-
bhadda, who was not a believer, was dwelling at
Kusindrd. And the mendicant Subhadda heard
the news: 'This very day, they say, in the third
watch of the night, will take place the final passing
away of the Samara Gotama.'
53. Then thought the mendicant Subhadda:
'This have I heard from fellow mendicants of
mine, old and well stricken in years, teachers and
104 THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. CH.
disciples, when they said: "Sometimes and full
seldom do Tathigatas appear in the world, the
Arahat Buddha s." Yet this day, in the last watch
of the night, the final passing away of the Samaoa
Gotama will take place. Now a certain feeling of
uncertainty has sprung up in my mind; and this
faith have I in the Samara Gotama, that he, me-
thinks, is able so to present the truth that I may
get rid of this feeling of uncertainty/
54. Then the mendicant Subhadda went to the
Sila Grove of the Mallas, to the Upavattana of Kusi-
nara, to the place where the venerable Ananda was.
55. And when he had come there he said to the
venerable Ananda : * Thus have I heard from fellow
mendicants of mine, old and well stricken in years,
teachers and disciples, when they said : " Sometimes
and full seldom do Tath&gatas appear in the world,
the Arahat Buddhas." Yet this day, in the last watch
of the night, the final passing away of the Samara
Gotama will take place. Now a certain feeling of
uncertainty has sprung up in my mind ; and this faith
have I in the Samara Gotama, that he, methinks, is
able so to present the truth that I may get rid of this
feeling of uncertainty. O that I, even I, Ananda,
might be allowed to see the Samara Gotama ! '
56. And when he had thus spoken the vener-
able Ananda said to the mendicant Subhadda:
' Enough ! friend Subhadda. Trouble not the TathA-
gata. The Blessed One is weary/
57. And again the mendicant Subhadda [made the
same request in the same words, and received the
same reply]; and the third time the mendicant
Subhadda [made the same request in the same
words, and received the same reply].
mahA-parinibbAna-sutta.
58. Now the Blessed One overheard this con-
versation of the venerable Ananda with the men-
dicant Subhadda. And the Blessed One called
the venerable Ananda, and said : 'It is enough,
Ananda ! Do not keep out Subhadda. Subhadda,
Ananda, may be allowed to see the Tath&gata.
Whatever Subhadda may ask of me, he will ask
from a desire for knowledge, and not to annoy me.
And whatever I may say in answer to his questions,
that he will quickly understand/
59. Then the venerable Ananda said to Subhadda,
the mendicant: 'Enter in, friend Subhadda; for
the Blessed One gives you leave.'
60. Then Subhadda, the mendicant, went in to
the place where the Blessed One was, and saluted
him courteously, and after exchanging with him the
compliments of esteem and of civility, he took his
seat on one side. And when he was thus seated,
Subhadda, the mendicant, said to the Blessed One :
4 The Br&hmans by saintliness of life \ Gotama, who