[301] Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Venerable Kumārakassapa, while wandering on tour in the Kosalan country together with a large Saṅgha of bhikkhus, some five hundred bhikkhus, arrived at the city of the Kosalans named Setavyā. There the Venerable Kumārakassapa dwelt at Setavyā, in the sīsapā-tree grove to the north of Setavyā.
Now on that occasion the chieftain (rājañña) Pāyāsi was governing Setavyā — a place teeming with living beings, abounding in grass, wood, and water, rich in grain, a royal domain given by King Pasenadi of Kosala as a royal endowment, a brahmadeyya grant. And on that occasion an evil view of this kind had arisen in the chieftain Pāyāsi: "Thus: there is no other world; there are no beings spontaneously reborn; there is no fruit or result of deeds well done or ill done."
The brahmins and householders of Setavyā heard: "The ascetic Kumārakassapa, it seems, sirs, a disciple of the ascetic Gotama, while wandering on tour in the Kosalan country together with a large Saṅgha of bhikkhus, some five hundred bhikkhus, has reached Setavyā and dwells at Setavyā, in the sīsapā-tree grove to the north of Setavyā. And concerning that worthy Kumārakassapa this fair report of fame has spread abroad: 'He is wise, competent, intelligent, learned, a brilliant speaker, of excellent ready wit, both an enlightened one (buddha) and an arahant.' And good indeed is the sight of arahants of such a kind." Then the brahmins and householders of Setavyā, going out from Setavyā, having formed into group upon group and company upon company, headed northward toward the sīsapā grove.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.