[585] Now on that occasion the brahmin Brahmāyu had a pupil, a young brahmin (māṇava) named Uttara, a master of the three Vedas together with their vocabularies (nighaṇḍu) and ritual (keṭubha), together with the phonology and analysis of syllables, and with the histories (itihāsa) as the fifth; skilled in the word-by-word text, a grammarian, fully accomplished in cosmology (lokāyata) and in the marks of a great man (mahāpurisalakkhaṇa).
Then the brahmin Brahmāyu addressed the young brahmin Uttara: "Dear Uttara, the ascetic Gotama, a son of the Sakyans, gone forth from a Sakyan family, is wandering on tour in the Videha country together with a large Saṅgha of bhikkhus, some five hundred bhikkhus. Now concerning that worthy Gotama this fair report has been spread abroad: 'Thus indeed is that Blessed One: an accomplished one (arahaṃ), a fully awakened one (sammāsambuddho) … It is good indeed to see such accomplished ones.' Come, dear Uttara, go to where the ascetic Gotama is; having approached, find out about the ascetic Gotama—whether the report spread abroad about that worthy Gotama is true as stated or not, whether that worthy Gotama is such a one or not. Through you we shall come to know that worthy Gotama."
"But how, sir, shall I know about that worthy Gotama—whether the report spread abroad about that worthy Gotama is true as stated or not, whether that worthy Gotama is such a one or not?"
"Dear Uttara, in our hymns (mantas) the thirty-two marks of a great man have been handed down. For a great man endowed with them there are only two destinies, no other. If he dwells in a house, he becomes a king, a wheel-turning monarch (cakkavattī), righteous, a king of the Dhamma, conqueror of the four quarters, victorious, who has attained stability in his realm, endowed with the seven treasures. These seven treasures are his, namely: the wheel-treasure, the elephant-treasure, the horse-treasure, the gem-treasure, the woman-treasure, the householder-treasure, and the counsellor-treasure as the seventh. He has more than a thousand sons, heroes, of heroic stature, crushers of the armies of others. Having conquered this earth bounded by the ocean—without rod, without sword, by the Dhamma—he dwells over it. But if he goes forth from home into homelessness, he becomes an accomplished one, a fully awakened Buddha, one for whom the veil in the world has been drawn back. Now I, dear Uttara, am the expounder of the hymns; you are the receiver of the hymns."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.