[16]
Yoked are your horses, supremely adorned,
heading downward, coursing the sky, strong and swift;
and these five hundred specially created chariots
follow you, the horses urged on by charioteers.
You stand in that excellent chariot, adorned,
shedding radiance like a blazing fire.
I ask you, fair-formed one, flawless to behold:
from which host [of devas] have you come to approach the Unexcelled One?
Those whom they call unsurpassed among beings attained to the acme of sensual pleasure —
deities who delight, creating and creating [at will] —
from that host, a nymph (accharā) of sensuous beauty,
I have come here to pay homage to the Unexcelled One.
What good conduct did you practice here in former times?
Through what are you of measureless fame, flourishing in happiness?
Your power (iddhi) is unexcelled — sky-going;
and your radiance shines through the ten directions.
You are surrounded by devas and honored.
Passing away from where, O devatā, have you come to this happy destination?
Or whose bidding do you perform, whose instruction?
Declare it to me, if you are a disciple of the Buddha.
In the excellent, well-built city set between the hills,
an attendant of the glorious, excellent king,
I was supremely well trained in dances and songs¹;
in Rājagaha they knew me as "Sirimā."
And the Buddha, bull among seers, the Guide,
taught me the origin (samudaya), suffering (dukkha), and impermanence;
the unconditioned, everlasting cessation (nirodha) of suffering;
and this path (magga) — uncrooked, straight, benign.
When I had heard of the Deathless state, the unconditioned —
the teaching of the Tathāgata, the Unexcelled —
I became supremely well restrained in the moral precepts (sīla),
established in the Dhamma taught by the Buddha, best of men.
Having known² that stainless, unconditioned state
taught by the Tathāgata, the Unexcelled,
right there I touched the concentration (samādhi) of serenity (samatha):
that itself was for me the supreme assurance.
Having gained the excellent Deathless as my distinction,
assured, having excelled in the realization (abhisamaya) [of the truths],
free from doubt, honored by many people,
I partake of sport and delight in no small measure.
Thus am I a devatā [sharing] in the taste of the Deathless,
a disciple of the Tathāgata, the Unexcelled,
a seer of the Dhamma, established in the first fruit,
a stream-enterer (sotāpanna) — and there is no more bad destination for me.
So I have come to venerate the Unexcelled One,
and to revere the inspiring bhikkhus who delight in the wholesome,
the auspicious gathering of ascetics,
respectful toward the glorious King of the Dhamma.
Having seen the Sage, I am joyful in mind, gladdened:
the Tathāgata, best of men, charioteer of persons to be tamed,
who has cut off craving (taṇhā), delighting in the wholesome, the Guide —
I venerate him, the one compassionate for [beings'] supreme welfare.
The Sirimā Mansion, the sixteenth.
[Apparatus: ¹ The Burmese (Ma.) and European (Yu.) editions read "nacce gīte." ² A variant reads "ñatvānahaṃ."]
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.