[410]
At that time a king named Vijitajaya — a hero, endowed with valor — dwelt in the midst of Ketumatī, best of cities.
While that king was heedless, the poisons of the realm rose up: the Uttaras and the Tuṇḍikas then ravaged the realm.
When the borderlands were in turmoil, the tamer of foes swiftly assembled his soldiers and men-at-arms, and then had the enemy crushed.
Elephant-riders and men of the ranks, heroes and mail-clad warriors, archers and charioteers — all assembled then.
Cooks and barbers, bath-attendants and garland-makers, heroes victorious in battle — all assembled then.
Men with swords in hand and men with bows in hand, clad in hide, fierce men victorious in battle — all assembled then.
Tusker elephants with rut burst forth in three places, sixty years of age, with girths and trappings of gold — all assembled then.
Enduring cold and heat and the hauling of dung, warriors by profession, seasoned in their work — all assembled then.
With the sound of conches, the sound of drums, and the sound of clamor, rousing one another to joy with these — all assembled then.
Armed with tridents and lances, with bows and with javelins, striking down [the foe] and driving them back — all assembled then.
Clad in armor, that king — a conqueror unconquered — I then had sixty thousand living beings impaled upon the stake.
The people raised an outcry: "Alas, an unrighteous king! For him, roasting in hell, when will there be an end?"
Lying upon my bed, I then see the hells: I sleep not by day or by night; they menace me with the stake.
"What use is heedless [enjoyment of] kingship, of mounts and of troops? These avail not to protect me — ever do they fill me with terror.
What are sons to me, and wives, and the whole of the kingdom? What if I were to go forth — I would purify the path of my future course (gati)."
Sixty thousand elephants adorned with every adornment, tuskers with girths of gold, clad in trappings of gold, mounted by their drivers with lances and goads in hand — abandoning them without a longing look at their stations on the field of battle, scorched by my own deed (kamma), I departed into the homeless life.
Sixty thousand horses adorned with every adornment — thoroughbreds by breed, Sindh steeds, swift carriers — mounted by their riders, bow in hand and clad in hide: discarding all these, I departed into the homeless life.
Sixty thousand chariots adorned with every adornment, covered with leopard-hide and with tiger-hide too, fitted out, with standards raised: forsaking them all, I went forth into the homeless life.
Sixty thousand milch cows, all with milking-pails of bronze: abandoning the kine, I went forth into the homeless life.
Sixty thousand women adorned with every adornment, in variegated garments and jewels, wearing gems and earrings, fair of face, smiling, shapely, slender of waist: leaving them as they wailed, I went forth into the homeless life.
Sixty thousand villages, prosperous in every way: abandoning that kingdom, I went forth into the homeless life.
Departing from the city, I drew near to Himavant; upon the bank of the river Bhāgīrasī I built myself a hermitage. Having made a leaf-hut, I built a fire-hall there.
With energy (viriya) aroused, resolute, I dwell in my hermitage; as I meditate in a pavilion, at the root of a tree, or in an empty dwelling, no trembling is found in me; I see no fear and dread.
Then the Fully Awakened One (Sambuddha) named Sumedha — the foremost, the compassionate one, the sage — arose in the world, blazing with the light of knowledge (ñāṇa).
Round about my hermitage there dwelt a yakkha of great might; when the supreme Buddha had arisen, he then announced it to me:
"A Buddha has arisen in the world — the One with Vision, Sumedha by name! He carries all the people across; you too will he carry across."
Hearing the yakkha's words, I was stirred with a sense of urgency (saṃvigga) then and there; pondering "A Buddha! A Buddha!" I set the hermitage in order.
Having thrown away the fire-logs and folded up my mat, having paid reverence to the hermitage, I departed from the great wood.
Then, taking sandalwood, from village to village, from town to town, seeking the God of gods, I came into the presence of the Guide.
At that time the Blessed One Sumedha, the Leader of the World, was proclaiming the four truths, awakening many people.
Raising my joined palms and doing homage with my head, having saluted the Fully Awakened One, I spoke these verses:
"When the jasmine is in flower, its scent wafts about nearby; but you, O Hero, with the fragrance of your virtues waft through all the quarters.
When campaka, nāga and mallikā, adhimuttaka and ketaka, and the sāl trees are in bloom, the scent drifts down the wind.
Having caught your fragrance, I have come here from Himavant: I worship you, O Great Hero, Eldest of the World, of great renown."
With choicest sandalwood I anointed Sumedha, the Leader of the World; and having filled my own mind (citta) with serene confidence, I stood silent then and there.
The Blessed One named Sumedha, Eldest of the World, the Bull of Men, seated amid the Saṅgha of bhikkhus, spoke these verses:
"He who has extolled my virtue and made offering of sandalwood — him shall I declare: listen to me as I speak.
His word and utterance will command acceptance; a Brahmā, upright and majestic, for twenty-five aeons (kappa) he will be radiant.
For twenty-six hundred aeons he will delight in the deva-world; a thousand times he will be a king, a wheel-turning monarch (cakkavatti);
thirty-three times, as lord of the devas, he will exercise rule over the devas; and vast regional kingship beyond count by reckoning.
Passing away from there, this person will go to the human state; conjoined with meritorious action, he will be one of brahmin kin (brahmabandhu).
A reciter, a bearer of the mantras, gone to the far shore of the three Vedas, endowed with the three marks — the brahmin Bāvarī by name:
having become his pupil, he will be one perfected in the mantras; having approached the Fully Awakened One Gotama, Bull of the Sakyans,
having asked subtle questions and gladdened his heart —" Having fully understood all the taints (āsava), I dwell free of taints.
The threefold fires have been extinguished for me; all existences (bhava) have been uprooted: having fully understood all the taints, I dwell free of taints.
My defilements (kilesa) have been burnt away; all existences have been uprooted: like an elephant that has burst its bonds, I dwell free of taints.
Welcome indeed was my coming into the presence of my Buddha! The three true knowledges (vijjā) have been attained; the Buddha's teaching (sāsana) has been done.
The four analytical knowledges (paṭisambhidā), and also these eight liberations (vimokkha), and the six direct knowledges (abhiññā) have been realized; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
Thus indeed did the Venerable Elder Todeyya speak these verses.
The Apadāna of the Elder Todeyya is concluded.
The Apadāna of the Elder Jatukaṇṇika, the Ninth (409)
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.