Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/192

76 in each of these mansions in enjoyment of great majesty. And the mother of Rāhula was his principal queen.

Whilst he was thus in the enjoyment of great prosperity the following talk sprang up in the public assembly of his clansmen: "Siddhattha lives devoted to pleasure; not one thing does he learn; if war should break out, what would he do?" The king sent for the future Buddha, and said to him, "Your relations, Beloved One, say that you learn nothing, and are given up to pleasure: now what do you think you should do about this?"

"O king! there is no art it is necessary for me to learn. Send the crier round the city, that I may show my skill. Seven days from now I will show my kindred what I can do."

The king did so. The Bodisat assembled those so skilled in archery that they could split even a hair, and shoot as quick as lightning; and then, in the midst of the people, he showed his relatives his twelve-fold skill, and how unsurpassed he was by other masters of the bow. So the assembly of his clansmen doubted no longer.

Now one day the future Buddha, wanting to go to his pleasure ground, told his charioteer to harness his chariot. The latter accordingly decked the gloriously beautiful chariot with all its trappings, and harnessed to it four state horses of the Sindhi breed, and white as the leaves of the white lotus flower. And he informed the Bodisat. So the Bodisat ascended the chariot, resplendent like a mansion in the skies, and went towards the garden.

The angels thought, "The time for young Siddhattha to attain Enlightenment is near, let us show him the Omens." And they did so by making a son of the gods represent a man wasted by age, with decayed teeth