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his own mind that Bāna would, on a future occasion, make use of some
device for propitiating the deity¹; but Bāṇa rose up from his seat in the
assembly-hall utterly abashed, and setting up a post on the border of the
town, he placed under it a fire-pit, full of charcoal made of Khadira wood,
himself mounted on a palanquin at the end of the post, and began utter-
ing a hymn of praise to the sun-god.² At the end of every stanza, he
cut away, with his knife, one support of the palanquin, and at the end of
five stanzas five supports had been cut away by him, and he was left
clinging to the end of the palanquin. While the sixth stanza was being
recited, the sun-god appeared in visible form, and owing to his favour
Bāņa at once acquired a body of the colour of pure gold. On a subse-
quent day he came with his body anointed with golden sandal-wood and
clothed in a magnificent white garment. When the king saw the healthy
condition of his body, Mayūra represented that it was all due to the favour
of the sun-god. Then Bāņa pierced him in a vital spot with an arrow-
like speech. "If the propitiating of a god is an easy matter, then do you
also display some wonderful performance in this line." When he said
this, that Mayura aimed at him the following retort, "What need has a
healthy man of one skilled in the science of medicine? Nevertheless, so
much I will do. You, after cutting your hands and feet with a knifes
to confirm your words, propitiated the sun with your sixth stanza, but I
will propitiate Bhavani with the sixth syllable of my first stanza." Having
made this promise, he entered the back part of the temple of Candikā,
sitting in a comfortable litter, and when he uttered the sixth syllable of
the poem beginning, "Do not interrupt your coquetry,"4 by the favour
of Candikā visibly manifested his tender body seemed to be entirely re-
newed, and then he looked at the temple of the goddess fronting it, and
the courtiers, headed by the king, came to meet him, and uttered the cry
of "Bravo! Bravo!" and so with great jubilation he entered the city.
'At this conjuncture, the law of the false believers being triumphant,
some principal men, who hated the true religion, said to the king, "If
among the adherents of the Jaina system any such display of power takes
place, then establish the white-robed Jainas in your territory, but if not,
then banish them ". No sooner had this been said than the king sum-
moned the teacher, Mänatunga, and said, "Show some miracle of your
deities". He said, "As our deities are emancipated from the bonds of
existence, what miracle is possible for them here? Nevertheless, I will
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1 I do not see the point of this thought of the king.
2 The Saryaśataka is evidently meant.
8 The author has evidently forgotten that he has just made Bāṇa's miracle
to be the palanquin incident. The ordinary account of the story represents
Bāņa as cutting off his hands and feet; cf. above, p. 24.
These are the opening words of the Candidataka; cf. below, p. 267.
5 It is not clear to me just what miracle is described in the words 'his
tender body seemed to be entirely renewed'. It might lead one to believe
that in Merutunga's estimation Mayura also was a leper. At any rate,
the spectators were duly impressed.
his own mind that Bāna would, on a future occasion, make use of some
device for propitiating the deity¹; but Bāṇa rose up from his seat in the
assembly-hall utterly abashed, and setting up a post on the border of the
town, he placed under it a fire-pit, full of charcoal made of Khadira wood,
himself mounted on a palanquin at the end of the post, and began utter-
ing a hymn of praise to the sun-god.² At the end of every stanza, he
cut away, with his knife, one support of the palanquin, and at the end of
five stanzas five supports had been cut away by him, and he was left
clinging to the end of the palanquin. While the sixth stanza was being
recited, the sun-god appeared in visible form, and owing to his favour
Bāņa at once acquired a body of the colour of pure gold. On a subse-
quent day he came with his body anointed with golden sandal-wood and
clothed in a magnificent white garment. When the king saw the healthy
condition of his body, Mayūra represented that it was all due to the favour
of the sun-god. Then Bāņa pierced him in a vital spot with an arrow-
like speech. "If the propitiating of a god is an easy matter, then do you
also display some wonderful performance in this line." When he said
this, that Mayura aimed at him the following retort, "What need has a
healthy man of one skilled in the science of medicine? Nevertheless, so
much I will do. You, after cutting your hands and feet with a knifes
to confirm your words, propitiated the sun with your sixth stanza, but I
will propitiate Bhavani with the sixth syllable of my first stanza." Having
made this promise, he entered the back part of the temple of Candikā,
sitting in a comfortable litter, and when he uttered the sixth syllable of
the poem beginning, "Do not interrupt your coquetry,"4 by the favour
of Candikā visibly manifested his tender body seemed to be entirely re-
newed, and then he looked at the temple of the goddess fronting it, and
the courtiers, headed by the king, came to meet him, and uttered the cry
of "Bravo! Bravo!" and so with great jubilation he entered the city.
'At this conjuncture, the law of the false believers being triumphant,
some principal men, who hated the true religion, said to the king, "If
among the adherents of the Jaina system any such display of power takes
place, then establish the white-robed Jainas in your territory, but if not,
then banish them ". No sooner had this been said than the king sum-
moned the teacher, Mänatunga, and said, "Show some miracle of your
deities". He said, "As our deities are emancipated from the bonds of
existence, what miracle is possible for them here? Nevertheless, I will
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1 I do not see the point of this thought of the king.
2 The Saryaśataka is evidently meant.
8 The author has evidently forgotten that he has just made Bāṇa's miracle
to be the palanquin incident. The ordinary account of the story represents
Bāņa as cutting off his hands and feet; cf. above, p. 24.
These are the opening words of the Candidataka; cf. below, p. 267.
5 It is not clear to me just what miracle is described in the words 'his
tender body seemed to be entirely renewed'. It might lead one to believe
that in Merutunga's estimation Mayura also was a leper. At any rate,
the spectators were duly impressed.