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So saying, he gave a jump, and was straight on the horse's back. Kanthaka was a colossal steed who was 18 cubits in length from his neck till the tail; he had a great speed, and he had the hue of a cleaned conch. (He had the speciality that) if he neighed or struck with his hoofs, the sound went far throughout the city. (At the Bodhi-sattva's words, the horse neighed again, and again the gods prevented the sound from going far. All along the route, the gods made the horse trot on their own palms so that the horse's movement was silent and free from any sound. Chanda ka held the horse's tail in his hand. At mid-night, all the three arrived at the city-gate.
The king always held the apprehension that the prince might escape during some night. So to render that impossible, he made the doors so very heavy that they could not be moved by less than a thousand people. But (the king knew not that) the Bodhi-sattva was even more powerful. He commanded a strength which was as much as that of 10 crores elephants or a hundred crore men. Arriving at the gate, the Bodhi-sattva thought,
'If the door does not open, then, seated on the horse, with Chandaka at the horse's tail, I shall press the horse with my legs and make it jump across the 18 feet rampart. '
Chandaka had his own thinking,
'If the door fails to open, then, I shall place the prince on my shoulder, hold the horse in my arms, and jump across the rampart."
And the horse thought,
'If the door fails to open, then, having the prince on my back, and the horseman at my tail, I shall jump across the rampart. '
Had not the door been open, each would perhaps have acted as per his thinking; but this was rendered unnecessary. The gods opened the gate at once.
At this moment, to induce the Bodhi-sattva to retrace, Mura stood ready in the sky. Said he,
| SR No. | 022804 |
| Book Title | Agama And Tripitaka Comparative Study |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Nagaraj Muni |
| Publisher | Today and Tomorrows Printers and Publishers |
| Publication Year | 1986 |
| Total Pages | 804 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 19 MB |