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nations I made for seven weeks when I was born as Vessantara, even this solid and unconscious earth will testify."
The Buddha took out his right hand from under his cloth. Addressing the Great Earth, he said,
"Do you bear witnesses to the donations made by me for seven weeks during my birth as Vessantara? 11
The Great Earth - "Yes, I do."
So saying, she gave out tremendous roars, hundreds, thousands, millions, so that the army of Māra di sappeared in utter confusion.
Māra's defeat was complete. Agreeing wholly with the Buddha, he said,
"Siddhartha ! I admit, you made great donations. You made excellent donations."
The moment Mára concentrated on the Buddha's donations in his life as Vessantara, his elephant Girimekha la stooped low on his knees. Just then, the army of Māra fled in confusion in whatever direction they could without caring for their dress and ornaments. In the great confusion that prevailed, not two could go by the same route.
The gods witnessed the victory of the Buddha and the defeat of Māra. They were very happy. They came to the Buddha and worshipped him (8).
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Conclusion
There are important similarities between the hardships inflicted by Sangama and those inflicted by Mara; but there are significant differences too. The hardships inflicted by Sangama acted straight on the person of Mahavira, but he was so firm in his physique that he did not care. But the phenomena created by Mára did not operate on the Buddha's body. When they came into his proximity, the
