Indian Antiquary Vol 13

SR No.: 032505
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 492
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 42

36
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1884.
came hither. In the last year of Sambuddha, Vijaya came hither.
41. Sambuddha, the best of men, made the island of Laok a fit for the habitation of men; and by the anupádisesá extinguished himself in all his upadhis (upadhi)."
42. The Khattiya reigned thirty-eight years after the parinibbana of Sambuddha, the shining lord of truth,
43. and sent to Siha para a messenger to Samitta: "Come shortly to us to this magnificent Laika dipa.
44. There is no one to succeed me in the rule after my death; I yield in your favour this island which I conquered by my valour."
their arms and hands; and from this cause that place was called Tambapaņņi.
31. The first city in the renowned Laikadipa was Tambapanni, and dwelling there Vijaya ruled his kingdom.
32. Vijaya and Vijita and with them Achchutagami and Upatissa, were the first who landed there and took possession (?)" of territory.
33. A great multitude of men and women came together, and one Khattiya (prince) built cities here, another there, in all the country.
34. Vijaya built the city of Tambapaņņi, with its suburbs, on the south bank of the river in the must charming place.
35. Vijita built the city to which he gave his name, and then that of Uruvela; and the minister, who got his name from the asterism Anuradha, founded the city of Anuradha.
36. He whose name was Achchutagami founded Ujjeni, and Upatissa, U patissathe city of beautiful markets, rich, vast, of great prosperity, and delightful.
37. The first king of famous Laukadipa was king Vijaya in Tambapani.
38. When seven years of his reign had passed, many people had come thither. His reign was thirty-eight years.
39. In the ninth month of Sambuddha, the Yakkas were destroyed; in the fifth year of Sambuddha the Jina conquered the Någas; in the eighth year of Sambuddha the Samd. patti" was completed.
40. On all these three occasions Tathagata * Cf. Oldenberg, P. 56, with p. 162.
See note 20, ante p. 35. » 1.8. consolidated Buddhism.
* This Buddhist term is translated by "attainments, endowments," which are eight successive states induced by ecstatic meditation (Childers, Pali Dict., 8. v.) The explanation of Burnout (Lotus de la Bonne Loi. pp. 348-9) appears to me to be exact : Samlipattf is the moral state, which is reached by samadhi; samodhi is one of the conditions for becoming a perfect sacetio and one of the perfections of the ascetic; and these porfes. tions are-jhana, profound meditation," vimokha, "freedom, destruction of passion," samadhi, "perfect tranquillity," samapatti,“ sweet joy, tranquil delight, the calm and holy happiness resulting from the superior perfections." And the annihilation of all suffering and of all enjoyment of every physical sensation is the ecstatic feeling of delight in the indifferent contemplation of the exterior world. The eight successive states are like bridges, degrees of progressive acquisition of each of these perfections. See Burnouf, Lotus, p. 789.
33. Gautama Buddhs in the Sultae frequently speaks of himself as the Tathagata, and the epithet is analogous to that of Son of Man applied to himself by Jesus Christ." (Childers, Pali Dict., 8. v.) But it appears to me that this name of Tathagata, composed of tatha-dgata,
PRINCE SIMHALA SAVED BY THE MAGIC HORSE. A Buddhist Legend on the Origin of the
Name of Ceylon.o "Sinhala, son of the merchant Sinha, having embarked to go in search of precious stones in a distartisland, is assailed, on approaching Tâmradvipa (the same as Tamra parna, the Taprobane of the ancients), by a tempest raised by the Rakshasis, wicked divinities, which inhabit that island. He is shipwrecked with his companions, and by swimming reaches the shore, where the Rakshasis appear, and under the guise of beautiful women entice the merchants to yield themselves to pleasure with them. Simhala, after passing the night in the arms of one of these women, discovers by the lamp which lightens them that he has fallen into the hands of an ogress, whose pleasure he serves and who will devour "coming thus (like the other Buddhas)," signifie " redeemer."
37 Complete annihilation by the destruction of the five elements of being.
Substrata corporis, i.e., entered into complete ribbdna (nirvana in Skr.) or parinibbina.
30 According to Burnouf, "Introd. a l'Hist. du Boud. dhisme," (1st ed.), p. 223 ff. With this legend compare that given by Hiuen-Tsiang apud St. Julien, Mémoires, tome II, p. 131 ff.
* In the Academy of Aug, 13 and 27, 1881 (reprinted in the Indian Antiquary for Oct. 1881, pp. 291-3), are two interesting communications on the subject of "The Myth of the Sirens, one from Mr. W.E.A. Axon, who drew attention to the Story of the Five Hundred Merchants," given by Beal in his Romantic Legend of sikya Buddha, p. 339 ff.. the other by Dr. R. Morris, who showed that the story is a veritable jätaka tale, the PAli text of which is given in Fausboll's edition of the Jataka, vol. II, p. 127f, under the title of Vallhassajátaka, "Cloudhorse Jataka." As no translation of the Vallhassaját ka has yet appeared, I give one below, p. 45 f. The explanation of several doubtful passages I owe to the kindness of Mr. L. C. Wijesinha, Mudaliyêr, the coadjutor of the late Prof. Childers in his Pali Dictionary. I have added a few notes.-D.F.