Vol. 11 · pages 201–205

182 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES II listen to the Buddha preaching at the Jetavana. 8. On this his wife began roundly to abuse the Buddha, and said, “This Gotama is but a mad preacher, who deceives the people,” and so on. 9. “On this” he said, “I resented not her statements, but rather submitted to them and so when I came to die I was born as a spirit, but on account of my pusillanimity I was confined to this tree,” and then he recited these verses. 10. “Sacrifices and such services are sources of misery, day and night, a continual burden and anxiety. 11. “To escape sorrow, and destroy the elements of the body, a man should attend to the Law (of Buddha), and arrive at deliverance from all worldly Rules of Religion (World Rishis).” 12. The Brahmins having heard these words, resolved themselves to go to Shravasti, to the place where the Buddha was, and having explained the object of their visit, the world-honoured said to them: 13. “Although a man goes naked with tangled hair, or though he clothes himself with a few leaves or garment of bark, though he covers himself with dirt and sleeps on the stones, what use is this in getting rid of impure thoughts ? 14. “But he who neither contends or kills, or destroys by fire, who desires not to get the victory, who is moved by goodwill towards all the world, there is no ground in such a case for ill-will or hate. 15. “To sacrifice to spirits in order to find peace (merit), or, after this life expecting reward, his happiness, is not one quarter of that man’s who pays homage to the good. 16. “He who is ever intent on good conduct and due reverence to others, who always venerates old age, four happy consequences increasingly attend that man— beauty and strength, and life and peace.” 17. On hearing this from her husband the wife became reconciled.

PART VI Conversion of the Low and the Lowly 1. Conversion of Upali, the Barber. 2. Conversion of Sunita, the Sweeper. 3. Conversion of Sopaka and Suppiya, the Untouchables. 4. Conversion of Sumangala and other Low Castes. 5. Conversion of Suprabuddha, the Leper.

185 CONVERSION OF THE LOW AND THE LOWLY II § 1. Conversion of Upali, the Barber 1. While going back Upali, the barber thought: “The Sakyans are a fierce people. If I go back with these ornaments they will kill me thinking that I have killed my companions and run away with their ornaments. Why should I not go the way these young men of the Sakya clan have gone ?” 2. “Why indeed should I not?” asked Upali to himself. And he let down the bundle of ornaments from his back, and hung it on a tree, saying: “Let him who finds it take it as a gift,” and returned to follow the Sakya youths. 3. And the Sakyans saw him coming from afar, and on seeing, they said to him: “What have you come back for, good Upali ?” 4. Then he told them what he felt and they replied: “Thou hast done well, good Upali, in that thou didst not return; for the Sakyans are fierce, and they might have killed thee.” 5. And they took Upali the barber with them to the place where the Blessed One was. And on arriving there, they bowed down before the Blessed One and took their seats on one side. And so seated they said to the Blessed One : 6. “We Sakyans, Lord, are haughty. And this Upali, the barber, has long been an attendant, Lord, upon us. May the Blessed One admit him to the Order before us, so that we may render him respect and reverence, and bow down with outstretched hands before him as our senior and thus shall the Sakyan pride be humbled in us !” 7. Then the Blessed One received first Upali, the barber, and afterwards those young men of the Sakya clan, into the ranks of the Order. § 2. Conversion of Sunita, the Sweeper 1. There lived in Rajagraha a scavenger by name Sunita. He earned his living as a road sweeper, sweeping away the rubbish thrown by the householders

186 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES II on the roadside. His was a low and hereditary occupation. 2. One day in the early hours of the dawn the Blessed One rose, dressed himself and walked into Rajagraha for alms followed by a large number of Bhikkus. 3. Now Sunita was cleaning the street, collecting scraps, rubbish, and so on into heaps and filling therewith the basket which he carried on a yoke. 4. And when he saw the Master and his train approaching, his heart was filled with joy and awe. 5. Finding no place to hide in on the road, he placed his yoke in a bend in the wall and stood as if stuck to the wall, saluting the Lord with clasped hands. 6. Then the Lord when he had come near, spoke to him in voice divinely sweet, saying: “Sunita ! What to you is this wretched mode of living ? Can you endure to leave home and come into the Order?” 7. And Sunita, experiencing the rapture of one who has been sprinkled with Ambrosia, said: “If even such as the Exalted One may in this life take Orders, why should I not ? May the Exalted One suffer me to come forth.” 8. Then the Master said: “Come Bhikku !” And Sunita by that word received sanction and ordination and was invested with bowl and robes. 9. The Master leading him to the Vihar taught him the Dhamma and the Discipline and said, “By the discipline of holy life, restraint and mastery of self, a man becomes holy.” 10. When asked how Sunita became so great, the Buddha said, “As on a rubbish-heap on highway casta lily may grow, fragrant and sweet, so among rubbishcreatures, worldlings blind by insight shines the very Buddha’s child.” § 3. Conversion of Sopaka and Suppiya, the Untouchables 1. Sopaka was a pariah of Shravasti. In her travail at his birth his mother fell into a long deep