Vol. 11 · pages 61–65

42 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES I and wept aloud—self-possessed though she was by nature, yet in her distress she had lost her fortitude. 20. Seeing Yeshodhara thus bewildered with her wild utterances of grief and fallen on the ground, all the women cried out, with their faces streaming with tears like large lotuses beaten by the rain. 21. Having heard of the arrival of both Channa and Kanthaka, and having learned of the fixed resolve of his son, Suddhodana fell struck down by sorrow. 22. Distracted by his grief for his son, being held up for a moment by his attendants, Suddhodana gazed on the horse with his eyes filled with tears, and then falling on the ground wailed aloud. 23. Then Suddhodana got up and entered his temple, offered prayers, performed auspicious rites and vowed certain sacrifices for the safe return of his son. 24. So Suddhodana, Gautami and Yeshodhara passed their days asking : “How long, O God, how long, before, shall we see him again ?”

PART II Renunciation for ever 1. From Kapilavatsu to Rajagraha. 2. King Bimbisara and His Advice. 3. Gautama answers Bimbisara. 4. Reply by Gautama (concluded). 5. News of Peace. 6. The problem in a New Perspective.

45 RENUNCIATION FOR EVER I § 1. From Kapilavatsu to Rajagraha 1. Leaving Kapilavatsu, Siddharth Gautama thought of going to Rajagraha, the capital of the kingdom of Magadha. 2. The reigning king was Bimbisara. It was a place which great philosophers and leaders of thought had made their headquarters. 3. With this thought in mind he crossed the Ganges, fearing not her rapid flow. 4. On his way he halted at the hermitage of a Brahmin woman Saki, then at the hermitage of another Brahmin woman by name Padma and then at the hermitage of the Brahmin sage Raivata. All of them entertained him. 5. Having seen his personality and dignity and his splendid beauty, surpassing all other men, the people of that region were all astonished at him wearing the clothes of a sanyasi. 6. On seeing him, he who was going elsewhere stood still, and he who was standing there followed him on the way ; he who was walking gently and gravely ran quickly, and he who was sitting at once sprang up. 7. Some people reverenced him with their hands, others in worship saluted him with their heads, some addressed him with affectionate words ; not one went on without paying him homage. 8. Those who were wearing gay-coloured dresses were ashamed when they saw him, those who were talking on random subjects fell to silence ; no one indulged in an improper thought. 9. His eyebrows, his forehead, his mouth,—his body, his hand, his feet, or his gait,—whatever part of him anyone beheld, that at once rivetted his gaze. 10. After a long and arduous journey Gautama reached Rajagraha surrounded by five hills, well guarded and adorned with mountains, and supported and hallowed by auspicious and sacred places. 11. On reaching Rajagraha he selected a spot

46 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES I at the foot of the Pandava hill and put up a small hut made of the leaves of trees for his sojourn. 12. Kapilavatsu by foot is nearly 400 miles distant from Rajagraha. 13. This long journey Siddharth Gautama did all on foot. § 2. King Bimbisara and his Advice 1. Next day he got up and started to go into the city with a begging bowl asking for alms. A vast crowd gathered round him. 2. Then Sreniya Bimbisara, the lord of the kingdom of the Magadhas, beheld from the outside of his palace the immense concourse of people, and asked the reason of it; and thus did a courtier recount it to him : 3. “He who was thus foretold by the Brahmins, ‘He will either attain supreme wisdom or be the emperor of the earth’—it is he, the son of the king of the Sakyas, who is now an ascetic. It is he at whom the people are gazing at.” 4. The king, having heard this and perceiving its meaning in his mind, thus at once spoke to that courtier : “Let it be known whither he is going” ; and the courtier, receiving the command, followed the prince. 5. With fixed eyes, seeing only a yoke’s length before him, with his voice hushed, and his walk slow and measured, he, the noblest of mendicants, went begging for alms, keeping his limbs and his wandering thoughts under control. 6. Having received such alms as were offered, he retired to a lonely corner of the mountain ; and having eaten it there, he ascended the Pandava hill. 7. In that wood, thickly filled with lodhra trees, having its thickness resonant with the notes of the peacocks, he, the sun of mankind, shone, wearing his red dress, like the morning sun above the eastern mountains. 8. That royal courtier having thus watched him there, related it all to the king : and the king when he