Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 17.djvu/15

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MAHAVAGGA


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FIFTH KHANDHAKA. (rules for foot-clothing, seats, vehicles, etc.)

1. At that time the blessed Buddha dwelt at Rl^gaha at the Vulture's Peak.

Now at that time Seniya Bimbisdra, the king of Magadha, held rule and sovranty over eighty thousand townships ^ And at that time there was at KampA a Setthi's son named Sona Kolivisa, delicately nurtured, on the soles of whose feet hair had grown.

Now when Seniya Bimbisdra, the king of Magadha, was holding an assembly of the eighty thousand overseers over those townships, he sent a message to Sona Kolivisa on some matter of business, saying, 'Let Sona come hither. I desire Sona's presence!'

2. Then spake the parents of Sona Kolivisa to him thus: 'The king, dear Sona, wishes to see thy feet. But stretch not out thy feet, dear Sona, towards the

Gdma, which should be understood in the sense of parishes, not of villages.

This So«a is the reputed author of one of the Therag&th&s. It is interesting to notice that Kampd, the capital of Ahga, is here included under Magadha. Compare An^a-magadhesuin Mahvagga I, 19, and the beginning sentences of the So«adam/a Sutta (Digha Nikiya), in which it is said that the revenues of the town of Kampd had been bestowed by king Bimbisdra on the Brdhmana SoroLddJuki.


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