at his command, nevertheless, that bliss did not stain his heart with pride.
Ruling heaven and earth in the proper manner, he acquired splendid glory, which pervaded the whole universe. Now the Demons[1] could not bear the renown nor the very wonderful bliss which he enjoyed, and waged war against him. They marched to his encounter to fight him with an enormous army of elephants, chariots, horsemen and footmen, being the more terrible, as they were drawn up in the proud array of battle and made a noise as awful as that of the wild Ocean. Through the glittering blaze of their various kinds of offensive and defensive weapons they hardly suffered themselves to be looked at.
3. He for his part, though attached to the precepts of righteousness, felt however within his heart the disposition to indulge in the frenzy of fighting. He was prompted to do so by the pride of his enemies, by the danger of his own men, unpleasantly interrupted in their peaceful sport, also by the regard of his majesty and of the traditional line of conduct along the path of political wisdom.
So he mounted his excellent golden chariot, to which a thousand excellent horses were put. This chariot was decorated in front with a beautiful, high-floating banner which bore a figure in the attire of an Arhat[2] for its emblem. Its outer appearance was exceedingly brilliant, owing to the lustre reflected by the manifold precious stones and jewels that adorned it, and to the brightness which irradiated its flanks and which proceeded from the different flaming weapons, sharp-pointed and well-disposed to be ready for use, on both sides of the chariot. On the inside it was covered with a fine
- ↑ The spirits of darkness, called Daityas (sons of Diti) or Dânavas (sons of Danu) or Asuras.
- ↑ It is curious to see this Sakra of the Buddhists making profession in this manner of his Buddhistical faith. If this trait is an old one, Sakra is here represented as a digambara, as he in fact is. The Sabdaratnâvalî gives Arha as a name of Indra; see Petr. Dict. s. v. arha 2).
