ers were filled, the mounds by the trees, the
windows and the terraces along the streets; with bent body fearing to
lift their eyes, carefully seeing that there was nothing about them to
offend, those seated on high addressing those seated on the ground,
those going on the road addressing those passing on high, the mind
intent on one object alone; so that if a heavenly form had flown past,
or a form entitled to highest respect, there would have been no
distraction visible, so intent was the body and so immovable the limbs.
And now beautiful as the opening lily, he advances towards the garden
glades, wishing to accomplish the words of the holy prophet (Rishi). The
prince, seeing the ways prepared and watered and the joyous holiday
appearance of the people; seeing too the drapery and chariot, pure,
bright, shining, his heart exulted greatly and rejoiced. The people (on
their part) gazed at the prince, so beautifully adorned, with all his
retinue, like an assembled company of kings gathered to see a
heaven-born prince. And now a Deva-raga of the Pure abode, suddenly
appears by the side of the road; his form changed into that of an old
man, struggling for life, his heart weak and oppressed. The prince
seeing the old man, filled with apprehension, asked his charioteer,
"What kind of man is this? his head white and his shoulders bent, his
eyes bleared and his body withered, holding a stick to support him along
the way. Is his body suddenly dried up by the heat, or has he been born
in this way?" The charioteer, his heart much embarrassed, scarcely dared
to answer truly, till the pure-born (Deva) added his spiritual power,
and caused him to frame a reply in true words: "His appearance changed,
his vital powers decayed, filled with sorrow, with little pleasure, his
spirits gone, his members nerveless, these are the indications of what
is called 'old age.' This man was once a sucking child, brought up and
nourished at his mother's breast, and as a youth full of sportive life,
handsome, and in enjoyment of the five pleasures; as years passed on,
his frame decaying, he is brought now to the waste of age."

The prince, greatly agitated and moved, asked his charioteer another
question and said, "Is yonder man the only one afflicted with age, or
shall I, and others also, be such as he?" The charioteer again replied
and said, "Your highness also inherits this lot: as time goes on, the
form itself is changed, and this must doubtless come