,
repenting under it, with self-reproach, of his errors, and accepting the
eight rules of abstinence.

The queen asked where the king was constantly going to, and the
ministers replied that he was constantly to be seen under such and such
a patra tree. She watched for a time when the king was not there, and
then sent men to cut the tree down. When the king came, and saw what had
been done, he swooned away with sorrow, and fell to the ground. His
ministers sprinkled water on his face, and after a considerable time he
revived. He then built all round the stump with bricks, and poured a
hundred pitchers of cows' milk on the roots; and as he lay with his four
limbs spread out on the ground, he took this oath, "If the tree do not
live, I will never rise from this." When he had uttered this oath, the
tree immediately began to grow from the roots, and it has continued to
grow till now, when it is nearly one hundred cubits in height.

[Footnote 1: Yama was originally the Aryan god of the dead, living in a
heaven above the world, the regent of the south; but Brahmanism
transferred his abode to hell. Both views have been retained by
Buddhism. The Yama of the text is the "regent of the narakas, residing
south of Jambudvipa, outside the Chakravalas (the double circuit of
mountains above), in a palace built of brass and iron. He has a sister
who controls all the female culprits, as he exclusively deals with the
male sex. Three times, however, in every twenty-four hours, a demon
pours boiling copper into Yama's mouth, and squeezes it down his throat,
causing him unspeakable pain." Such, however, is the wonderful
"transrotation of births," that when Yama's sins have been expiated, he
is to be reborn as Buddha, under the name of "The Universal King."]

CHAPTER XXXIII

~Kasyapa Buddha's Skeleton on Mount Gurupada~

The travellers, going on from this three li to the south, came to a
mountain named Gurupada, inside which Mahakasyapa even now is. He made a
cleft, and went down into it, though the place where he entered would
not now admit a man. Having gone down very far, there was a hole on one
side, and there the complete body of Kasyapa still abides. Outside the
hole at which he entered is the earth with which he had washed his
hands. If the people living thereabouts have a sore on their heads, they
plaster on it some of the earth from this, and feel immediately easier.
On this mountain, now as of old, there are Arhats abid