Part 8: Vāsupūjya’s initiation

After he had so enlightened his parents, when eighteen lacs of years had elapsed since his birth, the Lord became eager for his initiation. The Laukāntika-gods went there instantly from Brahmaloka, when they knew by the shaking of their thrones that it was time for the Master’s initiation. They circumambulated the Teacher of the World three times, bowed to him, and announced, “O Master, found a congregation.” After saying this, they returned to their own heaven and the Lord, devoted to noble acts, began a year’s giving. At the end of the giving, the Indras came and held the initiation-festival, like the people the Indrotsava^[1] at the end of the rainy season.

Then he got into a palanquin adorned with a lion-throne, named Pṛṭhivī, made by gods, asuras, and men. The Lord of the World, his feet resting on a foot-stool, seated on a lion-throne like a rājahaṃsa on top of a golden lotus, surrounded by Vāsavas—some of whom, placed in front, were absorbed in flourishing their respective weapons, some of whom were carrying divine umbrellas, some holding chauris, some carrying fans, some reciting panegyrics,^[2] some bearing wreaths of flowers—attended by gods, asuras, and men, went to the best grove, named Vihāragṛha.

With a hymn of praise being sung with a maximum of devotion, as it were, by the low-voiced cuckoos delighted with the sweetness of mango-shoots; with a reception-gift being presented, as it were, by the young aśokas in the guise of flowers dropped by rocking by the wind; with foot-water offered by the gods for worship of his feet, as it were, in the form of the juice of waving campakas and aśokas; with auspicious cries, as it were, made by swarms of bees excited by drinking the juice of many flowers of the lavalī; with deep bows made, as it were, by the karṇi-kāras with their heads bent by the great weight of blossoms; with a dance commenced from joy before him, as it were, by the vāsantīs beautiful with ornaments of flowers, with moving hands in the form of shoots, the Master, like another Spring, entered the garden, making especial beauty of the creepers, trees, and shrubs appear.

Then after descending from the palanquin, the Master laid aside wreaths, ornaments, et cetera, like trees their leaved in Phālguna.^[3] Wearing a devadūṣya placed by Indra on his shoulder, observing a day’s fast, and pulling out his hair in five handfuls, the Supreme Lord and six hundred kings became mendicants in the afternoon on the amāvāsī of Phālguna (the moon being) in the constellation Vāruṇa. When the lords of gods, asuras, and men had bowed to the Teacher of the World, they went to their respective abodes, like the beggars at the end of the giving.

On the next day in Mahāpura in the house of King Sunanda the Supreme Lord broke his fast with rice-pudding. The five divine things, the shower of. treasure, et cetera, were made by the gods and the jeweled platform was made by Sunanda over the footprints of the Teacher of the World. Then the Lord left that place to wander like the wind in other villages, mines, cities, et cetera.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See I, n, 386.

[2]:

Most of the MSS have the impossible double ‘cāmara’ of the printed edition, but one of the palm-leaf MSS at Patan reads: stavanakaribhiḥ.

[3]:

The last month of the cold weather.