Chapter 112

‘Rishyasringa said, ‘Here came to-day a religious student with a mass ofhair on his head. And he was neither short nor tall. And he was of aspirited look and a golden complexion, and endued with eye large aslotuses; and he was shining and graceful as a god. And rich was hisbeauty blazing like the Sun; and he was exceedingly fair with eyesgraceful and black. And his twisted hair was blue-black and neat and longand of a fragrant scent and tied up with strings of gold. A beautifulornament was shining on his neck which looked like lightning in the sky.And under the throat he had two balls of flesh without a single hair uponthem and of an exceedingly beautiful form. And his waist was slender to adegree and his navel neat; and smooth also was the region about his ribs.Then again there shone a golden string from under his cloth, just likethis waist-string of mine. And there was something on his feet of awonderful shape which give forth a jingling sound. Upon his wristslikewise was tied a pair of ornaments that made a similar sound andlooked just like this rosary here. And when he walked, his ornamentsuttered a jingling sound like those uttered by delighted ganders upon asheet of water. And he had on his person garments of a wonderful make;these clothes of mine are by no means beautiful like those. And his facewas wonderful to behold; and his voice was calculated to gladden theheart; and his speech was pleasant like the song of the male blackbird.And while listening to the same I felt touched to my inmost soul. And asa forest in the midst of the vernal season, assumes a grace only when itis swept over by the breeze, so, O father! he of an excellent and puresmell looks beautiful when fanned by the air. And his mass of hair isneatly tied up and remains adhering to the head and forehead evenlysundered in two. And his two eyes seemed to be covered with wonderfulChakravaka birds of an exceedingly beautiful form. And he carried uponhis right palm a wonderful globur fruit, which reaches the ground andagain and again leaps up to the sky in a strange way. And he beats it andturns himself round and whirls like a tree moved by the breeze. And whenI looked at him, O father! he seemed to be a son of the celestials, andmy joy was extreme, and my pleasure unbounded. And he clasped my body,took hold of my matted hair, and bent down my mouth, and, mingling hismouth with my own, uttered a sound that was exceedingly pleasant. And hedoth not care for water for washing his feet, nor for those fruitsoffered by me; and he told me that such was the religious observancepractised by him. And he gave unto me a number of fruits. Those fruitswere tasteful unto me: these here are not equal to them in taste. Theyhave not got any rind nor any stone within them, like these. And he of anoble form gave me to drink water of an exceedingly fine flavour; andhaving drunk it, I experienced great pleasu e; and the ground seemed tobe moving under my feet. And these are the garlands beautiful andfragrant and twined with silken threads that belong to him. And he,bright with fervent piety, having scattered these garlands here, wentback to his own hermitage. His departure hath saddened my heart; and myframe seems to be in a burning sensation! And my desire is to go to himas soon as I can, and to have him every day walk about here. O father,let me this very moment go to him. Pray, what is that religiousobservance which is being practised by him. As he of a noble piety ispractising penances, so I am desirous to live the same life with him. Myheart is yearning after similar observances My soul will be in torment ifI see him not,'”