ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 33.5

33.5

“Monks, in times gone by, King Mahendra reigned in the city of Potalaka. One day the royal queen conceived, and after nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful, with glowing, golden skin and a well-rounded head, long arms, a broad brow, a fine and prominent nose, and eyebrows that met. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they asked, ‘What name should we give this child?’ and they named him, saying, ‘Since this is Mahendra’s child, his name will be Mahendrasena.’

“They reared young Mahendrasena on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids. As he grew up, they made him study letters, and trained him in all the different fields of craft and skill in which duly consecrated rulers of the royal caste train, such as how to ride an elephant, how to ride horseback, how to wield a weapon, and how to shoot an arrow, advance, retreat, wage war, grasp with an iron hook, wield a lasso, shoot a spear, throw a single-pointed vajra, throw other single-pointed weapons, and throw a disk; how to cut, cleave, grapple and hold, employ footwork, guard one’s head, strike from a distance, and strike at the noise of an unseen enemy; and how to target the vital points, take infallible aim, and maximize damage. By the time he had been educated in all of these, he was learned in the five areas of knowledge.

“He came to see that his father and the five hundred ministers ruled both righteously and unrighteously, and he thought, ‘I will give up the kingdom and go to live in a forest devoted to austerities.’ Reflecting in this way, he asked for his parents’ permission and went to live in the forest.

“One day his