འདལ་བ་གཞ 1.6

1.6

Though each attributed it to his own son, it was not so. For all that occurred, occurred because of the Bodhisattva.

On the very same day that Prince Bimbisāra was born, five hundred sons of five hundred ministers were also born and were given names appropriate to their patrilineage.

Prince Bimbisāra was entrusted to eight nursemaids:⁵⁸ two to cuddle him, two to breastfeed him, two to change his diapers, and two to play with him.⁵⁹ Fortified with milk, curd, butter, ghee, cream, and other nourishing foods, he grew quickly, shooting up like a lotus in a pond. When he was old enough, he was introduced to letters, number names, calculation, counting by hand, expenditures, revenues, and deposits.⁶⁰ After he finished letters, he became skilled in exegesis, recitation, knowledge, proper conduct,⁶¹ and the way to assess gems, sites, fabrics, woods, elephants, horses, women, and men.

He trained in and mastered the different fields of arts and skills of anointed kṣatriya kings, or a ruler of the realm endowed with the might and vigor to conquer the wide face of the earth, such as riding on the neck of an elephant, riding horseback, charioteering, swordsmanship, archery, advancing, yielding, wielding a hook, throwing a lasso, casting a spear, and how to hold a weapon, march, tie a topknot,⁶²