Dighanikaya 2.159

2.159

Paccekā itthiyoti pāṭiyekkā itthiyo, ekekissā hatthiniyā ekekaṃ itthinti vuttaṃ hoti. Ukkāsu dhāriyamānāsūti daṇḍadīpikāsu dhāriyamānāsu. Mahacca rājānubhāvenāti mahatā rājānubhāvena. Mahaccātipi pāḷi, mahatiyāti attho, liṅgavipariyāyo esa. Rājānubhāvo vuccati rājiddhi. Kā panassa rājiddhi? Tiyojanasatānaṃ dvinnaṃ mahāraṭṭhānaṃ issariyasirī. Tassa hi asukadivasaṃ rājā tathāgataṃ upasaṅkamissatīti paṭhamataraṃ saṃvidahane asatipi taṅkhaṇaññeva pañca itthisatāni purisavesaṃ gahetvā paṭimukkaveṭhanāni aṃse āsattakhaggāni maṇidaṇḍatomare gahetvā nikkhamiṃsu. Yaṃ sandhāya vuttaṃ – ‘‘paccekā itthiyo āropetvā’’ti.

"An individual woman" means each separate woman; one woman on each she-elephant is what is meant. "While torches were being held" means while wooden torches were being carried. "With great royal majesty" means with magnificent royal majesty. "Mahaccā" is also a reading in the text, meaning 'with great' (mahatiyā); this is an interchange of gender. Royal majesty refers to royal power. What then was his royal power? The glory of sovereignty over two great realms of three hundred yojanas. For in his case, even though there was no prior arrangement that the king would approach the Tathāgata on such-and-such a day, at that very moment five hundred women assumed male attire, donned turbans, slung swords over their shoulders, took jewel-handled javelins, and set out. In reference to this it was said: 'Having mounted an individual woman [on each].'