Simhasanadvatrimshika 21.p5

21.p5

Hearing these words of his father, Anargala, filled with remorse and seized with detachment, departed for another country. There in that other land, having studied all the learned treatises under a teacher, he was returning to his own city. On the road, in the middle of a forest, he saw a temple. Near the temple was a lake of exceedingly clear water, adorned with lotus clusters and beautified by pairs of cakravāka birds. In one part of the lake, the water was boiling hot. Seeing all this, he sat down there. Then the sun set. Thereafter, at midnight, eight celestial women emerged from the midst of the boiling water, went to the temple, performed sixteen modes of worship, beginning with invocation, to the deity, and gratified the deity with dancing, singing, and other arts. Then the deity, pleased, gave them a grace. Anargala too was watching all this. At dawn, at the time of their departure, Anargala was noticed by them. One among them said: 'O gentle one, come, let us go to our city.' He too said, 'Let it be so,' and went with her. Presently, they entered the boiling water; Anargala, out of fear, did not enter. Returning to his own city, he saw his mother, father, and all his relatives. On the second day, having gone to see the king and bowed down to him, he sat. Questioned cordially by the king, he was told: 'O Anargala, where have you been for so many days?' He said: 'I went to another country to pursue my studies.' The king said: 'What wondrous things did you see in that other country?'