Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.117

c7.117

Ere the sun set, Māra abandoned the vain contest, and withdrew; but the daughters of Māra in the forms of beautiful women now approached and tempted him; but he remained indifferent; and so the struggle ended. Hour by hour the divine insight of the Prince grew, till by dawn came perfect knowledge, and the long-sought Buddhahood was attained. The event was accompanied by many portents, of which one was the spreading of the six-coloured aura (Buduṛes) emanating from his body, throughout all the spheres. In many seated figures of Buddha, this aura is represented as a halo of coloured rays (Pls. XVIII, XIX). Also the Buddha broke into triumphant song, using as a parable of life, the simple wood and clay-built house which in his time must have differed little from the ordinary houses of the Sinhalese in the eighteenth century.