India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s13.t1.12

c8.s13.t1.12

A graphic account of these popular festivals is found in the *Avadānaśataka*: “Once the Lord Buddha dwelt at Śrāvastī in the Jetavana, the garden of Anāthapiṇḍada. Now at that very time the festival called *Śālabhañjikā* was being celebrated at Śrāvastī. Several hundred-thousands of beings assembled there and, having gathered *śāl* blossoms, they played, made merry and roamed about.” (*Ibid.* p. 201). And again quoting from the Nidānakathā (*Jāt.* I. 52) the description of the *śālabhañjikā* festival celebrated in the Lumbinī garden: “Now between the two towns (Kapilavatthu and Devadaha) there is an auspicious grove of *śāl* trees belonging to the people of both cities, and called Lumbinī Grove. At that time from the roots to the topmost branches it was one mass of full-blown flowers; and amidst the branches swarms of five-coloured bees, and flocks of birds of different kinds, roamed, warbling sweetly. The whole of Lumbinī Grove was like a wood of variegated creepers, or the well-decorated banqueting hall of some mighty king. The Queen beholding it was filled with the desire of disporting herself in the *śāla* grove (*sālavanakīlaṁ kīlitukāmatā*); and the attendants entered the wood with the Queen. When she came to the root of an auspicious *śāla* tree, she wanted to take hold of a branch of it. The branch, bending down, like a reed heated by steam, approached within reach of her hand. Stretching out her hand she took hold of the branch, and then her pains came upon her.” (Cf. Rhys Davids, *Buddhist Birth Stories*, London 1880, Vol. I, p. 66).