The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s4.16

v3.c29.s4.16

Hearing that his son Bawlawkyantaw was practising horsemanship and sharpening his elephant's tusks, Razadarit feared he was about to rebel, and sent two lords to slay him. They announced their duty to the lad, who replied: 'I do but follow the custom of young princes in manly exercise. I do not plot against my father and there is no fault in me. Give me time to prepare for death.' They gave him time, and for three days at the Shwemawdaw pagoda he listened to the reading of *Abidhamma*, the holy scriptures. When it was finished, he offered his ruby bracelets and earrings to the pagoda, and thus he prayed: 'If I have wished ill to my father, yea though it be a little, then may I lie in hell for ever, and never behold the coming Buddha. But if I have not wished ill to my father, then may I be born again among the kings of Burma and be the scourge of the Talaings.’ Then he took the poison that had been prepared, and drank it and died.