A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t1.81

v2.c19.s3.t1.81

Just as, in an episode of the Mahābhārata,[^3) Yudhiṣṭhira answers the questions of a Yakṣa, thereby gaining his favour, likewise, in Saṃyutta X, 12, Buddha satisfies a Yakṣa by the wise answers which he gives to his questions. It is especially the ballads (ākhyānas) in verse, or more often in the prose and verse form mixed, as we find them particularly in the Māra-Saṃyutta and the Bhikkhunī-Saṃyutta,[^4) which are of great poetical value. Some of these short ballads about Māra and the nuns, which are remarkable also for the sake of their archaic language,[^5) are among the most beautiful productions of ancient Indian poetic art. As an example, the Sutta (V. 3) of the nun Kisā-Gotamī ("Slender Gotamī") is translated here: