The World of Courtesans c10.83

c10.83

The Vita meets some more people and finally reaches the quarters of ill-fame (*vesha*). He describes the district as a seat of passion, a place for wickedness and deception. It is open to everybody except the poor. There he sees a Buddhist monk and observes: "Ah, who is this hurrying out from a courtesan's court? He is contracting his body. He has covered it with a dirty scarf. But I can see the ends of the ochre garment. They seem to be falling down because he is flurried. I get it. He is that wicked Buddhist monk, Sanghilaka. He is an inmate of Dharmaranya monastery. Oh, how holy is Buddhisml It continues to be respected day after day in spite of the repeated blows inflicted on it by wicked monks whose heads have been shaved for no rhyme or reason. But the sacred Ganga does not cease to be holy because crows come and defile it! He is trying to hide himself. He wants to get away. Right, if the arrows of my words touch him, he will not be able to escape unhurt. I shall certainly meet and talk to him. He beckons. 'Hey! You are the ghost that inhabits a monastery. Your movements are like that of an owl's in day-light. You are walking about filled with fear? What did you say?'"