Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c7.17

v1.c7.17

Less resolute was the behaviour of another in a like case (xii, 266). Gautama, of the family of the Aṅgirases, had a son who pondered everything slowly, set about it slowly, carried it out slowly, wherefore he was called Slow Doer (Cirakāri, Cirakārin, Cirakārika), and short-sighted people who were brisk and sharp called him a blockhead. When his mother one day had been guilty of unfaithfulness to her husband,³ the holy man went over the heads of his other sons and angrily bid Cirakāri: “Slay thy mother!” After these words the most excellent Gautama, best among the prayer-mutterers, went off without further thought into the forest. Slow Doer said, true to his nature, only after a long while: “Yes,” and being a slow doer, he pondered and reflected long: “How shall I contrive to carry out my father’s bidding and yet not kill my mother? How shall I not sink down like an evil man in this shifting turmoil of duties?⁴ The father’s bidding is the highest law, my own (the natural) law is to shield my mother;