covering the Lord. That rain of flowers having once begun falling continued to the moment of the Lord's complete Nirvâna. The angels belonging to the division of the four guardians of the cardinal points made the celestial drums of the gods resound[1]; they made them resound without interruption in honour of the Lord who had attained the summit of the terrace of enlightenment. Thereafter, during fully ten intermediate kalpas, they made uninterruptedly resound those celestial musical instruments up to the moment of the complete extinction of the Lord.
Again, monks, after the lapse of ten intermediate kalpas the Lord Mahâbhigñâgñânâbhibhû, the Tathâgata, &c, reached supreme, perfect enlightenment[2]. Immediately on knowing his having become enlightened the sixteen[3] sons born to that Lord when a prince royal, the eldest of whom was named Gñânâkara—which sixteen young princes, monks, had severally toys to play with, variegated and pretty—those sixteen princes, I repeat, monks, left their toys, their amusements, and since they knew that the Lord Mahâbhigñâgñânâbhibhû, the Tathâgata, &c, had attained supreme, perfect knowledge, went, surrounded and attended by their weeping mothers and nurses, along with the noble, rich king Kakravartin, many ministers, and hundred thousands of myriads of kotis of living beings, to the place where the Lord Mahâbhigñâgñânâbhibhû, the
