208 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
‘Now Okkaka the king asked the ministers at his court: “Where, Sirs, are the children now?”
‘There is a spot, Sire, on the slopes of the Himalaya, on the borders of a lake, where there grows a mighty oak (sako). There do they dwell. And lest they should injure the purity of their line they have married their own (sakahi) sisters.’
‘Then did Okkaka the king burst forth in admiration: “Hearts of oak (sakya) are those young fellows! Right well they hold their own (parama sakya)!”
‘That is the reason, Ambattha, why they are known as Sakyas. Now Okkaka had slave girl called Disa. She gave birth to a black baby. And no sooner was it born than the little black thing said, “Wash me, mother. Bathe me, mother. Set me free, mother of this dirt. So shall I be of use to you,”
Now, just as now, Ambattha, people call devils, “devils”, so then they called devils, “black fellows” (kanhe). And they said, “This fellow spoke as soon as he was born.’ Tis a black thing (Kanha) that is born, a devil has been born!” And that is the origin, Ambattha, of the Kanhayanas. He was the ancestor of the Kanhayanas. And thus is it, Ambattha, that if one were to follow up your ancient name and lineae, on the father’s and on the mother’s side, it would appear that the Sakyas were once your masters, and that you are the offspring of one of their slave girls.’
When he had thus spoken the young Brahmans said to the Blessed One: ‘Let not the Venerable Gotama, humble Ambattha too sternly with this reproach of being descended from a slave girl. He is well born, Gotama, and of good family; he is versed in the sacred hymns, an able reciter, a learned man. And he is able to give answer to the Venerable Gotama in these matters.
Then the Blessed One said to them: ‘Quite so. If you thought otherwise, then it would be for you to carry on our discussion further. But as you think so, let Ambattha himself speak.’
‘We do not think so; and we will hold our peace. Ambattha is able to give answer to the venerable Gotama in these matters.’
Then the Blessed One said to Ambattha the Brahman: ‘Then this further question arises, Ambattha, a very reasonable one which even though unwillingly, you should answer. If you do not give a clear reply, or go off upon another issue, or remain silent, or go away, then your head will split in pieces on the spot. What have you heard, when Brahmans old and well stricken in years, teachers of yours or their teachers, were talking together, as to whence the Kanhayanas draw their origin, and who the ancestor was to whom they trace themselves back?’