z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 03.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 158
158 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
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was seated Ratthapala, the young gentleman of whom His Majesty had often heard tell.
“Never mind about the park today,” said the king; “I will pay a call on His Reverence.” Ordering, therefore, all the repast which had been prepared to be made ready, he mounted a chariot and drove forth in procession in royal state out of the city to see Ratthapala.
Riding as far as the ground was passable for his chariot and proceeding thence on foot with his princely train, the king came at last upon the reverend Ratthapala, whom, after exchange of courteous greetings, the king—still standing—invited to be seated on a clump of flowers.
“Nay, sire; sit you there, I have got a seat.”
Seating himself on the seat indicated to him, the king said: ‘There are four kinds of losses, Ratthapala, which impel men to cut off hair and beard, don the yellow robes, and go forth from home to homelessness—namely, (i) old age, (ii) failing health, (iii) impoverishment, and (iv) death of kinsfolk.
“Take a man who, being aged and old, far advanced in life, stricken in years, and at the close of life, recognizes his position, and realizes the difficulty either of acquiring new wealth or of doing well with what he has got; so he decides to take to homelessness. This is known as the loss which old age entails. But here are you in the prime of youth and early manhood, with a wealth of coal-black hair untouched by grey, and in all the beauty of your prime;—not yours is the loss old age entails. What have you known or seen or heard to make you take to homelessness ?
“Or take a man who, being in ill-health or pain, or gravely ill, recognizes his position and realizes the difficulty either of acquiring new wealth or doing well with what he has already; so he decides to take to homelessness. This is known as the loss which failing health entails. But here are you neither ill nor ailing, with a good digestion maintained by humours neither too hot nor too cold ; not yours is the loss which failing health entails. What have you