His Enemies. - Page 513

z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 07.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 494

494 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Then to one man Devadatta gave command: “Go, my friend ; the Samana Gautama is staying at such a place. Kill him.” And the man returned and said to him : “ I cannot deprive the Blessed One of his life. VI
He made a third attempt on the life of the Buddha.
This time there was at Rajgraha an elephant named Nalagiri, fierce and a man-slayer.
And Devadatta went into Rajgraha and to the elephant stables, and said to the elephant keepers : “I, my friends, am a relative of the raja, and am able to advance a man occupying a low position to a high position, and to order an increase of his rations or of his pay.”
Therefore, my friends when Samana Gautama shall have arrived at this carriage road, then loose the elephant Nalagiri and let him go down the road.
Devadatta engaged archers to kill the Buddha. He had also let loose on his way the mad elephant Nalagiri.
But he did not succeed. When these attempts became known, Devadatta lost all the public endowments given to him. And even the king (Ajatasatru) stopped giving him interview.
For living he had to beg from house to house. Devadatta received many favours from Ajatasatru, which he could not retain long. Devadatta lost all his influence after the Nalagiri incident.
By his acts, Devadatta becoming very unpopular in Magadha left it for Kosala, thinking that Prasenjit might receive him cordially. But he was contemptuously driven out by Prasenjit.

Once when the Blessed One was travelling about in the Kosala country with a large company of the monks, he went down to a Brahmin village named Thuna.