z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 08.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 542
542 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
- Then came vasa. The Blessed Lord went to Beluna for his vasa and asked the brethren to make their vasa in Vesali.
VII
After finishing his vasa the Lord came to Vesali with a mind to leave Vesali and move on his journey.
So the Blessed Lord early one morning robed himself, and taking his bowl, entered Vesali for alms; and when he had passed through Vesali and eaten his meal he gazed at Vesali with an elephant’s look and addressed the venerable Ananda and said: “This will be the last time Ananda that the Tathagatha will behold Vesali.”
Thus saying he bade farewell to the people of Vesali.
He gave to the Lichchavis, when they took leave of him at the old city on their northern frontier, his alms-bowl as a memento.
It was his last visit to Vesali. He did not live to return to it again.
§ 2. Halt at Pava
From Vesali the Blessed Lord went to Bhandagam.
From Bhandagam he went to Hatthi-gam to Bhoga-Nagara.
And from Bhoga-Nagara he went to Pava.
At Pava the Blessed One stayed at the mango grove of one blacksmith by name Chunda.
Now Chunda heard that the Blessed One had come to Pava and was staying in his mango grove.
Chunda went to the mango grove and sat near the Blessed One, who gave him a religious discourse.
Gladdened by it Chunda addressed the Blessed One and said: “May the Blessed One do me the honour of taking his meal together with the brethren, at my house tomorrow.”
And the Blessed One signified, by silence, his