About seven hundred merchants
boarded the ship. The ship sailed seven humdred leagues in seven
days. The ship rode the crest of a terrible wave; it could not
maintain its balnace; the planks gave way under the might of
the waves; water rushed in at many places; the ship foundered
in the middle of the ocean. All the passengers feared death;
they cried and wailed, invoked and exhorted the gods for help.
But the Great Being did not cry nor wail, did not invoke nor
exhort the gods for help. The prince knew that the ship would
sink, so he mixed sugar with butter and had his fill of this
mixture. Then he soaked two pieces of plain cloth in oil and
wound them tightly around his body. He stood up, holding on the
mainmast. He climbed up the mast as the ship was sinking. The
others became food for fish and turtles; the water all around
took the colour of blood. The Great Being stood up on the top
of the mast. He aimed in the direction of Mithila and jumped
forwards off the mast, exerting his great strength to clear the
school of fish and turtles, to a distance of one usabha (70 meters).
On that same day, King Polajanaka died. From that moment in,
the Great Being was like a golden banana tree trunk in the waves
which had the colour of ruby, swimming in the ocean by the might
of his shoulders. He swam for seven days, but it seemed only
one day. |
The prince told his mother :" Respected Mother,
give half of the assets. I'll go to the land of Suvarnabhumi
and bring back an enormous wealth, then I'll win back the throne
that belonged to my father." Having told her that, he asked
hid mother for half of the treasure. He used it to purchase goods
to be loaded aboard a ship on which he would sail, along with
other merchants, for Suvarnabhumi. Then he went back to take
leave of his mother. He said :" Respected Mother, I am going
to the land of Suvarnabhumi." The Queen warned him :"
An ocean trip is not worth it. The benifit is scarce, the perols
manifold. Don't you go. You already have enough wealth to be
able to regain the throne." The prince told the Queen :"
I have decided to go." There upon he took leave of his mother
by making a dexterambulation and went along to embank. On that
very day, there happened an illness in the body of King Polajanaka.
He retired and could not get up again anymore.
