[183. Koṭumbariya[1]]
Happy, [and] with a happy heart,
I approached the Best among Men,
shining like a dinner-plate tree,[2]
sitting down amidst the mountains,
like the ocean without measure,
extending[3] as far as the earth,
worshipped[4] by the gods’ assembly,[5]
of the best race of bulls of men. (1-2) [2163-2164]
I [once] offered to the Buddha
Sikhi, the Kinsman of the World,
a piece of cloth[6] [which I had] filled
with seven flowers [I] had plucked. (3) [2165]
In the thirty-one aeons since
I did pūjā [with] that flower,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (4) [2166]
In the twentieth aeon hence
I was a greatly powerful
wheel-turning monarch with great strength,
[known by the] name Mahāṇela.[7] (5) [2167]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (6) [2168]
Thus indeed Venerable Koṭumbariya[8] Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Koṭumbariya[9] Thera is finished.
koṭumbariya is a kind of cloth; the name would mean “[That Kind of Cloth]-er”. This spelling follows BJTS; PTS gives Kotumbariya. ↩︎
kaṇṇikāra, kaṇikāra = Sinhala kinihiriya, Pterospermum acerifolium, produces a brilliant mass of yellow flowers; Engl. a.k.a. karnikar, bayur tree, maple-leaf bayur, caniyar (now archaic?), dinner-plate tree; Bodhi tree of Siddhattha Buddha. ↩︎
reading vitthataṃ with BJTS for PTS uddhataŋ (“risen up”) ↩︎
reading pūjitaṃ with BJTS for PTS paretaŋ (“dead,” “oppressed”) ↩︎
devasanghena ↩︎
lit., “a koṭumbara” ↩︎
BJTS reads Mahānela, meaning = ? ↩︎
PTS reads Kotumbariya ↩︎
PTS reads Kotumbariya ↩︎