PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto I.
Psalms of Single Verses
XLII
Khadira-Vaniya
(Revata)
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
He was reborn, in this Buddha-age, in the kingdom of Magadha, at the village of Nālaka, as the son of Rūpasārī, the brahminee. When he was grown up his mother desired [46] he should marry, but he heard of Sāriputta's[1] renunciation, and said: 'If my elder brother Upatissa has laid aside this wealth, I too will vomit back his vomit,' and he went to the bhikkhus and, announcing himself as the younger brother of the 'General of the Norm,'[2] he asked for ordination. When he had won arahantship in the Acacia Wood,[3] he went to Sāvatthī to salute the Exalted One and his brother, staying a few days at the Jeta Grove. Then the Master, seated in the conclave of the Ariyans, assigned 'Revata the Acacia-woodlander the first place among forest bhikkhus.'[4]
At another time he went to his native village and fetched away his three nephews, the sons of his three sisters, Cālā, Upacālā, and Sīsūpacālā.[5] named respectively, Cāla, Upacāla, and Sīsūpacāla, and ordained them. One day the Thera was ill, and Sāriputta heard of it, and said: 'I will make inquiry after Revata's state and treatment.' And seeing him coming far off, Revata admonished the three novices to be heedful, saying:
[43] Come, Cāla, and you, Upacāla too,
Sīsūpacāla also, take good heed,
Be on your guard, for he who comes to you
Is as a wondrous archer splitting hairs.
And when they heard him the novices went forth to meet the General of the Norm, and while he conversed with their uncle, sat near composed and intent. When he approached them, they rose up, bowed, and remained standing. The Thera asked them at which vibara they were each dwelling, and they replied: 'At such an one.' Then, instructing the boys, he said: 'My little brother has indeed taught the lesser duties belonging to the Norm,' and thus praising Revata, he departed.
[1] Rūpasārī's relation to Upatissa Sāriputta (i.e., son of Sārī), the chief Thera, is given in Dhp. Com., i. 88, and below CCLIX.
[2] The usual title of Sāriputta.
[3] Khadira; Acacia Catechu, according to Childers.
[4] Ang., i. 24. For Revata's longer poem see CCXLIV.
[5] See Sisters, Ps. lix, lx, lxi. In the absence of the Commentary, Dr. Neumann has assumed that the three masculine vocatives in the text are feminine, and that Revata is addressing his sisters. Pronounce Cāl- as Chāl- in all these names.
