The Prince: Was The Buddha Assasinated

Prologue

The traveler reached the top of the rise and paused. Gaya . He was clad in simple garb of an ascetic. The course white dhoti girding his loins .Wooden toe grip slippers on his feet , matted unkempt hair swirling over his craggy face . The long straggly white beard , the red beaded rudrasksh mala around his neck , all marked him for a hermit returning from a long , hard tapasya. His gaunt face and deep set eyes completed the portrait of a forest tapasvi or sadhu. Yet there was something different that set him apart from an ordinary sadhu or hermit. An indefinable quality that belied the obvious first impression. An alertness in his intense predatory eyes, a sense of banked power in his fluid movements, a hint of hidden strength, and most of all a regal air. He had been a Prince once – prophesized by the wise of becoming a World conquering King , but he chose to be a mendicant instead. Instead of the sword to defeat his enemies , he defeated them with his knowledge!

After several years of travelling in search of truth – he met many gurus and pretenders! Yet truth was elusive. So as he stood – he could see the big pea pal tree as if beckoning him. We may come to see, then, that he was, indeed, fully trained and accomplished in the traditional wisdom of India, receiving his teachings from Masters of that wisdom, in the age-old manner. As he “was able to understand and actualize the teaching”. So capable of challenging them. He stood by the banks of River Naga , his large frame silhouetted against the dusky purple of the predawn sky. The ice clear river stopped gurgling , the kush grass which were waving in the slow breeze seemed to stop. The birds which were chirping were silent. It seemed time stopped to take notice of the moment as history was in the making.

He took a dip in the Sacred River and strolled towards the holy tree. People had started gathering and found a halo around him – which was a sure sign of divinity. The five mendicants following him were impressed ! But the chaos was broken when a girl made her way to the holy man with a bowl of milk rice She is the “naga girl”, Nanda, also to be identified with Sujata, daughter of Nandika, “impelled by the gods, the joy of her heart spilling over”, dressed in blue and white “just like something immersed in purifying water,” provides him with milk-rice, so that “he became, with his six senses content, able to attain the Awakening.” Then “the five mendicants, holding that he had renounced the holy life, left him, as the five elements leave the thinking soul when it is liberated.”