Returning thus to Kapilavastu, the whole country
appeared withered and bare, as when one comes back to a deserted
village; or as when the sun hidden behind Sumeru causes darkness to
spread over the world. The fountains of water sparkled no more, the
flowers and fruits were withered and dead, the men and women in the
streets seemed lost in grief and dismay. Thus Kandaka with the white
horse went on sadly and with slow advance, silent to those inquiring,
wearily progressing as when accompanying a funeral; so they went on,
whilst all the spectators seeing Kandaka, but not observing the royal
Sakya prince, raised piteous cries of lamentation and wept; as when the
charioteer returned without Rama.
Then one by the side of the road, with his body bent, called out to
Kandaka: "The prince, beloved of the world, the defender of his people,
the one you have taken away by stealth, where dwells he now?" Kandaka,
then, with sorrowful heart, replied to the people and said: "I with
loving purpose followed after him whom I loved; 'tis not I who have
deserted the prince, but by him have I been sent away; by him who now
has given up his ordinary adornments, and with shaven head and religious
garb, has entered the sorrow-giving grove."
Then the men hearing that he had become an ascetic, were oppressed with
thoughts of wondrous boding; they sighed with heaviness and wept, and as
their tears coursed down their cheeks, they spake thus one to the other:
"What then shall we do?" Then they all exclaimed at once, "Let us haste
after him in pursuit; for as when a man's bodily functions fail, his
frame dies and his spirit flees, so is the prince our life, and he our
life gone, how shall we survive? This city, perfected with slopes and
woods; those woods, that cover the slopes of the city, all deprived of
grace, ye lie as Bharata when killed!"
Then the men and women within the town, vainly supposing the prince had
come back, in haste rushed out to the heads of the way, and seeing the
horse returning alone, not knowing whether the prince was safe or lost,
began to weep and to raise every piteous sound; and said, "Behold!
Kandaka advancing slowly with the horse, comes back with sighs and
tears; surely he grieves because the prince is lost.
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