Finding sweet comfort in
united love, they resolved to banish every complaining thought.
Beholding thus the death of Tathagata, they controlled their grieving
hearts, and with full strength of manly virtue dismissing every listless
thought, they submitted to the course of nature. Oppressed by thoughts
of grievous sorrow, they entered the city as a deserted wild: holding
the relics thus they entered, whilst from every street were offered
gifts. They placed the relics then upon a tower for men and Devas to
adore.
Division of the Sariras
Thus those Mallas offered religious reverence to the relics, and used
the most costly flowers and scents for their supreme act of worship.
Then the kings of the seven countries, having heard that Buddha was
dead, sent messengers to the Mallas asking to share the sacred relics of
Buddha. Then the Mallas reverencing the body of Tathagata, trusting to
their martial renown, conceived a haughty mind: "They would rather part
with life itself," they said, "than with the relics of the Buddha"--so
those messengers returned from the futile embassage. Then the seven
kings, highly indignant, with an army numerous as the rain-clouds,
advanced on Kusinagara; the people who went from the city filled with
terror soon returned and told the Mallas all: that the soldiers and the
cavalry of the neighboring countries were coming, with elephants and
chariots, to surround the Kusinagara city.
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