After the festival... A new dawn

It is the day after the Jetthamula festival. The King's palace in Anuradhapura is all agog. The palace staff is busy preparing meals and getting seats ready; the King and his ministers are awaiting the arrival of the visitors, the yellow-robed strangers he met and got acquainted with, the previous day on Missaka hill, when he was out hunting.

Inviting them to a meal in the palace, the King had offered to send a wagon. But the leader, Mahinda Thera, had declined the offer. "We'll make our way there", he had said.

The visitors are now in the palace. They came by air through the miraculous powers they had acquired on becoming arahats. There are five others, besides the leader, Mahinda Thera.

They have finished their meal, especially prepared for them. The King invites the princesses and the court ladies to come and make obeisance to the theras. They come with Anula Devi, the King's brother's wife at the head, and pay their obeisance. The King himself sits on a side and the court ladies do the same.

The Thera is now addressing them. He is telling them of the spirit world. He tells them that while there are some spirits who are punished with torments for the evil that they have done in this life, others, who have shunned evil and done good, are rewarded with a blissful life in heaven.

The Thera's talk or sermon is based on two sermons of the Buddha, namely the Peta Vatthu and Vimana Vatthu. The sermon goes down well because the listeners believed in such beings as ghosts and spirits of the dead. The Thera gave a reason for the present existence of these spirits. It didn't just happen. He showed the logic of cause and effect - the law of Karma.

While the Thera is explaining the law of Karma to those assembled in the palace, a crowd has gathered outside. They are curious to see these strangers. The King's men who had accompanied him on the chase the day before, had told their families and neighbours of the sudden appearance of the yellow-robed strangers on the hill. They told their kith and kin that the King had invited them to the palace the next day.

The news went down the grapevine to every corner of Anuradhapura. The curiosity of the townfolk was heightened because no yellow-robed strangers were seen making their way to the palace. How could they, when the strangers came by air? So the curious crowds rushed to the palace to see these strangers. Are they human beings, or are they some celestial (heavenly) beings who can travel by air?

The courtiers (a king's companions at court) tell the King that there is a restless crowd outside the palace gates, eager to see the strangers. The King orders his courtiers to get the stable of the State Elephant cleaned and decorated and seats arranged for the visitors.

After a while, the stable, which is a large hall, is ready. The King conducts Mahinda Thera and his companions to the hall, followed by Anula Devi, and other princesses and princes and courtiers and court ladies.

The townsfolk hurry to take vantage positions, better places to see these strange visitors. They are fairer and the yellow robes give a glow to their faces. The way they conduct themselves is very dignified.

Addressing the vast gathering, Mahinda Thera explains with examples, the retributory misery that overtakes the evil-doer and exhorts the people to refrain from evil and practise a moral code far nobler than any they have known.

He speaks in a language that is slightly different to theirs; but the people can follow him and they get the Thera's message. His talk is based on the Devadatta Sutta, the gist of which is, refrain from evil, do good.

The news has spread like wildfire, and people keep on coming - men and women who had been working in their fields, or tending their cattle or were engaged in various other daily chores. They are also coming from hamlets outside the city.

The Elephant Hall is now chock-full and those outside are craning their necks to get a glimpse of the speaker and straining their ears to follow what he is saying.

The King calls his ministers aside. "The people have come to see and hear the Thera. Go, get seats prepared in the Nandana Vana where this vast crowd can be accommodated."

Nandana Vana at the southern gate of the city is a sea of heads. In the pin-drop silence pervading the park, Mahinda Thera is once again speaking of good and evil actions and their consequences as explained by the Buddha in the Asivisopama Sutta. Asivisopama means like the poison of a snake.

The crowd has dispersed. In the cool of the late afternoon, the Thera is conversing with the ladies of the palace, who have come with Anula Devi.

At the end of the sermon at the palace in the morning, Anula Devi and some others had felt a change of heart and mind.

Anula Devi asks the Thera, "Would it be possible for us women to don yellow robes and live a life like yours?" "Yes you can," says the Thera, "My sister is already doing it. She is a bhikkhuni."

The Thera's reply gives hope to Anula Devi .

As they are conversing, the lengthening shadows tell the Thera that the day is drawing to a close. He rises from his seat to return to Missaka hill.

The ministers inform the King. The King requests them to spend the night in Nandana Park. The Thera is not happy to spend the night there.

Then, on the King's orders, the ministers invite them to the Maha Mega Park - the Maha Mevuna Uyana as is known today, which is neither too close nor too far from the city.

Accepting the invitation, Mahinda Thera and the other bhikkhus are making their way to the park, bringing to a close a fruitful day of acquainting the people with the new Dhamma which stressed the practical results of the good life lived here and now.

Sumana Saparamadu