Sansaaraaranyaye Dadayakkaraya

(The hunter in the wilderness of sansara)

By Simon NAVAGATHTHEGAMA

Translated by Malinda Seneviratne

Chapter1 :(Part 5)

The gods, even though considerably late to arrive, set about attending to all the ancient customs they seemed to have forgotten under the watchful gaze and supervision of Lord Vishnu. Brahma himself was seen holding atop the Esatu tree the massive white flag forty eight leagues in height and twelve leagues wide, as clear at a cloudless summer sky.

The God Santhusitha was producing breeze by waving the val vidunava. The God Sakra blew his victory conch incessantly. The pious set known as the 32 Gods held golden caskets and offered flowers. Their counterparts, the 32 Goddesses carried intricately crafted lamps. The God Panchasikha, strummed on the seven strings of the Beluvapandu Veena three leagues in length to intoxicate the entire world with the musicality of ten thousand nine hundred melodies and in this manner paid his respects over and over again.

And then there was the Gandharva King, Nimbaru, who conjured a wondrous platform upon which with innumerable types of percussion instruments he offered his respects. Over and over again. Mesmerized by these rhythems, tens of thousands of naïve nymphs began singing and dancing, with scant regard for place and moment, inappropriate to custom and appropriate to faith. Thereafter arrived the four Varam Gods with sword in hand, with their retinue of two hundred and eighty thousand Yakshas and twenty eight Yaksha generals, to stand guard over the uncountable deities present and over the mortal remains of the Hamuduruwo, standing in utter solitude amidst these countless gods.

The rock itself trembled by the devotional purity of the gods as well as their cacophony. Unsettled by this millions of Nagas and Naga princesses who make their home in the bowels of the earth began drawing towards the rock. This was enough to cause a clash. The 4 Varam Gods, the twenty eight Yaksha Generals and their army of two hundred and eighty thousand Yakshas keeping guard over the body of the Hamuduruwo stopped them. The reason was that every inch of that rock was occupied by the gods and as such there was no room to accommodate anyone else.

It was however not an easy task to dissuade the Nagas. All the Nagas of Nagaland gathered. They made their submissions with all due respect to the Maha Kela Naga King, each carrying a blue lotus and lamenting, hair in disarray, hands clasped over chests and sorrow pouring out in trammeled tears. They petitioned thus:

'Was it only for the Devas that this Sansara was made of unbearable sorrow? Is Nirvanic Bliss their preserve?

Those Buddhas who attained enlightenment after enduring the paramitas, did they do so just for the sake of the Devas? Are they committed only to quell the sufferings of the Devas? Do we too not inhabit Sansara? Did they decide to eliminate only the sorrows of the Devas and not the Nagas in an enlightenment pledge? Was it not one from our caste who during the seven weeks following enlightenment coiled himself around the Enlightened One and with flared hood positioned over the august head protected him from torrential rains? For these reasons we too have the right to pay our respects to the Hamuduruwo.'

The Devas were not the ones to be shaken by this lament of millions of Nagas. Their cries were heard only by those who had always been their companions in the journey through Sansara, the millions of white ants who too were resident in the earth. They were not the kind to agitate or scream their grievances. At midnight, upon debate and decision, they crawled from all quarters and sped through the legs of the Devas. One morning when he awoke, the hunter saw that the holy remains of the Hamuduruwo had been encased in a splendid shrine made of the spectacular collective dharma of the white ants.

The hunter comprehended that this sepulchral entity that had been built over the remains of the Hamuduruwo was not just another ordinary stupa. It was most endowed with all the artistry one finds in an anthill. In accordance with the directive of the Maha Kela Naga King, a Naga female guarded the grave, making it her residence for a long, long time.

So that the body of the Hamuduruwo remains as it was at Parinirvana moment, a swarm of bees also made the anthill its home, buzzing in and out, in and out constantly bathing the holy remains with honey and other unguents.