Note 12 — I. KING MĀNDHĀTAR.1

When he left Mount Yugandhara, taking his course heavenwards, the five hundred Rishis, who now dwelt on one of the slopes of Sumeru, saw him coming, and they said, “Honoured sirs, here comes the worst of kings.” The Rishi Durmukha poured water into the palms of his hands, and flung it towards the host in order to stop it. Then the treasure of the minister, which went in front of the host, said to the Rishis, “O Brahmans, cease to be angry. This is one who is everywhere victorious. This is King Māndhātar. It is not a case of cranes.” Now when King Māndhātar came up to that spot, he asked who had stopped the army. The treasure of the minister replied that the Rishis had done so. The king asked what those Rishis delighted in. The minister replied, “In their matted hair.”12 The king said, “Then let it fall. And as for themselves, let them go on in front of me.” Thereupon their matted hair fell, and they themselves began to move on in front of him, their hands grasping bows and arrows. Then the treasure of the wife said to the king, “O king, these Rishis are practising austerities; you ought to let them go free.” So the king let them go free; and when they had again betaken themselves to their works of penance they became possessed of the five kinds of insight.