[^541]: Picking up the story of the Buddha's past life as King Mahāsudassana from DN 16:5.17.1.

[^542]: From here we leave DN 16 behind and with it any semblance of realism. Some of these details are shared with SN 22.96, which however does not mention the name Mahāsudassana.

[^543]: Readings vary. The Sanskrit text has saptapauruṣā ardhacaturthapauruṣāś ca nikhātā.

[^544]: I think the point is that they listened to the music rather than doing bad things.

[^545]: This is specific instance, so I use past tense. Where it is an abstract description of a legendary past, I use the present tense to denote an eternal or mythic present.

[^546]: The wheel is firstly the sun and secondly the wheel of the chariots that drove the Indo-Europeans in their conquests. It is the manifestation of unstoppable power. The solar imagery is reflected in the name Mahāsudassana ("Great Splendor"). The whole story reflects the Indo-European dream of universal domination.

[^547]: Many of the details in this myth echo the Brahmanical horse sacrifice. Since the horse was the primary source of Indo-European dominion, its sacrifice served to authorize the power of a king. It was a costly and dangerous rite that was attempted only by the greatest of sovereigns. | Bhiṅkāra ("ceremonial vase") and abbhukkirati ("besprinkled") are elevated terms.

[^548]: In the horse sacrifice, the horse is released for a year, while the king follows it with his army, claiming any land that it wanders on as his.

[^549]: Read bhuñjati at MN 98:10.30 with yathābhuttañca bhuñjatha at DN 17:1.9.4, DN 26:6.7, and MN 129:35.7. These have sometimes been rendered "eat", "enjoy", or "govern". But compare the archaic English "use" meaning "the benefit or profit of lands". Thus yathābhuttañca bhuñjatha means "use as has been used", i.e. "maintain the current level of taxation".

[^550]: The Wheel plunges into the seas, while the sacrificial horse is born in the western and eastern seas.

[^551]: Historically, India has usually been divided into squabbling realms, but from an early age there was a dream of a unified and peaceful continent.

[^552]: "At the High Court" (atthakaraṇapamukhe) is uncertain. Attha- has many variants, including aḍḍa- and aṭṭa-. Atthakaraṇa normally refers to a king "sitting in judgment" as at SN 3.7:1.5 or MN 89:13.3. Here, however it is a place. -Pamukha is a standard descriptor of the attributes of a wheel-turning monarch in the sense of "finest" (eg. DN 17:2.5.1) rather than "entrance". Thus I take it as meaning "the supreme place of judgment" i.e. "High Court".

[^553]: The white elephant is a symbol of royalty to this day. The description recalls Indra's elephant Airāvata. | For sattappatiṭṭho, the commentary has susaṇṭhitaaṅgapaccaṅga ("well-grounded on each and every limb"), a sense confirmed by the Mūlasarvāstivāda Bhaiṣajyavastu which has saptāṅgaḥ supratiṣṭhito ("well-established on seven limbs"). The subcommentary lists the four feet, trunk, tail, and penis (varaṅga).

[^554]: The sacrificial horse is likewise white with black head or forequarters. It is identified with the sun, thus being a "sky-walker". "Thundercloud" (valāhaka; Sanskrit balāhaka) is the name of one of the four horses of Kṛṣṇa's chariot in the Mahābharata. The description here also recalls the Vedic sacred horse uccaiḥśravas.

[^555]: The "commander" (pariṇāyaka) is mostly found in Buddhist texts of this context, and is not a regular term of governance. This passage shows that he was responsible for management of the realm, while below he appears as commander of the army (DN 17:2.8.2). Elsewhere he is said to excel in strategy (AN 5.134:2.5).

[^556]: The jarring inclusion of "women" (itthī) in this list probably refers to state-sponsored prostitution.

[^557]: As at DN 5:19.1.

[^558]: The palace is named "Principle" (dhamma) in recognition of the king being subject to a higher law. Normally I translate pāsāda as "stilt longhouse" but here something grander is meant.

[^559]: For kūṭāgāra as "chamber" see MN 37:8.10.

[^560]: Thus denying the doctrine of Pūraṇa Kassapa at DN 2:17.5. This is the recognition, at least partially, of right view.

[^561]: The mahāviyūha must have been some kind of structure at the entrance to the palace, a "foyer".

[^562]: These are the three factors of right thought. The king skillfully uses a transition in physical space to set up his intention to meditate.

[^563]: Here as in DN 1, jhāna is not a uniquely Buddhist practice.

[^564]: This segment breaks the expected pattern of "foremost" things.

[^565]: Not the British car of the same name. The chariot is the source of victory in battle.

[^566]: Read dukūlasandanāni, where dukūla is "fine cloth, silk" and sandana is "cord, tether".

[^567]: An odd detail. Maybe the sound of the elephants disturbed his meditation?

[^568]: Like Ānanda at DN 16:5.13.1.

[^569]: He makes it clear that this will not be an intimate visit.

[^570]: The aorist is not past tense, as it is governed by mā.

[^571]: "Desire" is chanda, the first of the four bases of psychic power, which in DN 16:3.3.1 are said to lead to long life. By urging him to live long, she inverts the Mahāparinibbānasutta where Ānanda fails to do the same.

[^572]: Implying that Ānanda was right to not beg the Buddha to live long.

[^573]: At AN 6.16:2.2 this advice is given by Nakula's mother.

[^574]: Like Ānanda at DN 16:5.13.1.

[^575]: This contrasts with the Buddha's last meal at DN 16:4.20.1, which caused sickness and distress. The Buddha was rejecting existence entirely, whereas Mahāsudassana was continuing in a pleasant form of conditioned existence.

[^576]: After DN 5:21.16, this is the second Jātaka in the Dīghanikāya.

[^577]: Accepting the Mahāsaṅgīti's reading of vessinī. I believe the variant velāmikā is a ghost word contaminated from AN 9.20:4.1.