The king and the queen talked to the closest friend of Siddhartha. They asked Basantak to spend more time with his prince friend and find out why he was so serious and brooding always.
They hoped that Basantak might be able to fathom the mind of the prince as he could talk to Siddhartha frankly and in confidence.
The Queen asked, ‘‘Son, why is our prince not fun loving, outgoing and lively like other teenagers? Why does he always keep himself wrapped in grim mood?’’
Basantak had no clear idea but he promised that he would probe the mind of his friend.
So, one day when he found Siddhartha in listening mood he broached the subject, ‘‘Prince friend, how lucky you are to have born as a lone child to the king and the queen! You can ask for anything you like. There is nothing that you can not have. Your position is what the others merely dream of but I see you in grim mood always. You don’t laugh like we do or ever think of having any fun. Why my friend, why?’’
The prince sighed, ‘‘Basantak, the things I see around make me think which upsets me. Why is this world not uniform and fair to everyone? Why I am born prince having every thing laid out for my pleasure but you are not? Why my father is king but other fellow is chariot driver? Why my mother is queen but another’s mother is maid servant? Why a person begs for food but the other person has more than he can eat? Such considerations trouble my mind and I find myself in the grip of restlessness. I am losing interest in everything that this lopsided world has to offer.’’
Later Basantak informed the king and the queen, ‘‘Your Highness! Things don’t appear good. Prince is losing interest in worldly desires or attractions. His mind is thinking on the lines of an ascetic and he is talking like a monk. We can do little to change his mood. Something drastic is required to be done to bring him back to the normal world.’’
The king and the queen exchanged glances.
After the departure of Basantak, the royal couple discussed the matter.
The king said, ‘‘I always had that feeling that our Siddhartha had a mindset of a saint. At this rate instead of becoming an emperor he is more likely to become a mendicant sadhu. I don’t know what we can do?’’
The queen had been thinking over the problem for quite some time. No one knew Siddhartha’s mind better than her, being his virtual mother. She had seen the symptoms from his very childhood. Her woman mind had thought of a time tested solution. She was just waiting for the opportune moment to reveal it.
Queen Prajawati said, ‘‘O king, don’t worry. There is a solution to every problem. We must get him married. The wife would surely arouse his interest in the worldly desires. And Siddhartha is at the right stage of his life for it. He will no more be lonely to think of spiritual things and shall become a normal person.’’
The king nodded his head in agreement. He spoke in hopeful voice, ‘‘You are right, dear queen. I appreciate it. Trust woman to bring down a man to earth. We should do it as soon as possible. Should we arrange a Swayamwara?’’
‘‘I think yes, that would be better. If we arrange a marriage Siddhartha might think that we are forcing him into marriage. Let him select his bride and make him feel involved. Then, he will show more responsibility,’’ the queen said.
Thus, it was settled. The king and queen smiled at each other. The king at once sent the message to the neighbourhood and other kingdoms informing them of the Swayamwara to select bride for Prince Siddhartha. Kapilvastu was a great kingdom and king Shudhodhana was much respected and feared name. For all the kingdoms with marriageable princesses Siddhartha meant a prize catch. Hence his Swayamwara created great excitement.
On the Swayamwara date, all the princesses arrived bedecked as royal brides to be cordially received and seated in the royally decorated covered venue. Siddhartha was seated on a jewel studded throne in his princely attire. Before him lay a trayful of exquisite jewellery items and loose diamonds plus pearls. On one side of the dais sat king Shudhodhana and Queen Prajawati on royal throne. The princesses were accompanied by their respective regal parents.
According to the tradition the princesses were to introduce themselves to the prince one by one. The prince, Siddhartha was to gift fistfuls of jewellery and gems to the introducing princess if he was not interested. To the selected one the prince would take off his own necklace and present it as the token of alliance.
A procession of princesses came and departed without anyone arousing the interest of the prince. The king Shudhodhana and Prajawati exchanged some concerned glances fearing that Siddhartha was just going through the motions without any real interest in matrimony.
But their fears vanished as soon as a princess of exquisite beauty approached Siddhartha. Her doe eyes mesmerised the prince. He could not take his eyes off the face and the eyes of the Princess. She introduced herself but Siddhartha was too stunned to make out what she was uttering. But it didn’t matter. The princess herself was stricken silly and she had stammered some unintelligible words for her introduction. The important thing was that they had fallen for each other.
The princess was Yashodhra. Now she was feeling so embarrassed that she prayed Siddhartha to give her the jewellery so she could run away. But it didn’t happen. When Siddhartha gathered his wits he took off his pearl necklace and put it in Yashodhra’s neck. The venue rumbled with applause and squeals of delight.
The father of Yashodhra ran to his daughter to steady her and guide her back to her seat.
As the follow up king Shudhodhana went to the king father of Yashodhra and formally asked the hand of the princess for his son, Prince Siddhartha. The father of the selected princess embraced Shudhodhana overwhelmed with emotions of happiness.
The queens also hugged each other repeatedly and wept the tears of joy.
Very soon the marriage ceremony took place. The entire capital city celebrated the occasion. The city had been already decorated for the Swayamwara which served for the wedding too.
Queen Prajawati escorted her daughter-in-law into the palace with traditional customs and rites cheered on by all round gaiety and enthusiasm . The king and the queen were taking part in all the ceremonies with unusual gusto because they were seeing their son Siddhartha for the first time becoming a part of all the festivities. He was no more a reclusive brooding person. He was enjoying the joviality and the revelry of the wedding proceedings.
Basantak was happy to see his prince friend transform into a merry youngman. Devdutta looked jealous although he was trying to look happy.
After the wedding Siddhartha appeared a happy newly married youngman madly in love with his bride. The couple romanced in the palace and the royal gardens. There always was love in the air. The life looked beautiful and the world a heaven of joy.
Siddhartha becoming a worldly young man gave immense satisfaction to the king and the queen. They thanked Yashodhara for it. The king already had all the luxuries laid out around Siddhartha even before his marriage. The change in Siddhartha encouraged the royal parents to arrange more and more walls of luxuries to keep the prince trapped in the world of desires and carnal pleasures.
But even romantic mood and sexual interests would not hold Siddhartha for long.
His contemplative mood gradually made a comeback. He sought more and more hours of solitude. It puzzled the young bride. At first, she didn’t notice it because the withdrawal was very slow. The lines of worry again appeared on the foreheads of the royal parents. The queen hinted to the bride to pay more attention to her husband.
Basantak did his best to keep the prince cheered up without much success.
Siddhartha, one day, suddenly asked his chariot driver, Chhandak to prepare the chariot as he wished to go on a drive through the city. Chhandak asked for some time to get things ready.
He immediately informed the king about it. The king asked Chhandak to take the prince through a certain route. Then, the king immediately sent his soldiers to remove all unpleasant scenes from that route. Young men and ladies were asked to line up the route with smiles on their faces and cheer the prince. The soldiers executed the orders in quick time.
Meanwhile, the chariot emerged out of the palace and moved through the predetermined route. The prince appeared happy to see smiling young faces along the route. Beautiful girls showered flowers on the chariot of the prince. The youngmen lustily cheered the prince. The chariot moved on through the air of happiness and joy.
Then, there was a jarring note.
An old man came into the view of the prince. He had somehow escaped the notice of the soldiers and the king’s men. The old man happened to be crossing the path on his way. He was very old, feeble and doddering with his arched back trying to steady himself with a walking stick. He presented a pitiably pathetic scene.
Prince Siddhartha stared at him in shock.
Siddhartha asked, ‘‘Chhandak, what is wrong with that man? He has stooped back, black holes for eyes and ugly wrinkled skin. What is it?’’
Chhandak couldn’t hide the truth, ‘‘Prince, that man is very old. Perhaps eighty or ninety years. In old age human body becomes like that.’’
‘‘Oh! So, he was once like you and me?’’
‘‘Yes, prince, he was.’’
‘‘Shall I and you also become like that when we are in old age?’’
‘‘I will surely become like that O prince. I can’t help it. It is nature. But I can’t say about you.’’
Siddhartha frowned, ‘‘Why can’t you say it about me?’’
‘‘Prince sir, you are a royal person. Not an ordinary one. You eat rich royal food which will keep your health evergreen,’’ Chhandak reasoned.
The prince moaned, ‘‘Chhandak, you are avoiding the truth, Now I realise why lines are appearing on the faces of my father and dear mother! I had never given it a serious thought before. They are progressing towards the old age and the signs are showing. The rich royal food is not helping them any. Isn’t that the harsh truth Chhandak?’’
Chhandak didn’t reply. He put an act of being busy in reigning the horses.
Siddhartha said in a sad voice, ‘‘Chhandak! Turn back the chariot. I want to go back home.’’
To avoid any other unpleasant scene Chhandak drove back chariot through a usually deserted garden path. But he was out of luck. They came across a man who was lying under a tree groaning in pain. He was suffering from some awful sickness. The prince question Chhandak about it. He had to tell Siddhartha about diseases that can ravage the human body even before the old age.
The prince looked a sick man himself.
Back in the palace, Siddhartha staggered into his chamber with a gloomy face. Yashodhra was concerned. She asked, ‘‘Why happened my prince? Are you alright?’’
Siddhartha dumped himself on the bed and he clutched his head with his hands.
He groaned, ‘‘Today I saw an old man, very old!’’
‘‘So?’’ Yashodhra was baffled.
‘‘I can’t tell you in what horrible shape he was. I almost retched. My stomach is still turning. I learnt that one day I and you will also become like that. Is life such ugly? How tragic we are!’’
Yashodhra begged, ‘‘My master! Please forget that old man. There can be one thousand reasons for his condition. We can discuss it later on with queen mother. She will explain. Meanwhile we have a song and dance group here. They have come from a far off place just to present their art to you. We must not disappoint them.’’
The song and dance group performed. The dancer was really an accomplished artist. The rest of the group was also excellent foil to her. Yashodhra generously praised the artists and rewarded them.
But Prince Siddhartha sat through the performance with only a little interest. He just sat to complete the formality. His mind kept wandering off to that old man. Yashodhra noted it.
Yashodhra expressed her concern to Queen Prajawati. The queen sighed and patted young woman’s belly. She whispered to her daughter-in-law, ‘‘When the child arrives everything will be alright.’’
Both the royal ladies smiled hopefully.
A few days later, Siddhartha again expressed his wish to see the outside world. Again the efforts were made to prop up pleasing sights on the tour route of the prince. But in a cooked up scenario, if anything can go wrong, it certainly goes wrong. It is some mysterious law of nature that a set-up will get blown away some way. So, things again went wrong.
A funeral procession came into Siddhartha’s view. Chhandak cursed and he tried to race away the chariot. But the funeral had already caught the attention of the prince. He ordered Chhandak to stop the chariot.
The prince was staring puzzled at the dead body being carried by four carriers and the people who were following wailing and beating breasts.
Siddhartha asked, ‘‘I see a man sleeping on portable bed, tied with ropes, a garland lies above, four men carry him and some people follow weeping. What is going on, Chhandak?’’
The chariot driver could not think of any story to justify the scene. He had to reveal the truth, ‘‘Prince! Those four men are carrying a dead body. The body has no life. It will be burnt to ashes in the cremation ground. The people who mourn by weeping are the dead man’s near and dear ones. They are sad because they have lost the man for ever. He will never come back.’’
“Chhandak, will you also die one day?’’ the prince asked grimly.
After a pause Chhandak spoke, ‘‘Yes, prince, I will certainly. The death is inevitable and is the only truth in this world. Whether we like it or not, one day we will depart for the other world, leaving this world and the family.’’
‘‘What is death, Chhandak?’’
‘‘The end of life, my prince. When a body becomes too old to carry on the business of being alive the death claims it. The old man you saw the other day will soon die. A body can also become sick with some disease. If the disease can not be cured then the body dies. Some enemy can destroy the body with a sword or a mace or an arrow. Accident can also cause death. A boulder can come rolling down to crush a living body to death. The water can drown it or fire can consume it. The death comes in many ways.”
“Oh!” Siddhartha moaned and looked vacantly at the horizon. He was visualising the death of Yashodhra, his dear mother Prajawati and the king Shudhodhana. And he could see himself lying dead like the dead man those four were carrying.
A gloom descended on Siddhartha. To him life appeared a heap of woes, problems, restlessness, grief, diseases and death. He looked petrified.
Chhandak looked back at the prince puzzled by sudden silence. The prince was vacantly staring into distant horizon unaware of the immediate surroundings. He realised that his passenger was no more interested in the trip.
So, he turned the horses around and drove the chariot towards the palace. The Prince said no word.
On the way back, they came across a sadhu who was coming along merrily swinging his begging bowl. He had nothing and so, nothing to worry about. His face glowed with carefree abandon and inner contentment. His eyes were dreamy and glazed.
At the palace, while getting off the chariot Siddhartha asked, ‘‘Chhandak, on our way back we saw a naked person who looked very contented and happy. Not sad like others. What was he?’’
Chhandak coughed a few times before answering, ‘‘O Prince! That man was a sadhu, a mendicant who is not the part of our world. He has renounced the worldly things and all the relationships. He lives in the wilderness, meditates and eats whatever he gets in alms or finds around there, wild fruits or edible roots. They claim to have found the secrets of the life and death and the sublime meaning of the life. That’s what makes them at peace with themselves, they say. But O Prince, I am a simple chariot driver. I can’t understand the intelligent level things. I can say things in my stupid rustic way. Please do forgive me, O prince, if I have said something wrong. I don’t know why you ask me such things those are above my level of understanding.’’
Siddhartha patted his back and said, ‘‘Dear man, I ask you because grassroot people tell the simple truths and know them.’’
He went into the palace to his wife and talked to her in a normal manner although his mind was greatly agitated over the death. He wondered about renouncement and meditation. Was it the way out of the death, old age and the diseases? Was there a way to attain permanent peace and happiness?
