2: The Bodhisatta’s Youth – 297
The prince entered the royal capital of Kapilavatthu riding the chariot
accompanied by a large retinue with majestic elegance at its height. As he was
thus entering the royal city by chariot, a Sakyan Princess by the name of Kisā
Gotamī, who was possessed of charm and beauty, and who was not of lowly
birth but of high noble lineage, on seeing the physique (
rūpa-kāya
) of the prince
from where she was, on the outer terrace of her mansion, and feeling delighted,
uttered her feeling of joy as follow:
[267]
Nibbutā nūna sā mātā, nibbutā nūna so pitā,
nibbutā nūna sā nārī, yassāyaṁ īdiso patī.
Peaceful and happy will be the mind of the fortunate mother who has
given birth to such a son possessing splendour like the rising sun, an
extraordinary son of noble birth: first in beauty, superb in grace, foremost
in intelligence. Reflecting meticulously on the twin attributes of her son’s
talent and beauty, her joyful satisfaction, day after day, will result in
peace of mind.
Peaceful and happy will be the mind of the fortunate father who has given
rise to such a son possessing splendour like the rising sun, an
extraordinary son of noble birth: first in beauty, superb in grace, foremost
in intelligence. Reflecting meticulously on the twin attributes of his son’s
talent and beauty, his joyful satisfaction, day after day, will result in peace
of mind.
Peaceful and happy will be the mind of the fortunate woman who has
become the wife of such a husband possessing splendour like the rising sun,
an extraordinary husband filled with virility: first in beauty, superb in
grace, foremost in intelligence. Reflecting meticulously on the twin
attributes of her husband’s talent and beauty, her joyful satisfaction, day
after day, will result in peace of mind.
When oil is poured into a pot and when it is filled to the brim, oil
overflows. In the same way, when someone feels intensely joyful and
satisfied for some reason or the other, the said feeling of joy and
satisfaction (
pīti-somanassa
) becomes, as if it were full in the stomach and
spills out. The outburst of such feeling of joy and satisfaction expressed in
the form of a verse (
gāthā
) or in the form of prose (
cuṇṇa
) is called an
exalted saying (
udāna
), an expression of an intense feeling of joy.