From the delightful city of the Kosalans,

A brahmin, a master of the mantras,

Went to the southern country,

Aspiring to possess nothing.

In the realm of Assaka, near Aḷaka,

He lived on the banks of the Godhāvarī river,

Surviving on gleanings and fruit.

Supported by him, a large village came to be.

With the revenue generated from that,

He conducted a great sacrifice.

Having offered the great sacrifice,

He re-entered his hermitage.

When he had re-entered it,

Another brahmin arrived.

With blistered feet and thirsty,

His teeth dirty, his head covered in dust.

Approaching him, he asked for five hundred coins.

Seeing him, Bāvarī invited him to a seat,

Asked after his health and well-being,

And spoke these words:

Whatever I had to give away,

All of it has been given away by me.

Excuse me, brahmin,

I do not have five hundred.

If, when I am asking,

You do not give,

On the seventh day may your head

Split into seven pieces.

Putting on a deceptive act, the charlatan

Proclaimed this terrifying curse.

Hearing those words of his,

Bāvarī became miserable.

He dried up, taking no food,

Pierced by the dart of sorrow.

And with a mind like this,

His heart did not delight in contemplation.

Seeing him terrified and miserable,

A deity desiring his welfare

Approached Bāvarī

And spoke these words:

He does not know the head;

He is a charlatan wanting wealth.

He has no knowing concerning

The head or head-splitting.

Then do you know, good lady?

Explain it to me when asked:

The head and head-splitting.

Let us hear your words.

I do not know this either;

I have no knowing of this.

The head and head-splitting:

Vision into this belongs to the Conquerors.

Then who knows,

On the face of this earth,

The head and head-splitting?

Explain this to me, deity.

From the city of Kapilavatthu,

The leader of the world went forth;

A descendant of King Okkāka,

The Sakyan son, the light-bringer.

He, brahmin, is the Fully Awakened One,

Gone to the beyond of all phenomena;

Attained to all direct knowledges and powers,

Endowed with vision regarding all phenomena;

Attained to the destruction of all karma,

Freed through the destruction of acquisitions.

He is the Tathāgata, the Blessed One in the world;

The one with vision teaches the Dhamma.

Go to him and ask this;

He will explain it to you.

Hearing the words Fully Awakened One,

Bāvarī became elated.

His sorrow diminished,

And he gained abundant joy.

Glad at heart and elated, deeply moved,

Bāvarī asked the deity:

In which village or town,

Or in which country is the leader of the world?

Where can we go to see

The Fully Awakened One, the supreme of two-footed beings?

In Sāvatthī, the Kosalan capital, is the Conqueror,

Of vast wisdom and excellent, extensive intelligence.

That son of the Sakyans is peerless, free from effluents,

The knower of head-splitting, the bull among men.

Then he addressed his students,

Brahmins who had mastered the mantras:

Come, young men, I will tell you;

Listen to my words.

He whose appearance in the world

Is rare and infrequent,

Has today arisen in the world,

Renowned as the Fully Awakened One.

Go quickly to Sāvatthī,

And see the supreme among two-footed beings.

But how shall we know him when we see him,

That he is the Tathāgata, O brahmin?

Tell us who do not know,

So that we may know him.

For there have come down in the mantras

The marks of a Great Man;

Thirty-two are explained,

Complete and in sequence.

He upon whose limbs

Are these marks of a Great Man,

Has only two destinies;

A third is not found.

If he inhabits a home,

He will conquer this earth;

And without rod or weapon,

He will rule justly by the Dhamma.

And if he goes forth

From home to homelessness,

He becomes a fully awakened one who has lifted the veil,

An unsurpassed worthy one.

His birth, clan, and marks,

His mantras, and his other students,

The head and head-splitting:

Ask these in your mind alone.

If he is the Tathāgata,

One of unobstructed vision,

He will answer verbally

The questions asked in your mind.

Having heard the words of Bāvari,

The sixteen brahmin students:

Ajita, Tissa Metteyya,

Puṇṇaka, then Mettagū,

Dhotaka and Upasīva,

Nanda, and then Hemaka,

Both Todeyya and Kappa,

And the wise Jatukaṇṇī,

Bhadrāvudha and Udaya,

And also the brahmin Posāla,

The intelligent Mogharājā,

And the great sage Piṅgiya.

All of them leading their own groups,

Renowned throughout the whole world,

Meditators delighting in contemplation, wise,

Imprinted by past inclinations.

Having respectfully greeted Bāvari,

And having circumambulated him,

Wearing matted hair and antelope skins,

They all departed facing north.

To Patiṭṭhāna of Aḷaka,

Then to the city of Māhissatī,

And also to Ujjenī, Gonaddha,

Vedisa, and the place called Vana.

And to Kosambī, Sāketa,

And Sāvatthī, the supreme city,

To Setabyā, Kapilavatthu,

And the town of Kusinārā.

And to Pāvā, Bhoganagara,

Vesālī, and the Magadhan city,

And the Pāsāṇaka Shrine,

Delightful and pleasing to the mind.

Like a thirsty person for cold water,

Like a merchant for great profit,

Like one scorched by the heat for shade,

They hurriedly climbed the mountain.

The Blessed One at that time,

Surrounded by the Saṅgha of disciples,

Was teaching the Dhamma to the disciples,

Roaring like a lion in the forest.

Ajita saw the Tathāgata,

Radiant like the hundred-rayed sun,

Just like the moon on the fifteenth day,

Having reached fullness.

Then, having seen on his body...

...And perfect in phrasing.

Standing to one side, joyful,

He asked his questions in his mind:

Tell me his age,

Tell me his clan, along with his marks.

Tell me his perfection in the mantras,

And how many does the brahmin teach?

His age is a hundred and twenty years,

And by clan he is Bāvarī.

There are three marks on his body,

And he is a master of the three Vedas.

In the marks, the oral histories,

In vocabularies and rituals,

He teaches five hundred students,

And has reached perfection in his own tradition.

Reveal the full details

Of Bāvarī's marks, highest of men!

Cutter of doubts, make them known,

Let us be left with no doubt.

He can cover his face with his tongue,

He has a tuft of hair between his eyebrows,

His genitals are enclosed in a sheath:

Know it thus, young man.

Hearing not a single question asked,

Yet hearing the questions answered,

All the people wondered,

Thrilled, with hands held in reverence:

Who is this:a deva or a brahmā,

Or Inda, the husband of Sujā?

When questions are asked in the mind,

To whom is he replying?

Bāvarī asks about the head,

And about the splitting of the head.

Answer this, Blessed One;

Dispel our doubt, O seer.

Know that ignorance is the head,

And true knowing is the splitter of the head,

When joined with faith, mindfulness, and immersion,

Along with zeal and energy.

Then, filled with great joy,

The young man composed himself.

Arranging his antelope skin over one shoulder,

He fell with his head at the Tathāgata's feet.

The brahmin Bāvarī, dear sir,

Together with his students,

Uplifted in mind and joyful,

Bows at your feet, O Seeing One.

May the brahmin Bāvarī be happy,

Together with his students!

And may you too be happy,

Live long, young man!

For Bāvarī or for yourself,

Or for anyone's doubts whatsoever:

Having been given the opportunity, ask

Whatever you desire in your mind.

Given the opportunity by the Fully Awakened One,

Sitting down with hands held in reverence,

Ajita asked the first question

Right there to the Realized One.

The Background Verses are finished.