A?VAGHOSA'S WORKS 57
form ; he recognizes that men rejoice in the delight of the world and seek not salvation, and therefore he sets out the truth which leads to enlightenment in attractive garb, in the hope that men attracted by 1 it may realize the aim and extract from his work the gold alone. As he makes no allusion to an earlier poem, we may conclude that the Saundarananda was his first attempt. The topic of the poem is the legend of the conversion of the reluct- ant Nanda, his half-brother, by the Buddha, a story recounted in the Mahavagga and the Niddnakatha, but Acvaghosa deals with it in the approved manner of the later Kavya. He begins with an account of the foundation of Kapilavastu, which gives him occasion to display his knowledge of heroic tales and mythology (Canto i). There follows the description of the king, £uddho- dana, and briefly an account of the birth of Sarvarthasiddha and his half-brother Nanda. The Buddha is described in full in the next Canto (iii) ; then we hear of Sundarl's beauty and the perfection of her union with Nanda as of the night with the moon. Reluctantly Nanda leaves her (iv), and the Buddha hastens to secure his ordination as a monk, much against his inclination (v). Bitter is Sundarl's grief (vi), and Nanda himself seeks by a long list of legendary parallels to defend his desire to cling to his beloved ; kings of yore have laid aside the hermit's garb and returned to the world of joy and life (vii). In vain are the demerits of women, the flattery on their lips, the treachery in their hearts, pointed out (viii) ; in vain is he warned of the evils of pride illustrafed by the fate of heroes of the past (ix). The Buddha determines on a bolder plan ; he carries him to heaven and shows him on the way in the Himalaya a one-eyed ape of hideous form, asking him if Sundari is fairer than it. Nant'a energetically asserts his wife's loveliness, but on the sight of the heavenly Apsarases must admit that their beauty raises them as far above Sundari-as she is above the ape ; with fickle faith he resolves to win an Apsaras as bride, but is warned that he must win heaven by good works, if he is to obtain this end (x). Re- turned to earth he strives for this end, but Ananda warns him, adducing a wealth of examples, that the joys of heaven are fleeting and that, when man's merit is exhausted, he must return to earth again (xi). Nanda is thus induced to lay aside all thought of heavenly joys and to seek and obtain instruc-
