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By Root 5886 0

was a prosperous and busy market town called Vebhalinga, with many inhabitants and crowded with people. Now the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, lived near the market town Vebhalinga. It was here, in fact, that the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, had his monastery; it was here, in fact, that the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, sat [46] and advised the Sangha of bhikkhus.

6. “In Vebhalinga the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, had as a supporter, as his chief supporter, a potter named Ghaṭīkāra. Ghaṭīkāra the potter had as a friend, as his close friend, a brahmin student named Jotipāla.790

“One day the potter Ghaṭīkāra addressed the brahmin student Jotipāla thus: ‘My dear Jotipāla, let us go and see the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened. I hold that it is good to see that Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened. ’ The brahmin student Jotipāla replied: ‘Enough, my dear Ghaṭīkāra, what is the use of seeing that bald-pated recluse?’791

“A second and third time the potter Ghaṭīkāra said: ‘My dear Jotipāla, let us go and see the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened. I hold that it is good to see that Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened.’ And a second and a third time the brahmin student Jotipāla replied: ‘Enough, my dear Ghaṭīkāra, what is the use of seeing that bald-pated recluse?’—‘Then, my dear Jotipāla, let us take a loofah and bath powder and go to the river to bathe.’—‘Very well,’ Jotipāla replied.

7. “So the potter Ghaṭīkāra and the brahmin student Jotipāla took a loofah and bath powder and went to the river to bathe. Then Ghaṭīkāra said to Jotipāla: ‘My dear Jotipāla, there is the monastery of the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, quite nearby. Let us go and see the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened. I hold that it is good to see that Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened. ’ Jotipāla replied: ‘Enough, my dear Ghaṭīkāra, what is [47] the use of seeing that bald-pated recluse?’

“A second and a third time Ghaṭīkāra said: ‘My dear Jotipāla, there is the monastery of the Blessed One Kassapa…’ And a second and a third time the brahmin student Jotipāla replied: ‘Enough, my dear Ghaṭīkāra, what is the use of seeing that bald-pated recluse?’

8. “Then the potter Ghaṭīkāra seized the brahmin student Jotipāla by the belt and said: ‘My dear Jotipāla, there is the monastery of the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, quite nearby. Let us go and see the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened. I hold that it is good to see that Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened. ’ Then the brahmin student Jotipāla undid his belt and said: ‘Enough, my dear Ghaṭīkāra, what is the use of seeing that bald-pated recluse?’

9. “Then, when the brahmin student Jotipāla had washed his head, the potter Ghaṭīkāra seized him by the hair and said:792 ‘My dear Jotipāla, there is the monastery of the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, quite nearby. Let us go and see the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened. I hold that it is good to see that Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened.’

“Then the brahmin student Jotipāla thought: ‘It is wonderful, it is marvellous that this potter Ghaṭīkāra, who is of an inferior birth, should presume to seize me by the hair when we have washed our heads! Surely this can be no simple matter.’ And he said to the potter Ghaṭīkāra: ‘You go as far as this, my dear Ghaṭīkāra?’—‘I go as far as this, my dear Jotipāla; for so much [48] do I hold that it is good to see that Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened!’—‘Then, my dear Ghaṭīkāra, let go of me. Let us visit him.’

10. “So Ghaṭīkāra the potter and Jotipāla the brahmin student went to the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened. Ghaṭīkāra, after paying