Mike Cross: Aśvaghoṣa's Gold

Buddhacarita - 167
ādāya bhaikṣaṁ ca yathopapannaṁ yayau gireḥ prasravaṇaṁ viviktam /
nyāyena tatrābhyavahṛtya cainan mahī-dharaṁ pāṇḍavam āruroha // 10.14 //
Having accepted whatever food was offered, he went to a solitary mountain spring, / And there,
according to principle, that food he did eat, and the hill of the Pāṇḍavas he did ascend. 528
//10.14//
tasminn avau lodhra-vanopagūḍhe mayūra-nāda-pratipūrṇa-kuñje /
kāṣāya-vāsāḥ sa babhau nṛ-sūryo yathodayasyopari bāla-sūryaḥ // 10.15 //
On that hill covered with lodhra 529 groves, its thickets filled with the crying of peacocks, /
Wearing the ochre robe, that human sun shone forth like the morning sun up above the eastern
mountain. 530 //10.15//
tatrainam ālokya sa rāja-bhṛtyaḥ śreṇyāya rājñe kathayāṁ cakāra /
saṁśrutya rājā sa ca bāhumānyāt tatra pratasthe nibhṛtānuyātraḥ // 10.16 //
That servant of the king, having seen him there, reported back to King Śreṇya. / And the king,
having listened, out of great respect, set off in that direction, with only a modest retinue.
//10.16//
sa pāṇḍavaṁ pāṇḍava-tulya-vīryaḥ śailottamaṁ śaila-samāna-varṣmā /
maulī-dharaḥ siṁha-gatir nṛ-siṁhaś calat-saṭaḥ siṁha ivāruroha // 10.17 //
The hill of the Pāṇḍavas, that most exalted of rocks, he of rock-like stature and heroic power on
a par with the Pāṇḍavas, 531 / A human lion, wearing the royal headdress and going with a lion’s
gait, like a lion with bouncing mane – that hill [King Śreṇya also] did ascend. 532 //10.17//
tataḥ sma tasyopari śṛṅga-bhūtaṁ śāntendriyaṁ paśyati bodhisattvam /
paryaṅkam āsthāya virocamānaṁ śaśāṅkam udyantam ivābhra-kūñjāt // 10.18 //
Then he saw, up above 533 that hill, being in the nature of a peak, the bodhisattva, the power of
his senses quieted, / Coming back to sitting with legs fully crossed, and shining forth, like the
moon rising 534 out of a thicket of clouds. //10.18//
528
Āruroha, from ā-√ruh, to rise up.
529
A tree (Symplocos Racemosa) that has yellow flowers. So the hill was yellow, like a mountain with the
morning sun on it, while the bodhisattva in his yellow-red robe was like the sun.
530
Udaya, which means the eastern mountain (behind which the sun rises), is lit. “going up” (ud- = up, aya
= going). Upari means upward, up above.
531
The story of the epic battle between the Pāṇḍavas (descended from Paṇḍu) and their cousins the
Kauravas (descended from Kuru) is told in the Mahā-bhārata and also in the Bhagavad-gita.
532
Āruroha, again, from ā-√ruh, to rise up
533
Upari, again, means upward, up above.
534
Udyantam, again, is from ud-√i, to go up.