Five Souls and a Promise

The opening of the story

On a spring morning in Kaushambi, the gardener Sthavar came to the minister Vasava with a spray of mango blossom in his hand and two pieces of news. "Spring has come to the royal park," he said, "and the acharya Dharmanandana has come with his monks, and is staying there." Vasava scolded him for putting the smaller news first, and then rewarded him anyway. He carried the same blossom to King Purandaradatta and said, "Come and see what spring has done to the park."

Vasava was a man of settled faith. The king was not, yet. So the minister walked him slowly under the flowering trees, and then said, "Do you remember the Ashoka tree you planted when you were a boy? Let me show you how tall it has grown." Under that tree, on a patch of bare dry ground, sat a company of monks in plain white cloth, barefoot, without a single ornament among them. Some were reciting the Angas, some were arguing points of logic, some were so thin from fasting that their ribs showed. In the middle sat Dharmanandana, calm as still water.