Once upon a time a king named Sabbadatta reigned in the city of Ramma. The king Sabbadatta had a thousand sons; and to his eldest son Yuvanjana he gave the viceroyalty.

One day early in the morning he mounted his splendid chariot went to disport him in the park. On the tree-tops, on the grass-tips, at the ends of the branches, on all the spiders’ webs and threads, on the points of the rushes, he saw the dew-drops hanging like so many strings of pearls. He asked, “Friend charioteer! what is this?” He replied, “This is what falls in the cold weather, and they call it dew.” The prince took his pleasure in the park for a portion of the day. In the evening, as he was returning home, he could see none of it. He asked, “Friend charioteer!where are the dew-drops? I do not see them now.” The charioteer replied, “My lord! As the sun rises higher, they all melt and sink into the ground.” On hearing this, the prince was distressed, and said, “The life of human beings is like dew-drops on the grass. I must be rid of the oppression of disease, old age, and death; I must take leave of my parents, and renounce the word.” So because of the dew-drops, he perceived the Three modes of Existence as it were in a blazing fire. When he came home, he went to the Hall of Judgement, and asked the king’s permission to leave and to renounce the world.

Then the king asked, “Is anybody hurt him?”

The prince replied that to avoid the attack of old age he wanted to go.

The king said: “Do not leave; the townsfolks are crying not to go.”

The prince again said: “Do not stop me. If I live here lust will intoxicate me and old age is sure to come.

The king hesitated. Then the mother was told, “Your son, my lady, is asking his father’s leave to renounce the world.” “What do you say?” It took her breath away. The Queen said, “Don’t go away.”

On hearing this the prince said:

“Like as the dew upon the grass, when the sun rises hot,

So is the life of mortal men: O mother, stay me not!”

When he had said this, she begged him again and again to the same effect. Then the Great Being refused and stuck firmly to go away.

When the king heard his son’s words, he said, “Go, lady, in your litter, back to our palace of Perennial Delight.” After his mother’s departure the Bodhisatta again asked leave of his father. The king could not refuse him, and gave permission.

When this consent was gained, the Bodhisatta’s youngest brother, prince Yudhitthila also asked permission to accompany his brother and follow the religious life, and the king consented. Both brothers left the Hall of Judgement. The queen looking upon the Great Being cried weeping, “My son has renounced the world, and the city of Ramma will be empty!”

The Bodhisatta taking with him his youngest brother, Prince Yudhitthila, he left the city, and sending back the great multitude which followed them, they both made their way to Himalaya. There in a delightsome spot they built a hermitage, and embraced the life of a holy sage, and cultivating the transcendent rapture of meditation, they lived all their lives long upon the fruits and roots of the forest, and became destined for the world of Brahma.