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.