Mahākhandhako The Great Chapter - Ancient Buddhist Texts

IV. In Rājagaha - 179
Abhiññātānaṁ Pabbajjā
42: The Going-Forth of the Well-Known (Sons of Good Families)
Tena kho pana samayena abhiññātā abhiññātā
Then at that time many well-known
Māgadhikā kulaputtā Bhagavati brahmacariyaṁ caranti.
sons of good families from Magadha were living the spiritual life under the Gracious
One.
Manussā ujjhāyanti khīyanti vipācenti:
People were grumbling, moaning, cursing: 219
“Aputtakatāya paṭipanno Samaṇo Gotamo,
“The Ascetic Gotama’s method is making (families) childless,
vedhavyāya paṭipanno Samaṇo Gotamo,
the Ascetic Gotama’s method is causing breakage and loss, 220
kulupacchedāya paṭipanno Samaṇo Gotamo,
the Ascetic Gotama’s method is family-smashing,
idāni tena jaṭilasahassaṁ pabbājitaṁ,
now through him a thousand yogis have gone forth,
imāni ca aḍḍhateyyāni paribbājakasatāni Sañjayāni pabbājitāni,
and these two-hundred and fifty of Sañjaya’s wanderers have gone forth, 221
ime ca abhiññātā abhiññātā Māgadhikā kulaputtā
and these many well-known sons of good families from Magadha
Samaṇe Gotame brahmacariyaṁ carantī,” ti
are (all) living the spiritual life under the Ascetic Gotama,”
apissu bhikkhū disvā, imāya gāthāya codenti:
and having seen the monks, they scolded them with this verse:
219 The exact meaning of the 2nd & 3rd words is not clear as they only appear here. PED
suggests that khīyati may be related to Sanskrit kṣāyati, to burn (with anger); and vipāceti
may be a dialectical form of vivāceti, otherwise also unattested.
220 Comm: yāsaṁ patī pabbajanti, tāsaṁ vedhavyāya vidhavābhāvāya; whatever fathers went
forth, those (families) suffered breakage and loss, and (the women) became widows.
221 Notice that again there is no mention of those who went forth in Bārāṇasī.