In the Himalayan region,
I dwelt on a mat made of leaves.
Not feeling any greed for food,
I was always happy back then.Digging up roots like kaḷamba,
biḷāli and takkaḷi too
I ate them prepared by adding
jujube, marking-nut, and bel.Padumuttara, World-Knower
Sacrificial Recipient,
discerning what I was thinking,
came into my presence just then.Taking some biḷāli roots for
the Great Elephant who had come,
the God of Gods, the Bull of Men,
I placed them in his alms-bowl then.The Great Hero then consumed them
which made me extremely happy.
After eating, the Omniscient One
spoke this verse to me at that time:“You’ve brought pleasure to your own heart
by giving me these roots to eat.
For one hundred thousand aeons
you’ll come to know no bad rebirth.”This is my last going around;
all new existence is destroyed.
I am bearing my last body
in the Buddha’s dispensation.In the fifty-fourth aeon thence
the one known as Sumekhali
was a wheel-turner with great strength,
possessor of the seven gems.The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught!
Thus indeed Venerable Biḷālidāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Biḷālidāyaka Thera is finished.