44. Q. _What did he then do?_ A. He sprang from his horse, cut off his beautiful hair with his sword, put on the yellow dress of an ascetic, and giving his ornaments and horse to Channa, ordered him to take them back to his father, the King. 45. Q. _What then?_ A. He went afoot towards Rājagrha, the capital city of King Bimbisāra, of Magadha. 46. Q. _Who visited him there?_ A. The King with his whole Court.[2] 46a. Q. _Thence whither did he go?_ A. To Uruvela, near the present Mahābōdhi Temple at Buddha Gayā. 47. Q. _Why did he go there?_ A. In the forests were hermits--very wise men, whose pupil he afterwards became, in the hope of finding the knowledge of which he was in search. 48. Q. _Of what religion were they?_ A. The Hindu religion: they were Brāhmanas.[3] 49. Q. _What did they teach?_ A. That by severe penances and torture of the body a man may acquire perfect wisdom. 50. Q. _Did the Prince find this to be so?_ A. No; he learned their systems and practised all their penances, but he could not thus discover the cause of human sorrow and the way to absolute emancipation. 51. Q. _What did he then do?_ A. He went away into the forest near Uruvela, and spent six years in deep meditation, undergoing the severest discipline in mortifying his body. 52. Q. _Was he alone?_ A. No; five Brāhman companions attended him. 53. Q. _What were their names?_ A. Kondañña, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahānāma, and Assaji. 54. Q. _What plan of discipline did he adopt to open his mind to know the whole truth?_ A. He sat and meditated, concentrating his mind upon the higher problems of life, and shutting out from his sight and hearing all that was likely to interrupt his inward reflections. 55. Q. _Did he fast?_ A. Yes, through the whole period. He took less and less food and water until, it is said, he ate scarcely more than one grain of rice or of sesamum seed each day. 56. Q. _Did this give him the wisdom he longed for?_ A. No. He grew thinner and thinner in body and fainter in strength until, one day, as he was slowly walking about and meditating, his vital force suddenly left him and he fell to the ground unconscious. 57. Q. _What did his companions think of that?_ A. They fancied he was dead; but after a time he revived. 58. Q. _What then?_ A. The thought came to him that knowledge could never be reached by mere fasting or bodily suffering, but must be gained by the opening of the mind. He had just barely escaped death from self-starvation, yet had not obtained the Perfect Wisdom. So he decided to eat, that he might live at least long enough to become wise. 59. Q. _Who gave him food?_ A. He received food from Sujatā, a nobleman's daughter, who saw him sitting at the foot of a nyagrodha (banyan) tree. He arose, took his alms-bowl, bathed in the river Nerañjāra, ate the food, and went into the jungle. 60. Q. _What did he do there?_