One of their number, young and strong and brave, A merchant ere he took the yellow robe, Had crossed the frozen Himalayan heights And found a race, alien in tongue and blood, Gentle as children in their daily lives, Untaught as children in all sacred things, Living in wagons, wandering o'er the steppes, To-day all shepherds, tending countless flocks, To-morrow warriors, cruel as the grave, Building huge monuments of human heads-- Fearless, resistless, with the cyclone's speed Leaving destruction in their bloody track, Who drove the Aryan from his native plains To seek a home in Europe's trackless wastes. He yearned to seek these children of the wilds, And teach them peace and gentleness and love.[11] "But, Purna," said the master, "they are fierce. How will you meet their cruelty and wrath?" Purna replied, "With gentleness and love." "But," said the master, "they may beat and wound." "And I will give them thanks to spare my life." "But with slow tortures they may even kill." "I with my latest breath will bless their names, So soon to free me from this prison-house And send me joyful to the other shore." "Then," said the master, "Purna, it is well. Armed with such patience, seek these savage tribes. Thyself delivered, free from karma's chains These souls enslaved; thyself consoled, console These restless children of the desert wastes; Thyself this peaceful haven having reached, Guide these poor wanderers to the other shore." With many counsels, many words of cheer, He on their mission sent his brethren forth, Armed with a prophet's zeal, a brother's love, A martyr's courage, and the Christian's hope That when life's duties end, its trials end, And higher life awaits those faithful found. The days pass on; and now the rising sun Looks down on bands of pilgrims homeward bound, Some moving north, some south, some east, some west, Toward every part of India's vast expanse, One clothed in orange robes with every band To guide their kindred on the upward road. But Purna joined the merchants he had led, Not moved by thirst for gain, but love for man, To seek the Tartar on his native steppes. Meanwhile the master with diminished band Crossing the Ganges, backward wends his way Toward Rajagriha, and the vulture-peak Where he had spent so many weary years, Whither he bade the brothers gather in[12] When summer's rains should bring the time for rest. [1]Varanassi is an old name of Benares. [2]It can be no exaggeration to put the number of sacred edifices that burst upon Buddha's view as he first saw the holy city, at 1,000, as Phillips Brooks puts the present number of such edifices in Benares at 5,000. [3]In this marriage-feast three well-known incidents in the life of Buddha and his teaching's on the three occasions are united.