PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto I.
Psalms of Single Verses
XXII
Cittaka
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
He was born in this Buddha-age at Rājagaha, as the son of a brahmin of great possessions. And when the Master was staying in the Bamboo Grove, Cittaka[1] went to hear him, and found faith and so entered the Order. Choosing ethical conduct as his exercise, he entered a wooded spot, and there in devotional practice induced jhāna. Thereby developing insight he soon attained arahantship. Thereupon he went to salute the Master. Asked by the brethren, [27] Have you been strenuous, friend, in your forest sojourn?' be uttered his psalm, to show he had been so, and to declare aññā:
[22] Peacocks of sapphire neck and comely crest
Calling, calling in Kāraṇviaa woods;[2]
By cool and humid winds made musical:[3]
They wake the thinker from his noonday sleep.
[1] Pronounced Chittāka. Sister Cittā was also of Rājagaha (Sisters, p. 27).
[2] The Commentary, reading Karambhiya, states this word is the name of a species of tree, and possibly also the name of the wood.
[3] In the compound sītavāta-kalitā the Br. M8. of the Commentary reads kiḷitā, the S. MS. kadditā. In both the word denotes the musical call (madhuravassitaṃ) of the peacock (mora - mayūra). According to the Abhidhānappadīpikū (137), the term kalasaddo is used to designate any inarticulate pleasant sound. The birds are described as crying their ke-kā call when they hear the thunder of the approaching clouds heralding the rains. Mora, a redundant foot, has crept in - from the Commentary perhaps. 'Humid,' the translator's gloss, from meghavātena, 'rain-cloud-breeze,' in the Commentary.
