‘The function of the Chief Justice is not to carry out the instructions of the Council, but to show the Council the path of justice,’ said Prithusen. Finding Divya silent, with her head lowered, he said with a soft smile on his lips, ‘Is my eagerness to shoulder your palanquin a crime in your eyes too?’

‘No, Arya,’ replied Divya, trying to raise her eyes, but finding that they had filled with tears, she kept her head bowed. ‘I am grateful for the honour,’ she said, and her head bent still further.

For a few seconds they remained silent. Then Prithusen said, ‘For cool fresh air, it would be better if we sat down near the pond in the garden.’

Without answering, Divya followed him with a bowed head.

Prestha

THE RULER OF MADRA, THE GREEK KING MILINDA, A MAN OF GREAT integrity and righteousness, became a convert to the Buddhist faith. A little later, he renounced the royal palace and the throne and took his vows as a monk. He set free thousands of slaves—men and women who had been owned either by the state or by himself. When granting freedom, he gave the slaves generous sums of money to build a future free of serfdom. After that, for some days the streets, lanes and marketplaces of Sagal became the scene of much turmoil caused by the newly emancipated slaves. The slaves, unused to saving or handling money, spent the bounty on drinking excessively, wearing expensive clothes, and making a nuisance of themselves. Soon the money was exhausted and they took to borrowing. And when they could not repay their debts, they were again sold back into slavery, to Brahmins and other wealthy people. Some of them, finding both slavery and freedom equally strenuous, took refuge in the monastic way of life of the Buddha and attained peace by adopting the yellow robes and the begging bowl of mendicants.

Prestha, the veterinary doctor and palace slave, had come with the king from the land of the Greeks. Being exceptionally clever, humble and adept in the breeding and rearing of horses, he became a favourite with the king. As he was a royal slave, he was well looked after. When the king renounced the world, besides granting him freedom, he gave him as a special favour a large number of pedigree horses which had been brought from such faraway places as Kapisha, Kamboj, Valhik and Sugam. With these valuable horses, Prestha went, along with the other horse dealers, trading and dealing, to the east and west, north and south. He bought chariots and horses in one place and sold them at a higher price in another, and thereby, in course of time, accumulated thousands of gold pieces. He then settled down in Sagal like any other rich merchant while his agents continued to attend to his extensive trade. He bought a poor but pretty Brahmin girl and married her. He built himself palaces and gardens, purchased men and women slaves, and began to live like one of the nobility.