A Surprising event.
King Suddhodana had a teacher. He was known as Kāladevala, but people called him Asita, the sage. When Asita heard that the king had a son he was very happy.
He went to see the baby prince. The king was very happy and he wanted to pay reverence to his teacher.
He brought the baby prince before the sage, and told the sage “Teacher, my son was born yesterday. Please see whether his future would be good.
” Saying this the king lowered the infant prince before the sage. The baby infant turned his feet on to the sage’s head.
This surprised Asita. He held the baby’s feet and examined them carefully. He got up and said “The prince will become a great teacher in this world.” Saying this he put his palms together and paid due respect to the prince.
The King saw this and he too did the same. This was the first salutation of the king, to the baby prince.
