From Kapilavatthu the Buddha is said to have gone to Savatthi, the capital of Kosala where Pasenadi was king, but now we lose the chronological thread and do not find it again until the last years of his life.  Few of the numerous incidents recorded in the Pitakas can be dated.  The narrators resemble those Indian artists who when carving a story in relief place all the principal figures in one panel without attempting to mark the sequence of the incidents which are represented simultaneously.  For the connection of events with the Buddha’s teaching the compilers of the Pitakas had an eye; for their connection with his life none at all.  And though this attitude is disquieting to the historic sense it is not unjustifiable.  The object and the achievement of the Buddha was to preach a certain doctrine and to found an order.  All the rest—­years and countries, pains and pleasures—­was of no importance.  And it would appear that we have not lost much:  we should have a greater sense of security if we had an orderly account of his wanderings and his relations with the kings of his time, but after he had once entered on his ministry the events which broke the peaceful tenour of his long life were few and we probably know most of them though we cannot date them.  For about forty-five years he moved about Kosala, Magadha and Anga visiting the two capitals Savatthi and Rajagaha and going as far west as the country of the Kurus.  He took little part in politics or worldly life, though a hazy but not improbable story[341] represents him as pacifying the Sakyas and Koliyas, who were on the point of fighting about the water of the Rohini which irrigated the lands of both clans.  He uniformly enjoyed the respect and attention of kings and the wealthy classes.  Doubtless he was not popular with the Brahmans or with those good people who disliked seeing fine young men made into monks.  But it does not appear that his teaching provoked any serious tumults or that he was troubled by anything but schism within the order.  We have, if not a history, at least a picture of a life which though peaceful was active and benevolent but aloof, majestic and authoritative.

We are told[342] that at first his disciples wandered about at all seasons but it was not long before he bade them observe the already established routine for itinerant monks of travelling on foot during the greater part of the year but of resting for three months during the rainy season known as Vassa and beginning some time in June.  When moving about he appears to have walked from five to ten miles a day, regulating his movements so as to reach inhabited places in time to collect food for the midday meal.  The afternoon he devoted to meditation and in the evening gave instruction.  He usually halted in woods or gardens on the outskirts of villages and cities, and often on the bank of a river or tank, for shade and water would be the first requisites for a wandering monk.  On these journeys