Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
Prince Siddhartha, the son of king Suddhodan, lived a very happy life in the pleasure-palace. He was married to a beautiful princess, Yashodhara. There were music, dancing and pleasure all around him. He knew nothing of want, pain, disease, old age or death.
One day a veena was put on the window sill. The wind touched the strings and it produced music. The prince heard that the Devas were playing on the veena. He heard them giving a message. The voices of the wind told the prince that he was born to save mankind. The world was waiting for him. He should leave worldly love to save humanity from miseries of life. He felt a great desire to see the vast world outside the pleasure-palace.
When the king came to know of the prince’s desire, he ordered that the whole city should be decorated beautifully. The prince should not see any ugly and painful sight. No blind, sick, old person or a leper should come out. So the city of Kapilvastu was decorated in a very fine way. It looked quite clean and attractive – ‘a capital of some enchanted land’. The people welcomed the prince joyfully. The prince also felt happy to see people’s joy.
Then the prince saw an old man. He was wearing dirty and torn clothes. He was very lean and thin. He looked very tired and weak. He had no teeth. The prince asked his charioteer, Channa, who that man was. Channa told him that he was an old man. The prince asked if old age would come to all. Channa told him that it would. This made the prince very sad.
He ordered Channa to return to the palace. He did not take food. The entire night he was sleepless, uncomforted. That night the king saw a very fearful dream. He dreamed seven signs of fear. He was much disturbed. He lost all peace of mind. He called dream-readers to explain the meaning of the seven visions but none of them could explain the meaning.
At last, an old hermit came to the palace. He said that the seven fears were seven joys. The prince would shine like the sun. He would leave the world and give a new message of hope and love for the suffering of humanity. The king became very sad. For the prince’s second trip, he doubled the number of guards at all the doors of the palace. He tried his best to divert the mind of the prince but his efforts were of no use.
The Prince desired to see the city once more. The king gave permission for it. The next day, the prince dressed like a merchant and Channa in the dress of his clerk went out to see the city once more. The prince saw all kinds of people and all the common things. The prince saw a sick man. He was painfully crying for help. He asked Channa why the man was crying. Channa told him that he (the sick man) was suffering from a fatal disease. The disease would destroy all his powers. Then he would die.
Channa further told the prince that all grow old, fall sick and die. Then the prince saw a dead body being carried towards the river bank. He saw a group of people. They were crying, ‘Ram, Ram Satya hai’. The sight of the dead man and his cremation moved the prince deeply. Channa told him that no man is immortal. All must die. The prince was greatly troubled in mind. He said that he would try to remove suffering from the world. He then asked Channa to return home as he had seen enough.
1. How was the old man looking?
2. What did the prince decide finally?
3. Why did the king order to decorate the whole city beautifully?
4. What did the prince not know initially?
5. What did the old hermit say?
6. What did the voices of the wind tell the prince?
Find out a word from the passage which means:
7. Influenced as by charms
8. The incineration of a dead body
9. Turn aside
