._ It does not seem so; he is starving himself to death.

_V._ Is he dying?

_K._ Not exactly, but I do not see how he can live--on that diet.

_S._ Oh, Visakha, how have I been deprived of my son through a whim!

_Both return into the palace. VISAKHA comes back._

_V._ It seems that Siddhattha is ruining himself.

_K._ At the rate he is going now, he won't stand it long. He may not
live another month. It is pitiable. You should have seen him. That
beautiful young man looks like a consumptive in his last stage. I did
not dare to tell what I thought. The Princess would not have borne
the sad news.

_V._ Too bad. It looks pretty hopeless.

_K._ I do not see how the Prince can survive.

_V._ What is the idea of these fasts?

_K._ These pious recluses believe that the self is imprisoned in the
body and that the senses are the prison gates. They want to liberate
the soul, and many of them behold visions, but Siddhattha seems to
doubt whether the saints of Uruvela proceed on the right track. Indeed
he denies the very existence of the self.

_V._ I know he does. His views should be branded as purely human
wisdom. As the senses are finger touch, eye touch, ear touch, nose and
tongue touch, so the mind is to him mere thought touch. He claimed
that the mind originates through a co-operation of the senses.

_K._ His disciples begin to break away from him.

_V._ That is right. They ought to have done so long ago. I always said
that Siddhattha is an unbeliever. He spurns faith and relies too much
on his own observation and reasoning. He will never find
enlightenment. He is too negative, too nihilistic, and his quest of
Buddhahood will end in a lamentable failure.

_K._ It would be a pity, sir. He is certainly in earnest to find the
truth--the real truth, not what the priests say nor the Vedas declare,
but the truth, provable truth.

_V._ Yes that is his fault. When the king speaks with you tell him
all, explain the hopelessness of his situation. The king ought to know
the facts.

_VISAKHA retires into the palace._

_K._ [_Calls in a low voice_] Gopa, Gopa!

[_GOPA appears from behind the bush._]

_K._ [_Aside_] I knew she would not be far.

_G._ What do you want?

_K._ I want to have a talk with you.

_G._ Well?

_K._ Let us set our marriage day.

_G._ I do not care to marry you--just yet.

_K._ I want a kiss, Gopa.

_G._ You shan't have it!

_K._ I will leave Kapilavatthu and go back