dn5:21.1 When he said this, those brahmins made an uproar,
dn5:21.2 “Hooray for such sacrifice! Hooray for the accomplishment of such sacrifice!”
dn5:21.3 But the brahmin Kūṭadanta sat in silence.
dn5:21.4 So those brahmins said to him,
dn5:21.5 “How can you not applaud the ascetic Gotama’s fine words?”
dn5:21.6 “It’s not that I don’t applaud what he said.
dn5:21.7 If anyone didn’t applaud such fine words, their head would explode!
dn5:21.8 But, gentlemen, it occurs to me that
dn5:21.9 the ascetic Gotama does not say:
dn5:21.10 ‘So I have heard’ or ‘It ought to be like this.’
dn5:21.11 Rather, he just says:
dn5:21.12 ‘So it was then, this is how it was then.’
dn5:21.13 It occurs to me that
dn5:21.14 the ascetic Gotama at that time must have been King Mahāvijita, the owner of the sacrifice, or else the brahmin high priest who facilitated the sacrifice for him.
dn5:21.15 Does the worthy Gotama recall having performed such a sacrifice, or having facilitated it, and then, when his body broke up, after death, being reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm?”
dn5:21.16 “I do recall that, brahmin. For I myself was the brahmin high priest at that time who facilitated the sacrifice.”


