Chapter 2 Summary

Chapter 2 goes back in time to a point when Sam, known as Lord Siddhartha, desiring a new body, leaves the seclusion of his large estate and travels to the city of Mahartha. He has been secluded for some time and is not aware of the changes that have taken place in the outside world.

Sam and his band of military men and servants stay at an inn operated by a man named Hawkana, who is eager to please his wealthy guest. At a feast, he brings him a bottle of Burgundy wine, originally from the "vanished Uratha," which pleases Sam greatly (p. 39). Sam calls for the oldest musician in the hotel, indicating he wants the musician oldest in years, not in body. Hawkana tells him that a boy working in the stables was a musician in a previous incarnation.

Sam has the boy...