The Seba library treats Cakkavatti in 4 passages, across 1 author (including Armstrong, Karen).
The image of the Universal Monarch (cakkavatti) would become his symbolic alter ego, the opposite of everything that he did finally achieve.
Armstrong establishes the Cakkavatti as the structural antithesis of the Buddha’s realized identity, a mythic double whose worldly sovereignty defines by negation what enlightenment is.
, Buddha, 2000thesis
But Gotama was alone; he had no human being or god on his side who could act as his witness to his long preparation for enlightenment. He therefore did something that no cakkavatti would ever do: he asked for help.
Armstrong uses the Cakkavatti’s presumed self-sufficiency and martial pride as a foil to illuminate the Buddha’s radical act of humility at the moment of enlightenment.
, Buddha, 2000thesis
Cakkavatti: The World Ruler or Universal King of Indian folklore, who would govern the whole world and impose justice and righteousness by force.
Armstrong’s glossary entry defines the Cakkavatti as a figure of coercive universal sovereignty, distinguishing forceful imposition of order from the Buddha’s path of compassionate liberation.
, Buddha, 2000supporting
He saddled his horse Kanthaka and rode through the city, with Channa clinging to the horse’s tail in a desperate attempt to prevent his departure.
This passage narrates Gotama’s renunciation of the householder world, contextually adjacent to his rejection of the Cakkavatti destiny without naming the term explicitly.
, Buddha, 2000aside