Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 5

SR No.: 001005
Original Sutra Author: Hemchandracharya
Author: Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra
Publication Year: 1962
Total Pages: 507
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Mythology, & Story
File Size: 11 MB

Page 42

11
PREVIOUS INCARNATIONS OF ARIŞTANEMI Dhanavati's birth as Ratnavati (144-151)
And now, there was a king, Anangasinha, in the city Sivamandira in the south row on this very Vaitādhya. He had a moon-faced wife, Saśiprabhā. Dhanavati's jīva fell and descended into her womb. At the right time sasiprabhā bore a daughter with a pure body. Because she was born after many sons, she was extremely dear. On an auspicious day her father named her Ratnavati and she grew up in course of time, like a creeper in wet ground. Soon she acquired the arts suitable .for women and attained youth, auspicious, a formless ornament of the body.
One day her father asked an astrologer, “Who will be a suitable husband for her?” After some reflection, he replied: “ The man who takes from you your jewel of a sword and on whom the gods rain flowers as he worships in a temple of the eternal Arhats, the crest-jewel of the human world, will marry your daughter Ratnavati in a suitable union.”
Saying, “Whoever takes from me my jewel of a sword, he, the sole field of miracles, may be my son-in-law,” the king, delighted, dismissed the astrologer.
Episode of Sumitra and Padma (152–194)
Now in this same Bharata in the city Cakrapura there was a king, Sugrīva, who was not stiff-necked (with pride) because of his virtues. He had a son, Sumitra, by his wife, Yaśasvati, and one named Padma by Bhadrā, elder and younger respectively. Sumitra was dignified, well-bred, devoted to the law, knowing what was right, adhering to the doctrine of the Arhats. Padma was the opposite.
Thinking, “The kingdom cannot belong to my son while he is alive, ” Bhadrā, evil-minded, gave Sumitra strong poison. Dazed by the poison, Sumitra fell to the ground. The effects of the poison spread like waves of the ocean. Sugriva came there in haste with the ministers and had many remedies applied