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Mother ......?
47
that the Chief Minister had come into the secret chamber. The Queen-mother advised Chitramala to go to Sukoshal and then she went back to her palace.
"Dear Chief Minister! I think you have heard about the arrival of the Rajarshi ?"
“Yes, Honoured Queen-mother! I have heard about it”.
“What have you thought about it?” “I think that our king will not return from the Rajarshi”.
“Ah! Wliat did you say ? Queen Sahadevi's eyes welled up with tears.
"Queen-mother ! Do not worry about it! Do not give way to sorrow. This has been the tradition of the kings of 'Ayodhya. This has been their way and this tradition has been in existence from the time of Lord Adinath".
"But the throne of Ayodhya will be vacant !"
"Enough! This is the only infallible method by which we can prevent him from becoming a sadhu. We shall place this problem before him and there is the possibility of his accepting our suggestion. There is no other way”.
“Then, why delay! Please go at once and bring my son here somehow”.
Accordingly, the Chief Minister accompanied by the high officials of the court visited the saintly king, Kirthidhar. The people of Ayodhya followed him and thronged the garden to see and to salute the Rajarshi.
All went to see him but only Queen Sahadevi stayed behind. She was burning with anger and hatred. She cursed the Rajarshi and deprecated him in her mind, but the fire of her anger could not do any harm to Kirthidhar. On the contrary, he remained calm and detached. His equanimity remained unshaken. Queen Sahadevi who was blinded by selfishness gained nothing. On the contrary, she lost what was hers.
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