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Chapter - 2 Collection of Examples
She, sitting by the window, saw a pile of bangles on her husband's lap. She herself began to open them with her lotus-like hands. ||3|| She saw the king's hair turning white on his head. Accepting the situation, she recognized it as old age. ||4|| She spoke to the king, "My lord! A messenger has arrived." Looking around, the king also asked, "What is seen here?" ||5|| The queen pointed to the king's white hair and said, "My dear! This king of hair is praiseworthy, a messenger of Dharma. ||6|| It is the third age, like a weapon, a killer of youth. Seeing the white hair on his head, the king was distressed. ||7|| He said to the queen, "My dear! Are you ashamed of old age? Even seeing a single white hair, if you are so distressed, ||8|| then by announcing it on the drums, the whole world will be forbidden. It is not as if you should announce your old age even by words. ||9|| The king said, "My dear, I am not distressed by seeing white hair. This distress has another reason, my life's queen! ||10|| Our ancestors, who did not see white hair, took vows. But I, dear, am addicted to worldly pleasures, even though I have white hair. ||11|| I will take the vow even in this state. But how can the kingdom be entrusted to a son who is still a child? ||12|| Or, if I want to take the vow, what is the use of the kingdom and the son? My dear! You take the vow, and you raise your son. ||13|| The queen said, "My lord, I cannot live without you. A true wife follows her husband, wherever and whenever. ||15|| Therefore, even if you give the kingdom to our son, I will again serve you in the forest, like a shadow to your body. ||15|| Like a tree in the forest, our son will grow by his own actions. Even though he is a child, he is like a happy moon, let him grow, what is it to me? ||16|| Then, after Soma Chandra, he entrusted the kingdom to his son and, leaving the world, became an ascetic, accompanied by his wife and nurse. ||17|| He lived in a hermitage for some time, alone. He performed severe austerities, eating dry leaves and other things. ||18|| He took Palasha leaves and built a hut in the hermitage. He made a cool shade and a stream of nectar for the deer and other animals. ||19|| He brought sweet water and fruits of trees for his wife, bound by the threads of love. ||20|| There, too, the queen, full of devotion to her husband, made a bed for him with soft grass. ||21|| Then, she ground the ripe fruits and made a paste. She took care of him during the day and lit lamps at night. ||22|| She smeared the courtyard of the hermitage with cow dung from the forest. She cleaned it often for the comfort of her husband. ||23|| There in the hermitage, the couple nurtured the young deer. Not knowing the hardship of austerity, they spent some time. ||24|| The queen, who was the embodiment of contentment and happiness, conceived. The fetus grew gradually, without any pain. ||25|| The queen gave birth to a son, with no less than perfect qualities. He was like a lamp filled with oil, illuminating the delivery room with his radiance. ||26|| In the hermitage, he was wrapped in bark cloth. His father named him Valakalchari, after the bark cloth.