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## The Thirty-Seventh Parva
531
In the city of Trilokottama, situated on the Vijayā mountain, there lived a king named Vidyadgati and his queen, Vidyānmālā. They had a son named Rashmivega, who was wise and had reached the end of his lifespan. [26]
Having attained full youth, Rashmivega embraced the path of renunciation, taking initiation from the Muni Samādhigupta and observing the most excellent fasts, including the Sarvatobhadra. [27-28]
One day, while engaged in yoga in a cave on the Himagiri mountain, he was encountered by the sinful Dhūmaprabha, who had emerged from the torments of the Kukkuṭa-sarpa hell, where he had been reborn as a serpent after biting the elephant Vajraghoṣa. [29]
Enraged at the sight of the Muni, the serpent swallowed him whole. The Muni's soul, however, was reborn as a deva in the Puṣkara vimāna of the Acyuta heaven, where he lived for twenty-two oceans of years. [30]
At the end of his lifespan, this virtuous soul was reborn as the son of the king Vajravīrya and queen Vijayā in the Padma country, a part of the Videha region in the western Jambudvīpa. He was named Vajranābhi. [31-32]
Vajranābhi, protected by his good karma, enjoyed the unbroken fortune of a Chakravartin, but remained unsatisfied. He desired to attain the fortune of liberation. [33]
He drank the nectar of Dharma, flowing from the lotus-mouth of the Bhattaraka Kṣemaṅkara, and renounced all desires for worldly pleasures. [34]
Having established his son on the throne, he renounced his kingdom and embraced the path of renunciation, practicing compassion for all beings. [35]
The being who had been the serpent was reborn in the sixth hell, where he suffered for twenty-two oceans of years. [36]
After a long time, he was reborn as a hunter named Kuraṅga in the forest. He terrified all the creatures born in that forest. [37]
One day, the Chakravartin Vajranābhi, who was strong in body and attached to his physical form, abandoned his meditation and was basking in the sun in the forest. [38]
Seeing him, the sinful hunter, filled with hatred, inflicted many unbearable torments upon the Muni, like a coward. [39]
The Muni's soul, however, entered into Dharma-meditation and worshipped the Supreme Being. He was reborn as a being in the middle category of the Sahaṅgama-madhyama. [40]
**Notes:**
* The text contains some inconsistencies in the Sanskrit verses, which have been corrected in the translation.
* The terms "ocean of years" and "Sahaṅgama-madhyama" are specific to Jain cosmology.
* The story highlights the cyclical nature of karma and the importance of renunciation for liberation.