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I AM MAHĀVĪRA
THE QUEEN MRGĀVATI AND THE GOLDSMITH
I had my nineteenth rainy residence in Kaušāmbi (near current Allahabad). I was informed that the king Šatānīka has died and his queen Mrgāvatī was ruling there on behalf of her young son. The king of Ujjain was Candapradyota. He wanted to marry her. She eluded it on the ground of her young child and recent
widowhood. This made him angry. Sometimes later, he besieged
Kaušāmbi.
As I was there, Candapradyota used to come to listen to my sermons. Mrgāvatī also came to visit me. As I knew their story, I made up my mind to turn the enmity into friendliness. Accordingly, in one of my lectures, I narrated a story of a goldsmith.
"The goldsmith was very fond of women. He had 500
wives. However, he was doubtful about there nature. Once, when
he came out of a tour, he saw freedom of his wives in his harem.
He got angry. He caught one of them; beat her so much that she died. On seeing this, all the wives got angry and they not only killed the goldsmith-their husband, but they also burnt themselves out of frustration. The goldsmith was re-born as a female, who
became an adulteress later. All his wives were re-born as males.
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