Treasury of Jain Tales

SR No.: 006762
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre
Publication Year: 1994
Total Pages: 468
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 162

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king said, "No, dear, that is not the point. I am worried simply because the prince is still a child and quite unable to look after his subjects. You better take care of him, when I renounce the world." But the queen had also made up her mind to renounce the world along with him. So the king installed the prince on the throne and left the palace along with the queen to join the order of Disäproksita hermit. They had taken a nurse with them to look after the queen as she was pregnant. They stayed in a solitary hermitage and in due course of time she gave birth to a son. The new born babe could be wrapped only in the barks of trees and therefore he was called Valkalaci rin. The queen however died in child birth and the nurse, who brought him up, also died after some time. Now buffalo's milk was the only food for the baby. The father, who was already an ascetic had great difficulty in bringing up the child.
King Prasannacandra's spies conveyed all this information to him, concerning his father, mother and the newly born brother. When the child grew up, some artist who had drawn a picture of the child Valkalacirin, showed it to Prasannacandra who felt a great deal of affection for his younger brother that he quickly despatched some courtesans from the town to the forest to discover the whereabouts of his brother. These women disguised themselves as religious personages and carried several sweets and delicious fruits with which to tempt the child. They succeeded in locating the child in the forest and offered him the fruits, spoke sweet words to him and hugged him close to their delicate and fleshy breasts. But before they could pick up the child and leave for the palace, the old ascetic, the father of the child, was seen coming towards them. The women felt frightened and left the place in a great hurry, leaving the child behind.
Valkalacirin looked every where, followed their footsteps but could not find them. Yet he persisted in his search and wandered far into the woods till he met a cartman whom he greeted as 'Täta.' He told the cartman that he did not know how to go back to his own place, the Potanapura hermitage. The cartman said that he too was going the same way and the two of them could easily go along together. Valkalacirin also addressed the cartman's wife with the same word 'Tāta' and when she protested, her husband explained