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

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which was meant for the king. When the king arrived, in the company of a holy man, Canakya was still in the same seat. The holy man did not approve of the Brahmin occupying the first seat in the court which to his mind indicated the eclipse of the Nanda dynasty. A maid-servant was instructed to suggest to Canakya to occupy another seat. Canakya placed his water jug on one of the seats around him, his staff on another seat, his rosary on the fourth seat and his sacred thread on the fifth seat. This display of arrogance immediately brought about his expulsion from the court. As he was being dragged out, Canakya lifted up his foot and swore in a verse: " Like a stormy wind I will uproot this tree mercilessly, this tree of the Nanda dynasty. Its roots are deep in the state treasury and the branches are ramified as the state servants and their sons and friends." With these threatening words Canakya left the royal court. He was hereafter in constant search for a person who would help him in turning these dreadful words into a reality. He could not forget the prophetic words of the Jain monk that he was destined to govern by proxy. In the course of his wanderings as a mendicant, Cāṇakya arrived at a village where the peacock-tamers of Nanda lived. There was a little commotion in the village at the time Cāṇakya came. The village chief's daughter had a strange pregnancy craving and no one knew how to satisfy it. She wanted to drink the moon. Cāṇakya went to the chief's house for alms and when he was told about the crazy desire of the daughter he said that if they promised to hand over the child to him after it was born, he would certainly see that the pregnancy craving of the daughter was satisfied. They agreed to the arrangement and Canakya asked them to put up a tent with an opening at the top. When the moon came right overhead its rays came through the opening inside the tent and Caṇakya kept a bowl of milk right underneath. The daughter of the chief saw the moon in the bowl and she quickly drank it. She felt quite happy.
The child was duly born and was given the name of Candragupta by Canakya who went away in search of money. In the course of his journeys, he met some people who were skilled in the science of alchemy, dhātuvāda. By the time he came back, Candragupta had grown up to be a playful boy and he had a number