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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now realised the tremendous shock the whole thing had meant to her; she felt great pains in her stomach and the child was born. She left it under a tree and went to an adjoining lake to wash herself and her cloths. She was still in the water of the lake when a big elephant mysteriously emerged out of the water. He rushed at her, picked her up in his strong trunk and tossed her up in the air. Luckily for Madanarekhä exactly at that moment a Vidyādhara was passing that way in the air and had he not caught hold of her, that would have been her end. But he did. He was charmed by Madanarekhā's beauty and proposed that they should be lovers. He told her that he was the crown-prince of the fairies and would soon become their king. Madanarekhā was in a fix, she was not in a position to go back to her palace, nor could she accept this proposal. She told him
bout the child she had just borne, and requested him to take her to the child. He said that was unnecessary since the child was safely taken to the king of Mithila. Madanarekhă had now no alternative, even then she would find some excuse to procrastinate and save her virtue. She said she would consider his proposal only if he took her to the island of Nandi svara, which was a great centre of pilgrimage with fifty five temples of the Jinas. The Vidyadhara's father had just gone there and he would not mind taking Madanarekhā to the holy place.
They worshipped at all the important temples at Nandi svara, they also met a respectable old ascetic who composed their minds by a religious discourse. It so much affected the Vidyādhara that he implored Madanarekha to accept him as her brother. The all-knowing ascetic relieved Madanarekhä of her anxieties for her infant boy. He told her that a royal horse carried the baby to the king of Mithilä, and he and his queen had been taking proper care of the boy. Why should they do so ? The explanation according to the holy sage went back to four earlier birth cycles of both the king and the baby. The long story as it came from the ascetic began at a remote point of time when the present king of Mithila and Madanarekha's infant boy were two brothers, Puspasikha and Ratnasikha born of king Amitayasas and queen Puspavati of the city of Manitorana. After enjoying the kingly powers for a long time they felt distressed by the sorrowful spectacle that human life