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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expected them all to change their dresses after their meal to men's attire, put on armour and take the weapons that men use, fasten the shields to their hands, make a great show of fight making loud noise and run helter Skelter all over the forest settlement in a fairly drunken state.
But Khandasri did not exactly know how to explain it to her husband. When her husband saw her in her pensive mood, he asked her what was wrong. Then she explained her desire and her husband quickly agreed that it could easily be worked out.
When her period was complete she gave birth to a son. The usual rites of birth were celebrated for ten nights. On the eleventh day Vijaya called all his friends and relatives to a dinner and explained to them the pregnancy desire that his wife had felt. He gave to his son the name Abhagnasena, that is one whose army was invincible. The child was brought up most carefully by five nurses and when he grew up to be a young man, he was married to eight young damsels in whose company he spent his time enjoying all sorts of pleasures in his mansion. When his father died Abhagnasena was made the leader of the whole group and the occasion was celebrated appropriately. He continued the father's tradition of torturing and tormenting the people of the villages around. He even went a step further and destroyed some of the villages. In time to come, the displaced people from these villages reported the matter to the king of Purimatāla and begged of him to protect them from the dreaded decoit Abhagnasena.
The king listened to the whole of the account of the harassment most patiently. Though he was greatly disturbed he would not like to act out of impatience. Nevertheless, he asked his general to surround the whole area and capture Abhagnasena but the spies of Abhagnasena managed to convey a forewarning to him. He collected his own people and tried to work out a strategy. They concluded that instead of waiting for the army of the king to reach their territory in the forest, it would be much better to attack it when they are still on the way. All the thieves got ready to attack the king's army. When they actually met it, the thieves attacked it, defeated it and drove it away. Whatever little was left of the army was collected