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THE ALL PROTECTING NAMOKĀRA MANTRA
King Bimbisāra Śrenika of Magadha was building a new palace with great enthusiasm. But all the work done during the day would collapse during the night. This worried king Śreņika. He tried various solutions but in vain. Some traditional idiosyncratic pundit said, “This appears to be some satanic spell. As such a man having 32 auspicious symbols should be sacrificed to appease the haunting spirit.
A search for a person with auspicious symbols was launched. The king declared—“Any person, having 32 auspicious signs and ready to offer himself for sacrifice will be rewarded with gold equivalent to his body-weight.”
A poor Brahmin woman had four sons. One of her sons was Amara kumāra. He was about twelve years old and was endowed with 32 auspicious signs. His mother thought that if they got gold equivalent to Amara's weight rest of the members of the family will be able to get the means of their livelihood. The greed for gold made to sell her son to the king's men.
Amara kumāra brought before the king and gold coins of equivalent weight were given to the Brahmin lady.
Amara kumāra humbly pleaded before the king, ministers, priests and all, “Please do not kill me. I am very afraid of dying. Let me go.” But no one felt pity for him. The king was pursuing his self interest, how could he let the boy go?
For 237
Cry
