________________
could draw a portrait of princess Malli according to his instructions. In time he prepared a yet more attractive portrait of Malli and presented the portrait to the king of Hastinapur (who was once Malli's close friend in their previous
When princess life. The king was very impressed by the
Malli came to know of portrait. He fell in love with Malli and
the situation and the problems decided to make princess Malli his he contemplated on the issue. Gifted wife. He sent a marriage proposal with an enlightened mind, she realized to King Kumbha of Mithila,
that the root cause of the problem lay in her
earlier life. She recalled her life as King Mahabal In the same manner the
and all the events of that life. she kings of Ayodhya, Champa,
realized that due to their deep Kashi, Kampilypur and affection for her in their Shravasti also learnt of the previous life all the six kings exceptional beauty of princess coveted to be near her. Malli and all of them sent their
Malli decided proposals to marry her. After
that since she was the considering these proposals,
cause of the problem she King Kumbha did not find any
should find a solution. She of the proposals suitable for
requested her father not to Malli and rejected them all. worry and leave everything This angered the six kings and to her. She remembered they decided to conquer the
that the palace had a hall city of Mithila in order to get
with six doors. Behind each door princess Malli. King Kumbha
she arranged beautifully furnished rooms. The
doors of the hall were fitted with a fine screen boldly faced them with all his
through which people sitting in the rooms might but he could not withstand
could look into the hall but they could the combined strength of the
not see what was happening in invading forces. He retreated back to
the other five rooms. his kingdom and closed the gates of the city. The invading forces then laid siege on Mithila. The city could not withstand the siege from the six kingdoms,
This was indeed a big problem. LIFE SKETCH OF TIRTHANKARAS
85