________________
hole was made on the head of the statue and it was covered with a lotus leaf. After that, whatever food Mall ate, some part of it was put into the statue and the hole closed.
The fame of heavenly beauty
The fame of free-spirited, child-like goddess Mall 's heavenly beauty and form and superior qualities began to spread far and wide in all directions. At the same time, there emerged, through distinct factors, an intense love for Mall in her six friends of the past birth. Those factors are described briefly this way:
1.
King Mah bala's past life friend Acala's soul, completing its time as a god in the Jayanta vim na, became the king of Kau ala named Pratibuddhi, born in Ayodhya, the capital city of Kau ala. Once in S ketapura the king Pratibuddhi, seeing a beautiful, attractive bouquet of flowers for the queen Padm vat to be taken to the N gadhara festival procession, asked his minister named Subuddhi, “Have you ever seen such an attractive bouquet?” The minister replied – “Oh king, I once went to Mithil with your message. This bouquet is not even an iota of that heavenly bouquet I saw at the annual birthday celebrations of princess Mall. At the same time, princess Mall too is of unparalleled beauty. Hearing the praise of Mall 's beauty, king Pratibuddhi sent his able messenger to the king of Mithil and said that he may request the king Kumbha that I wish to marry princess Mall and for this I am willing to give up my entire kingdom.
King Mah bala's second past life friend Dhara a's soul completed its god-life in Jayanta vim na and became the king of Amga, Candrach ga, born in Camp city, capital of the republic Amga. In those times there used to be many sea-faring merchants in Camp city, to conduct trade on sea. Those merchants used to go on voyages far and wide on the sea for trade. Among those merchants was one named Arahannaka who was not only wealthy and prosperous but also one totally devoted to the rama a religion Once Arahannaka embarked upon a seavoyage with his merchant friends with many kinds of precious commodities of trade in tow huge vessels. After many days of
141