________________
339
her dancing, the king gave out the real state of affairs. The queen at once realised that the event portended her death in near future For the welfare of her Soul, she thought of renouncing worldly pleasures by becoming a nun and asked per. mission from King Udayana. The permission was granted with much relunctance, but there was one condition that if she became a god after death, she should come from heavens and instruct him on the Right Path. The queen accepted the condition, and she became a Jaina nun. On death after a few days, she was born as a god. In accordance with the promise given to King Udāyana, the god used to come to him to advise him on the Right Path. The King became more and more attracted towards Jainism
After the death of Queen Prabhavati, a faithful hump-backed maid-s rvant of the queen, was doing the worship of the image of the Tîrthankara, with much devotion. One day, a śrävaka from Gāndhāra came to Vîtabhaya Nagara for darśana of this illustrious image. The maid-servant of the queen rendered great hospitality to the merchant, and treated him with sumptuous dishes. The gentleman was greatly delighted, and at the time of returning home, the Śrävaka gave her some divine pills, of super natural influence by the use of which the hump-backed condition of the maid-servant disappeared, and she acquired exquisite beauty resembling that of a celestial damsel. By the gold like beauty of her body, she came to be known among the public as Suvarnagulikā.
When however, King Caņda Pradyota of Ujjayini, heard about the divine beauty of the maid-servant, he became enamoured of her, and he made efforts to win her over. The maidservant, having known the hearts motive of King Caņga Pradyota through secret spies, became enticed towards him. One day King Canda Pradyota himself riding his famous Nalagiri elephant, came to Vita-bhava Nagara at night and went away with the
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org