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CONTENTS.
1XXXIX
got permission to end bis earthly career by self-starvation He, therefore, went to a Kanthārika grove in a burial-ground, his delicate feet bleeding as he walked on, and there laid down in religious contemplation Meanwhile a female jackal with her young ones licked the bloody footprints, and following them came up to Avantisukumāla. The hungry beast now began to gnaw the feet, to eat the legs, to feed on the entrails of the young monk who, out of compassion with all living beings, did not chase away his tormentors Dying at last, his soul was transferred to the Nalinigulma while the gods celebrated a festival over his corpse (149–162)
The wives of Avantisukumāla, learning from Subastin the death of their husband, communicated the sad news to Bhadrā, who, bewailing the lot of her son, went to the burying place Having burnt her son's corpse on the bank of the Siprā, she and her daughters-in-law took the vows with the exception of one who was big with child The son, to whom the last-inentioned widow gave birth, built a magnificent shrine on the spot 1 here his father so manfully had faced death This temple still exists famous in the world as the temple of Mahākāla
In the course of time Subastın left this world starving himself to death and entered heaven (163–178).
CANTO THE TWELFTH. In the line of Suhastin, Vajrasvāmın became the head of the church In Tumbarana, a village in the Avanti district, there lived about that time a pious layman, Dhanagiri, who had made up his mind to become a monk Whenever, therefore, his parents would marry him to some girl, he informed her family of his intention In spite of this discouragement, the merchant
1 .lccording to the larger thēravali of the Kalpasūtra Vajra was the fifth Patriarch after Suhastın The same authority states that Simhagiri had four disciples Dhanagiri, Aryasamita (founder of the Brahma diipika Sakha), Vajra (founder of the Arya Vajra Sakhā), and Arladdinna With the e\ception of the last one all these persons figure in the follow. ing narratic