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causes of salvation and the cycle of births, and the duties of householders and monks.
Sudatta then commences his great discourse on Jaina doctrines. Included in his teaching, Sudatta deals with certain essential features of Jaina religious practice, for example, the prohibition of alcohol and meat thereby illustrating the evil results of drinking and flesh-eating and the merit of abstaining there from. Sudatta's teachings have the desired effect and Māradatta and the citizens are initiated into the Jaina religion.
The story has a happy outcome. Abhayaruci and his sister, Māradatta who became an ascetic, the sage Sudatta, and Yaşomati, who had already renounced the world and taken the ascetic's vows, all became celestial beings after their death.
The story is taken from the book Yaşastilaka and Indian Culture, English edition by K. K. Handiqui, Jaina Sanskrti Samrakshaka Sangha Publishing, India, 1968.
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