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PART I TIRTHANKARS
ANTONASS
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Six kings looking at the statue of Princess Malli
Then, princess Malli requested her father to send invitations to all six kings to come to the hall to meet her. The plan was to invite them to the hall in the evening and have them wait in the room assigned to them. At the appropriate time, all of the kings came and occupied their respective rooms. As they glanced through the screen, they immediately noticed the beautiful statue of Malli. Each of them thought it was Princess Malli herself and anxiously waited to go inside. They also noticed that Malli was far more beautiful than they had expected and fell even more deeply in love with her. As they were waiting, princess Malli entered the hall through a secret tunnel and, standing behind the statue, opened the top of the cavity. The food that had been put in the statue had rotted and emitted a foul odor. The smell was so obnoxious that the kings had to cover their nose. Thereupon the real Malli presented herself and asked why they could not stand the smell of the person whom they loved so much. They admitted that they could not bear the foul odor. Malli then explained that the food she ate was the same food in the statue. The food in her body did not stink because her soul prevented the rotting. However, when her soul would leave the body, her body too would start to decay. It is the nature of the body to degenerate, decay, and disintegrate. Malli asked the kings, "What is the purpose of being attached to a body when it is destined to rot eventually? Is it not worthwhile to pursue something that will last forever?"
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JAIN STORY BOOK
