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KING SHRIPÄL AND MAYANÄ-SUNDARI
16 - King Shripäl and Mayanä-sundari
At one time, the kingdom of Champanagar was ruled by King Singhrath, who had a son named Shripäl by his queen, Kamal-prabhä. When Shripäl was five years old, his father died. King Singhrath's ambitious brother, Ajitsen, took this opportunity to seize the throne. In order to make his position as King secure, he was keen to get rid of Shripal. When Kamal-prabha became aware of Ajitsen's vicious plan, she fled from Champanagar with her son. Learning about her escape, Ajitsen sent his trusted soldiers to pursue her. As the soldiers got close, she did not know how to save her son. She saw a group of lepers, and in desperation, she asked them to take her son into their custody. They warned her about the risk of her son contracting the disease of leprosy from them. However, she had no choice if she wanted to save her son, so she entrusted her son to them. Shripäl grew up to be very bold and handsome. The people of the leper colony became very fond of him and took great care of Shripäl. Ultimately, Shripal contracted leprosy. When he became a youth, the people made him their leader, and named him Umar Ränä. Under his leadership the group traveled from place to place and one day arrived at the city of Ujjayini, the capital of the Mälwä region. King Prajäpäl was ruling there. He and Queen Rupsundari had two intelligent and beautiful daughters, Sursundari and Mayanä-sundari. The King loved both of them and made adequate arrangements for their training in the arts and crafts, which the girls mastered in due course. One day, the king decided to test their knowledge and called them in the assembly hall. He asked a number of questions to Sursundari who gave satisfactory replies to all of them. At the end, the King asked her by whose favor she got all her skills and also the amenities and luxuries that she enjoyed. The girl humbly replied that she gained all that by the King's favor. Pleased with her replies, the King decided to reward her appropriately. Then, he asked several questions to Mayanä-sundari. She too gave satisfactory replies to all his questions. At the end, the King asked her the same question that he had asked Sursundari. He had expected Mayanä to give an identical reply and thus please him. However, Mayanä had total faith in the religious philosophy she had studied at length. She firmly believed that everything that she had received had been the result of her karma. She must have earned good karma in the past that resulted in the happy situations that she was undergoing. If she did not have that karma to her credit, no one could bestow happiness on her. She therefore replied: "O father! The great King! With due respect to you, all the comfort that you provide me are only because of my meritorious (Punya) karma. Everyone gets whatever is written in his or her destiny due to his or her karma. You yourself cannot give or take away anything." Everything that she had received had been the result of her Karma. She must have earned good Karma in the past that resulted in the happy situations that she was undergoing. If she did not have that Karma to her credit, no one could bestow happiness on her. The King was exasperated to hear the unexpected reply. He repeatedly asked her to consider how she could have obtained anything without his generosity. Mayanä replied that everything, right from her being born as his daughter up to her present situation, could occur solely as a consequence of her good or bad karmas, and no one could have made any difference. The King grew angry with her unexpected persistence. He could not believe that the girl could have received anything without his favor, and did not agree that everything happens according to one's own karma. He therefore decided to teach her a lesson, and asked his men to find the ugliest man in Ujjayini. The men spotted Umar Ränä and brought him to the court. In utter disdain, the King instantly got Mayanä married to Umar. He gave them some basic things and a small house and asked Mayanä to undergo the result of her karma. Rupsundari was very unhappy at the sudden turn of events in her daughter's life, but she could not speak against her husband's will. On the other hand, the King looked for a suitable match for Sursundari in appreciation of her replies and had her married to prince Aridaman of Shankhapuri. Mayana was deeply religious. She accepted Shripäl in the guise of Umar as her husband and took care of him. She went to temples and heard the sermons of monks along with him. One day, Mayanä-sundari and her husband went to see Acharya Munichandra and talked to him about their problems and his leprosy disease. The Acharya
JAIN STORY BOOK
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