________________
F03 Stories Preceding Bhagawän Mahävir
05 Ilächikumar
-
05 - Ilächikumar
In ancient times, there lived a wealthy businessman named Dhandatta in the town of Ilävardhan. His wife, Ilächi, gave birth to a lovable son. As he was the only son, the parents deliberately kept him nameless as per the customs of the times. Eventually, as the son of Ilächi, he came to be known as llächiputra and then Ilächikumar. He was raised with care and attention and never lacked any luxuries, growing up to be a handsome youth. Soon, his parents felt it was time to find a wife for him. Luckily, they did not need to look very far as they were a prosperous family and Ilächikumar was their only son. Many families wanted their daughters to marry him. His parents prepared a list of selected names and asked Ilächikumar to choose the one that he liked the most. However, Ilächikumar could not make a selection. One day, a party of acrobats came to Ilävardhan. In those days, there were no stadiums where acrobats could perform, so they performed their routines for their audience on the open streets. Beating drums to announce their arrival, the acrobats planted poles in an open square off the main street and connected them with ropes while a large crowd gathered. They then began their routine, climbing the pole one after another and demonstrating their skills, walking and jumping over the high rope with ease above the fascinated audience. Attracted by the commotion, Ilächikumar also went to watch the show. While enjoying the performance, his attention was drawn to the chief acrobat's beautiful young daughter, who was dancing gracefully to the drums with bells on her feet. Ilächikumar was so mesmerized by her beauty and charm that he could not take his eyes off her.
At the end of the show, the acrobats descended the rope and started collecting money from the audience. People were very pleased with the performance and paid handsomely. After collecting a large amount of money, the acrobats left the square to camp for the night and everyone else went home. Though Ilächikumar also returned home, his mind was still on the beautiful girl he had seen that day. At dinner, his parents found him silent and unresponsive; they had never seen him so dazed. His father questioned his absent-mindedness, but he did not answer. When his mother persistently asked for the reason for his silence, he finally replied that his heart was attracted to the acrobat girl and he wanted to marry her.
His mother was taken aback to hear that. She said that she could find him a very beautiful and lovable girl from a high caste and respectable family and asked him to forget the lower caste acrobat girl, but Ilächikumar replied that he had never met any other girl who attracted him and he wanted to marry her. Acknowledging his resolve on the matter, she told her husband about their son's intentions.
Dhandatta was shocked to hear this. He tried to dissuade his son from his intentions, but Ilächikumar remained firm. Since Dhandatta was a sensible man, he could see that Ilächikumar would not be at peace without that girl. He did not want to lose his son for the sake of prestige. Therefore, he called the chief of acrobats and requested him to give his daughter in marriage to Ilächikumar.
However, the acrobat refused, saying that he was bound by a condition of his tribe. Dhandatta thought that he might be looking for money for the girl and offered to give as much wealth as the acrobat wanted in return for agreeing to marry his daughter to llachikumar. The acrobat, however, declined the offer and again replied that he could not break the condition, so Dhandatta then asked him what this condition was. The acrobat said that he could give his daughter only to a person who could win an award from a royal court by pleasing the king with his acrobatic skill and then use the prize money to give dinner to his community.
Dhandatta was disappointed to hear a condition that was apparently impossible for his son to fulfill. After he explained to his wife what had happened, she told her son and said that the girl would only marry an expert acrobat and asked him to forget her.
Ilächikumar was silent, but his mind was racing with thoughts. He felt that he would not be able to live happily without the girl and was willing to make any sacrifice for her. He decided that he was even prepared to learn acrobatic skills for that purpose. His parents misunderstood his silence as disappointment and thought that in time he would recover. For a time, they tried to divert his attention to other matters to help him forget and Ilächikumar allowed them to believe that they were succeeding, but his mind was made up. When the acrobat group decided to leave the town of Ilävardhan, Ilächikumar secretly left his home and joined the them.
Page 338 of 398
Compendium of Jainism - 2015
