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ETUN
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UITIVUTTUTTI
EIGHTEENTH CHAPTER : SUMSUMA : INTRODUCTION
Title-Sumsuma-a name. A character in this story is named Sumsuma. The incidents R of her abduction and killing has been used to reveal the ultimate human depravity. The
incident of consuming the flesh of her dead body to save lives has been used to show the importance of extreme detachment in saving one's life for spiritual pursuits. This story is
metaphoric and it explores the depths of feelings and attitudes. 15 Gist of the story-In Rajagriha lived merchant Dhanya with his five sons and 5 daughter Sumsuma. He had a servant named Chilat who looked after Sumsuma. He used to 5 carry Sumsuma and play around with other children of the neighbourhood. Chilat was cruel 5 and mischievous by nature and used to torture the children. The neighbours regularly 5 complained of this to Dhanya. One day Dhanya got extremely annoyed and he beat up Chilat 15 and fired him. 5 Chilat wandered around and finally took refuge with thief Vijaya, the head of a nearby > den of thieves named Simha-gufa. With passage of time he learned all the tricks of the trade 5 from Vijaya and became his deputy. When Vijaya died the gang of thieves made Chilat their » leader. 2 After he was elected leader, one day Chilat looted the house of Dhanya merchant. He 2 asked the other thieves to take all the wealth and he himself abducted Sumsuma. The 2 merchant followed the thieves with the help of city guards. The guards attacked and 2 dispersed the thieves and recovered the stolen goods. However, Chilat entered a nearby
forest. Dhanya followed him with his five sons. When Chilat realized that Sumsuma was S 2 slowing him and he would soon be caught, he beheaded her, left the body there, and went 9 2 deeper into the forest. There he was lost and died of hunger and thirst. 15 Following the trail of Chilat Dhanya and his five sons reached the spot where the body of a 15 Sumsuma was lying. He was stunned by the tragedy and wept. After some time he resumed > 15 the search for Chilat. When all his efforts failed he returned to the spot. Dhanya realized 5 that in absence of food and water it was impossible for him and his sons to return to
Rajagriha. He asked his sons to kill him and eat his flesh to regain strength to reach 5 Rajagriha. The sons refused and instead offered themselves. At last Dhanya decided that as Kthe body of Sumsuma was lifeless they should use the flesh to regain strength to reach 15 Rajagriha. And they finally returned to Rajagriha.
In the end Dhanya and his sons became ascetics and then reincarnated as gods.
Muruvvu varvarrorrarurrrrrrrrr
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