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NandiSootra
died he reincarnated as a god. With the help of parinamiki buddhi the rhino recovered from his fall.
21. Breaking of the dome - Princes Kunik and Vihalla wereamong the sons of king Shrenik. During his life time king Shrenikhad given the Sechanak elephant and Vankchud necklace to Vihalla, and Kunik had become the king of Magadh.
Vihalla used to go every day to the banks of the Ganges with hiswives, riding Sechanak elephant. The elephant playfully lifted thequeens with its trunk and entertained them. The public praisedVihalla and his queens and commented that it was Vihalla who trulyenjoyed the royal wealth.
King Kunik's wife, queen Padmavati, burned with jealousy whenshe heard all this. She said to her husband - "As long as I do not ownSechanak elephant and Vankchud necklace, I am queen only fornamesake. You should get these for me." At first Kunik did not payany attention. But with continued nagging from his wife him at lastagreed to get them for her.
He asked Vihalla to give the two things. Vihalla replied "If you want to have the two things you will have toshare your kingdom with me." Kunik was not prepared for this therefore he decided to use force. When Vihalla came to know of this he took his family, the necklace and Sechanak elephant and went to his maternal grand father, king Cheda (Chetak) in Vaishali city.
This act of Vihalla infuriated king Kunik. He sent a messenger to king Cheda with a message - "All the best things in a state rightfully belong to the king. Therefore please arrange to return prince Vihalla and his family with Sechanak elephant and Vankchud necklace. If not, be prepared to face war."
King Chetak was not some minor ruler. He was also a great warrior andfavoured justice. He sent his reply with the same messenger "As Kunik is my grandson so is Vihalla. King Shrenik had given these two things to Vihalla during hislife time. Therefore, they rightfully belong to him. Still, if Kunik wants these things he will have to give half his kingdom to Vihalla. If he disagrees and wants a war I am ready."
The messenger repeated the words of king Cheda before Kunik whose anger saw no bounds. He at once marched for Vaishali with his large army and brothers including Kaal Kumar. King Cheda also, with his associate kings and many heads of republics, marched towards the battle field to face Kunik. The two armies clashed and in the ensuing battle hundreds of thousands died. King Cheda was defeated in this war. With his remaining army he retreated into the fortified Vaishali city and closed all the gates in the immense city wall. Kunik tried to breach the wall at many places to enter the city but did not succeed, during these efforts one day there was a divine pronouncement - "When ascetic Koolbalak is beguiled by courtesan Magadhika and tells the way to breach the walls Kunik should follow the method and then only he can conquer Vaishali."
Kunik was astonished at this divine pronouncement. Still, he believed it and ordered for the search of courtesan Magadhika. His spies soon traced Magadhika's whereabouts. When the courtesan came, the king explained her plan. According to the king's order she at once went in search of ascetic Koolbalak.
Koolbalak was an extremely short tempered and evil ascetic. When he lived with his guru he always misinterpreted what his guru said and quarrelled with him. One day he was going along with his guru on a hilly track when he got angry with his guru on some point. At once, in order to kill his guru, he pushed a large rock from Aagam- 44 -NandiSootra ~100~
Compiled by- Deepratnasagar
