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NandiSootra
realised that the man being beaten was not their king but some impostor. They also laughed and dispersed.
Every day Abhaya Kumar repeated this act at different hours during the day. For almost everyone in the city this act became so common that they stopped paying attention to it. So much so that even the guards laughed from a distance when they saw the chariot and heard the sounds of wailing and shouting.
When Abhaya Kumar was confident that there was no one to stop or check him, finding an opportune moment one evening he caught king Chandpradyot and tied his limbs. Putting the prisoner in ai chariot, Abhaya Kumar drove through the streets of Ujjaini, continuously beating the prisoner with a stick. Chandpradyot kept shouting non-stop. The citizens heard these shouts from a distance and considering it to be Abhaya Kumar's play, laughed and turned away. No one came forward to the rescue of their real king. This time 1, Abhaya Kumar did not return back from the city gate. As soon as the 5 chariot was out of Ujjaini he increased its speed and moved towards Rajagriha.
Abhaya Kumar brought his prisoner before king Shrenik and 5 narrated his story. Chandpradyot felt ashamed and repentant. He S begged Shrenik's pardon and the two royal relatives embraced each other. All present hailed Abhaya Kumar's wit and wisdom.
2. The merchant - Disturbed with the questionable character of S his wife, a merchant got initiated as an ascetic. Yeai-s later his able son became the king of that state. After this, once during his wanderings, the ascetic happened to come to the same town. The king requested his ascetic father to spend his monsoon stay in the town and he accepted. The discourses of the scholarly ascetic highly impressed the masses. Some people belonging to other religious sects!'Could not tolerate this and they framed a conspiracy to defame the ascetic.
When the monsoon stay came to an end and the ascetic started preparing to depart, according to the plan of opponents, a pregnant maid came to the ascetic and said - "O ascetics, I am pregnant and will give birth to your child soon. At such a time if you depart leaving me alone who will look after me?"
The ascetic could understand that this was part of some conspiracy by someopponents. If he left in this situation it will be detrimental for him as well as the religious organisation. He was an accomplished spiritualist with unusual powers as well. He used his hidden power on the maid and said to her - "If your pregnancy is by me you will have a timely delivery. But if it is not so, you will not be able to give birth to the child normally, it will have to be taken out by cutting open your stomach."
The maid was in her full months. She failed to give birth even when few days passed after the expected date. Slowly her pain increased. In this miserable condition her family members took her to the ascetic. Paying her homage to the ascetic she said moaning with pain - "O great ascetic, joining the conspiracy fetched by your adversaries I put a false blame on you. I got the punishment for my deeds. Please forgive me and deliver me from this terrible pain."
The ascetic was simple and pure hearted. He at once pardoned the maid and withdrew his spell. The fame of the ascetic spread all around.
3. The prince - A prince was very fond of modaks (laddu, ball shaped sweet) since his childhood. Once on some ceremonial occasion he got prepared very tasty food, of course, including modaks. When he took his meal with his friends, he could not control himself and ate much more modaks than he could digest. As a Aagam- 44 -NandiSootra ~84~ Compiled by- Deepratnasagar
