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[ The Twenty-two Tirthankaras
ninth New Moon day of Chaitra.
Here the reader should note that when Sumati-natha was in the womb, his mother had given a very remarkable judgment on an intricate point of law. It was as follows:- .
A man had two wives and one son. He died when the child was still young. The step mother loved him more than even his own mother. The child, too, was used to call each of them 'Mother'. Some time afterwards, there was a misunderstanding between the two ladies, and the animosty rose to such a height that they began to quarrel vehemently, each claiming the child to be her own. At last, when they could not come to any agreement between themselves, they sought the help of the law-court, and each put forth her claim before the king. The king heard the statements of both the claimants in a tribunal very attentively, and made enquiries from the child also. The child declared both of them to be his own mothers, but he showed greater love for his step mother. The king and his court were in a fix, and could not give any final decision on the point. When the Queen heard this story from her husband, she at once solved the puzzle. She said, “Let the two women be informed that the property of their husband together with the child (which is also a kind of property of their husband) will be divided into two equal portions and that each women shall have one portion whichever she likes. This will be the greatest criterion for knowing a real mother from a false one; for a stepmother's love is false, and when she will hear these words, she will agree to this proposal very quietly. But the real mother, on the other hand, would at once stand up and cry out, "I do not want the property. What I want is that my son should live. In no case, should he be hacked in two. I would not
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