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Bhagawan Mahavir )
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told his sons that the misfortune which was going to befall him was clearly the result of the disgrace that was meted out to Chandvega, the messenger. Had you acted a little more wisely at that time, he said, my kingdom and I should not have to face such a trouble. Although what is fated cannot be altered still I would advise you to be more cautious in future. The times are out of joints. If on the one hand I disobey the orders of the state I should be prepared for the ruin that such disobedience brings in its tail, and if on the other hand I choose to fiight with the lion, it is again putting my life in danger; even my stay in distant land, although I may not engage myself in a fight with the lion there means disobedience, disorder and ruin in my kingdom. When the princes saw that their father was so much vexed on this point, they gladly offered themselves to face the lion, and persuaded their father not to put his life in danger on account of his great love and affection towards his sons. The father did not accept this proposal. He portrayed in their fiercest light the unforeseen miseries and troubles that might imperil their lives, and thus tried to dissuade them from their intention. When every thing was ready and he was prepared to go the princes again stopped him whereupon there followed an interesting debate between the father and the sons in which the sincere feelings of sacrificing one's life for the sake of another was very remarkable. At last the princes triumphed and the king had to leave the idea of going. The two princes then who were like lions in their bearings and strength, took leave of their father and started for Tungagiri, in mountain in the Frontier Province. By this unselfish act of theirs they won a great praise from their subjects who admired them for their courage, loyalty, love and affection. When
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