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[A War between Kaunika and King Cheda
war with King Cheda. With this intention in his mind, he ordered his ten brothers to lead their armies to the battlefield. Each brother had three thousand elephants, three thousand chariots and three crore infantry in his army. Kaunika's army too was of the same description. Thus Kaunika came to the battle field with 33 thousand elephants, 33 thousand horses, 33 thousand chariots and 33 crore infantry. This battle-field lay just near Vaishali, Cheda too, prepared himself for war. He invited nino Malli King of Kashi and nine Lichchhavi kings of Kaushala to help him in the battle. When they came to him, he explained to them why that war had been waged. After taking every thing into consideration, the kings said, "Your Majesty, we are Jains and therefore believe in the doctrine of Ahimsa. But this is an admitted fact that Ahimsa is not the creed of cowards: it is the creed of the brave. Therefore, when a freelooter seizes our wealth or our kingdom or attacks our subjects, it is our duty to teach him a lesson for real Ahimga cannot be established without justice. He who quietly tolerates injustice cannot be said to be a devotee of 'Ahimsa". At the same time, we are not taking the initiative in this respect. Defending ourselves cannot be called 'Himsa', neither can any lay man do without it. We are, moreover, kings and are always responsible for our kingly duties. It is our duty to punish the wicked and Jainism has nothing to say against it. We are Kshatriyas and it is our duty to punish the unjust and to protect the just at the risk of our own lives. Bahala-Kumara is worthy of our protection; there. fore we must try to save him and his wealth at any cost." When it was decided, they all prepared their armies for war.
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