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Bhagwan Mahavir ]
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greedily is being discarded like excretion by this gentloman. Not only this, he is even bent on leaving his newly wedded and graceful brides whom he married only yesterday. They are the hieght of beauty. It seems that nature created them in her leieure time. So handsome do they look that everybody is sure to be enamoured of them. But Oh I Kumara is ready to sacrifice these and spurn them like a straw. Surely there must be some speciality in this parting away with wealth and women. Let me step forward and talk to Kumara for a minute. I shall ask him the reason of this extraordinary sacrifice and, if possible, will tell him why I came here."
With these thoughts in his mind, Prabhava appeared before Jambu-kumara and said, “ Kumara !I am a notorious thief of your city and hava come to commit a theft in your house. I have got 499 companions with me. Before collecting your wealth, tying it into bundles and then putting the bundles on their heads for carrying them away, all my companions were quite free to move at will, but as soon as they tried to leave the house, their feet were stuck to the ground. They could not move a bit from their space. On the strength of my two arts I have committed several theft before this but never have I been so unsuccessful as today, I am the same man the same are my companions and the same are my arts; every-thing being the sanie every thing is mine but your house and your wealth is not mine. This is a great surprise to us all. I, therefore, request you to change your power of Stambhana (checking ) with my two arts, so that I may not be unsuccessful in future and may support my family in a better way."
Jambu-kumara was greatly pleased at this honesty of
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