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Parshva Kumar rode a horse and arrived on the banks of the Ganges. There he saw that logs of wood were burning in all the four directions of the hermit. The hermit was sitting in the middle. Large crowd was standing all around.
With his supreme knowledge Parshva Kumar saw that there was a long snake in one of the large logs. The log was burning. He was moved—'Oh ! Very bad! What a foolish penance ?' Moved by compassion, Parshva Kumar said to the hermit—"What sort of penance is this. You are burning a five sensed being in fire ?"
The hermit was irritated—“Prince ! You are still a child. It is me not you who knows more about penance. How do you know that a living being is burning in my five-fire ?" In spite of all efforts by Parshva Kumar the hermit did not accept that a snake was burning within the log.
Then Parshva Kumar instructed his servants—“Take out that log. There is a snake burning inside."
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