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INTERVENING STORIES
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mercantile journey. But on his return the priest denied to have kept any deposits. Simhasena appointed his minister to investigate the matter. He invited the priest for playing dice and exchanged his ring for that of the priest. The king sent his door-keeper and procured the deposited wealth of that merchant from the wife of the priest with the help of the ring of her husband. Further various rebirths of them are described till they are born as Sanjayanta, Vidyutdamṣṭra and Nagendra respectively. The HVP (20.20-126) names the characters as mentioned in the Vasudevahindi. Here the queen detects the hidden jewels which were deposited by the merchant named here as Sumitradatta. It also describes various rebirths of them. The RPS (p.9) agrees with the HVP.
23. The previous births of Vidyadhara Purnaghana and Sulocana or the story of Bhāvaṇa and Haridāsa:
On account of the ancestral enmity when Purnaghana was slain in the battle by Sahasranayana, Meghavahana the former's son fled away and took refuge under Ajitanatha. Sahasranayana chased Meghavahana and reached there. At that time the Ganadhara enquired about the previous births of the fathers of Sahasranayana and Meghavahana. Then Ajitanatha, the second Tirthankara narrated the story (5.82-91) explaining the consequences of committing murder.
Haridasa, a merchant-son of Kirtimati and Bhavana of Adityaprabhapura, lost all his wealth in the game of dice when his father had gone out on a trade voyage. His father returned home in due course and came to know that his son had gone to commit burglary in the palace. He started meditating in his house to save his son from that vice. In the meanwhile Haridasa returned home and killed his father under the suspicion of considering him enemy. Haridasa was then reborn as Sulocana and Bhāvana as Pūrṇaghana. On account of this enmity Purnaghana had killed Sulocana, the father of Sahasranayana. This was the cause of enmity between Sulocana's son, Sahasranayana and Purnaghana.
According to the PCR (5.96f) Bhavana belonged to Sadṛtupura and his wife is called Ataki. The rest of the story is identical except that many more previous births of Purnaghana and Suloca na as dogs, jackals, cats, bulls, mungooses, males in Puşkalavatī and as celestial beings are mentioned. The RPS (ch. 3) follows the PCR. Here the town is Marutpura. Bhavana's wife is Cataki. Haridasa killed his father in a tunnel when the latter went there in search of his son. It
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