________________
INTERVENING STORIES
185 (Asoka) Datta. Vinoda who was following Śakhā observed the incident and killed Vinoda. Here Vinoda is also killed by Śākhā. Thereafter their rebirths are not mentioned up to the stage they become Dhana and Bhūşaņa. It mentions Mrdumati as a son of Agnimukha and Śakunā. It refers to only one courtezan of MỊdumati. It has taken the theme both from the PCV and the PCR.
The RPS (p. 1678 ) does not refer to Marici's account. It mentions Suprabha as Supraja, and Surya and Candra as his sons. Harimati is mentioned as Simbapati and his wife as Manolutā ( PCR). Then it follows the PCR. But it shows acquaintance with the PCV when it mentions that Kulaikara was reborn as a crocodile and then as Vinoda. It mentions that Vinoda and Ramaņa were reborn as two Bhillas before their being born as stags. It does not mention their rebirth as hunters, but mentions that the stags were frightened by some hunters and therefore, they were seperated from the rest of the flock. It mentions only one courtezan of Mşdumati just like the TSP. At one place (p.168) it mentions that Purohita śrutarati, Brāhmaṇa Vino da, and merchant Dhanada were the different lives of the same person (soul of elephant). It goes against the story itself narrated in it, which mentions that Kulaikara was reborn as Vinoda.
52. The previous births of Satrughna and Kștāntavadana or
The story of Acala and Arka : On being requested by Śreņika, following the narration of the calamitous epidemic in Mathurā, Gautama narrated this story to explain the cause of Satrughna's persistent demand from Rāma for the kingdom of Mathură (88.1-43). It illustrates the results of too much attachment to a particular thing.
Cruel Yamunādeva of Mathurā transmigrating through the lives of a boar, a crow, a he-buffalo, a worm (jalavāha), a wild-buffalo (gavalo) and then six times a buffalo became a poor brahmin named Kuliśadhara. He was devoted to the service of the monks and was handsome to look at. When Asaiikita, the king of Mathurā was away from the city, his wife Lalitā being enamoured of Kuliśadhara called him inside the harem to dally with him and made him sit very close to her. Incidentally the king returned and saw him there. The queen in an effort to escape the accusation betrayed that brahmin. The king then ordered his servants to mutilate his limbs. By chance a monk saved his life by initiating him into the ascetic order. Passing through the life of a celestial being after his death, he was reborn as Acala of Kanakäbhā, the second wife of king Candrabhadra