Ilachikumar

Author(s): JAINA Education Committee
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

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ILÄCHIKUMÄR
17 Flächikumar
In ancient times, there lived a wealthy businessman named Dhandatta in the town of Ilävardhan. His wife Ilächi gave birth to a very lovable and handsome boy. Being the only son, the parents deliberately kept him nameless as was the custom in those days. As the son of Ilächi he came to be known as Ilächiputra. He was raised with loving care and attention and never lacked any luxuries. He grew up to be a handsome youth and was eventually known as Ilächikumär. His parents felt it was time to find a wife for him. They did not need to look very far. Since they were a prosperous family and flächikumar was their only son, many families wanted their daughters to marry him. His parents prepared a list of selected names and asked Ilächikumär to choose the one that he liked the most. However, Ilächikumär could not make a selection.
One day a party of acrobats came to Ilävardhan. In those days, there were no stadiums where acrobats could perform. They performed their skills for their audience on the open streets. Beating drums to announce their arrival, the acrobats planted poles in an open square off the main street and connected them with ropes. Many people assembled there to watch the show. The acrobats climbed the pole one after another and started demonstrating their skills by performing on the rope. They were walking and jumping over the high rope, fascinating the people with their performance. Attracted by the commotion, Ilächikumär also went to watch the show. While watching the performance of the acrobats, his attention was drawn to the young daughter of the chief acrobat. She was very beautiful and was dancing very gracefully to the tune of the drums with bells on her feet. Ilächikumar was so mesmerized by her beauty and charm that he could not take his eyes off her.
At the end of the show, the acrobats descended the rope and started collecting money from the people who had assembled for the show. People were very pleased with the performance and paid handsomely. After collecting a large amount of money, the acrobats left the square to camp for the night and everyone else went home. Ilächikumär also returned home. But his mind was still on the beautiful girl he had seen that day. At dinner, his parents found him silent and unresponsive to their efforts to converse with him. His parents had never seen him so dazed. His father questioned his absent-mindedness but he did not answer. After dinner when his mother persisted on the reason for his silence, he finally replied that his heart was attracted to the acrobat girl and he wanted to marry her.
His mother was taken aback to hear that. She said that she could find him a very beautiful and lovable girl from a high caste and respectable family and asked him to forget the lower caste acrobat girl. Ilächikumär replied that he had never met any other girl who attracted him and he wanted to marry that girl. Acknowledging his resolve on the matter, she told her husband about their son's intentions. Dhandatta was shocked to hear this. He tried to dissuade his son from his intention but Ilächikumär remained firm. Dhandatta was a sensible man. He could see that Ilächikumär would not be at peace without that girl. He did not want to lose his son for the sake of prestige. He therefore called the chief of acrobats and requested him to give his daughter in marriage to Ilächikumär.
The acrobat refused because he was bound by the convention of his tribe. Dhandatta thought that he might be looking for money for the girl. He therefore offered to give as much wealth as the acrobat wanted for agreeing to marry his daughter to his son. The acrobat, however, declined the offer and replied that he could not break the convention. Dhandatta then asked him about his tribal convention. The acrobat said that he could give his daughter only to the person who could win an award from a royal court by pleasing
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