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atrocities and was deprived of his father's love (If his father had loved him, his stepmother would not have been able to pester him). In the present life, since his parents had borne a son after a long wait, he had the love of his parents as well as the entire family. Also, the whole town rejoiced at his birth. This was just the beginning. Let us see how nature bestows even grander prizes upon him.
Nagketu was about 3-4 months old and was being breastfed when the auspicious festival of Paryushana’ was fast approaching. A family member voiced his wish to do an 'attham', then a second person said, “I too will do an ‘attham' during Paryushana”, followed by a third. On repeatedly hearing the same thing, the words, ‘attham' and “Paryushana' started spinning in his mind. He had a past life recollection. He recollected the harassment by his stepmother, the advice given to him by his friend and his resolve to undertake an ‘attham’. The memories were vivid and alive. A child who was being breastfed, decided not to wait for Paryushana but to start the attham on the same day. Mother Shrisakhi tried her best to feed the child, but the child refused to have any milk. Mother's milk is considered to be very light and easy to digest and a child becomes hungry within 2-3 hours. Imagine the physical endurance of this child who was still a baby! Soon, the child lost consciousness, leading the relatives to believe that the child had died. They dug a hole in the earth on the outskirts of the city and buried the child. This was such a blow to the father Shrikant that he died out of shock.
At that time, the law of the state was such that if neither the father nor his heir was alive, the entire wealth
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