Jailer

Author(s): Abhayshekharsuri, Sujata P Kapadia
Publisher: Harshadray Private Limited

Page 59

the offering readied. He also summoned the executioners and instructed them to kill the person who brought the plate of offering to the temple at midnight. The King bid Aghat a farewell thinking that it was his last one. Aghat left with the plate of eatables and other devotional offerings. On his way out, he met Vikram Sinh who asked him where he was headed, at that hour. Aghat told him everything. "Brother-in-law! The temple is very far from here and the road is terrible. It is pitch dark now and you are new to the place. Give the offerings to me, I have been to this temple several times and I am familiar with the road. I will go and offer the eatables there myself,“ said Vikram Sinh. Aghat gave him the offerings. On reaching the temple, the Prince was pierced with arrows expelled from the bows of the executioners who were hiding.
The King was totally devastated on hearing this news the next morning. This sudden shock changed his way of thinking. It led him to repent and accept the eternal truth that what was ordained could not be altered. To make amends and to atone for his sins, he abdicated his kingdom in favour of Aghat and accepted monkhood. He accomplished omniscience after years of hard work and subsequently, visited the city of Vishala. King Aghat came to pay his obeisance along with his subjects and listened to the sage's nectar-like sermon. Finally, the King asked the sage, “O Lord! Why were there so many ups and downs in my life”? The venerable omniscient then brought up the past.
Once, there was a country called Vidarbha whose capital was a city called Kundinpur. It was ruled by King