Jain Journal 1968 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 17

JANUARY, 1968
Then she went out of the chamber in a hurry. The king followed her silently. She reached the hut of an elephant-driver named Astavanka, an ugly cripple (though an expert songster who could restore life to the withered trees) who was asleep on a poor bed. The queen sat down near him and tried her best to entice him. But she was late that night because of the arrival of the king. So the elephant-driver dragged her by the hair and gave profuse blows which she bore and was not wanting in her entreaties. The king's passion was high and he would have killed both of them on the spot; but he restrained himself and returned to the chamber. Shortly after that, the queen too was back.
The king could sleep no more. His mind was full of disgust for women in general and for worldly pleasures. Next morning as usual he went to the court where his mother Candramati joined him. The bard recited verses which surprisingly reflected the king's own thoughts:
tvam mandiradrabiṇadāratanudvahadyai strṣṇātamobhiranubandhibhirastabuddhih klisnāsyaharnisamimam na tu citta betsi dandam yamasya nipatantamakanda eva
Always deluded by the darkness of desires for home, wealth, wife and progeny, oh mind, dost thou suffer day and night; but heed ye not of the suddenly-arriving mace of Yama, the God of Death.
107
The change in the king's demeanour did not go unnoticed at the court. When the queen-mother asked him about it, the king gave a concocted story of a dream at which the queen-mother suggested sacrifice of animals to the deity to allay the evil. But the king expressed abhorrence at the very idea of animal sacrifice. The queen-mother attributed this opposition to the insidious influence of the Jainas on the king but the king was critical of the Brahmanical religion. At last a compromise was arrived at when the queen-mother, failing otherwise, appealed, on the ground of filial piety and the king reluctantly agreed to sacrifice a cock made of flour and to partake of the offering imagining it to be the animal flesh.
Meanwhile the queen Amrtamati came to know of the happenings at the court. It was now apparent to her that the king had known what had transpired during the previous night and she decided to strike before the king could move. So she sent invitation to the king and her mother-in-law to dine with her after the sacrifice was over. The king