________________
Lord r Mallin tha
Lord r Mallin tha was the 19th Trthamkara of Jain religion. He was born fifty-five thousand years less than one thousand crore years after the nirv a of the 18" Trthamkara Lord r Aran tha.
Past Life
In his past life Lord r Mallin tha was a king named Mah bala. The story of king Mah bala goes like this:
Long, long ago in Mah Videha province of Jamb dv pa in Salil vat Vijaya was a city named V ta ok . In V ta ok was a king named Bala. One night Bala's queen Dh ri saw in a dream that a lion cub was entering her mouth. Dream interpreters said that the queen is going to give birth to a very strong and brave son. In time, upon the birth of a son king Bala named him Mah bala. In appropriate time Mah bala was married to five hundred extremely beautiful princesses including Kamala r . This way Mah bala began to spend his life enjoying worldly pleasures.
After sometime some older monks arrived at the garden Indrakumbha in V ta ok city. King Bala with his kith and kin went to see the monks and be benefited by their sermon. Hearing the discourse of the monk king Bala desired to be initiated into monkhood. King Bala crowned his son Mah bala as king and in the presence of the older monks, took initiation. After initiation king Bala observed the mendicant's conduct with total dedication and faith. In the end he took the vow of pious death (samlekhan) on Mountain Cr and after one month's fast annihilation all the karmas, attained nirva.
There, after ascending the throne king Mah bala looked after his subjects with justice and moral integrity. His wife Kamala r gave birth to a bright son who was named Balabhadra. The king and queen brought up Balabhadra in royal splendour gave him appropriate education and at an appropriate age, announced him the crown prince
King Mah bala had six inseparable friends Acala, Dhara a, P ra a, Vasu, Vai rama a and Abhicanda. There was such deep friendship
138
