________________
He called an able messenger and instructed him to Mithil and said that the king of Videha is eager to make the daughter of the king Kumbha his principal queen and is also ready to give his entire kingdom in return.
The sixth friend of king Mah bala, Vai rama a's soul, after completing its years as a god in Jayanta vim na, became the king Jita atru of P mc la, in the capital city K mpilyapura, of the republic of P mc la. King Jita atru had a magnificent palace in the city within which was a huge and very beautiful harem. In that harem were the king Jita atru's main queen Dh ri and one thousand queens who were all faultless beauties. During the reign one king Kumbha there was a mendicant in Mithil named Cokh. Cokh was well-versed in the scriptures and an accomplished scholar. She used to detailed instructions and also conduct displays of the purifying religion, charities, and purifying from water of various t rthas. Once she went to the royal palace of Mithil , too, with many mendicants. There she gave a discourse and display of purifying activities and significance of charity in goddess Mall 's internal chamber. After listening to her explanation princess Mallik asked her what is believed to be the basics of religion? Cokh said religion is considered purifying hence cleanliness and purity is very important for religion; hence when something becomes dirty and impure we clean it with mud and water, similarly bathing with water purifies the soul, too. Hearing this, Mall said, “This is like trying to wash blood-stained clothes with blood itself. This will make it dirtier, more blood-stained and the colour of blood. The soul is enveloped in the karma stains of untruth, violence, lust, attachment, vainglory; the dirt on the soul accruing from these karmas cannot go away from bathing or rituals, etc because all these activities are full of violence and evil. Just as blood-stained clothes are soaked in milk, etc, baked in fire and again washed with water to clean and purify them, in the same way the soul enveloped in bad karmas is immersed in the milk of right belief, and baked in the fire of austerities / penance and bathed in the pure water of restraint to free it from the dirt of karmas". Hearing this clear female-monkciation given by Mall, Cokh was speechless and quietly kept looking at Mall. After
145