Book Title: Jain Legend Vol 1
Author(s): Hastimal Maharaj, Shuganchand Jain, P S Surana
Publisher: Hastimal Maharaj Shugan C Jain P S Surana

Previous | Next

Page 229
________________ his wife the n ga king was very angry. He resolved to kill Brahmadatta and reached his bedroom in the night on the sly. When he was outside the bedroom waiting for the right moment, he heard – Brahmadatta's queen was asking that the queen heard that astride the horse gifted by the Greek king you went very far into thick forests, did you see anything amazing? Brahmadatta told her about the incident involving the female serpent and the adulterous man and said that he had punished them for their uncalled for behaviour. Hearing Brahmadatta's words the serpent king opened his eyes. After some time when Brahmadatta came out of his bedroom the serpent king, his head bowed down, stood before him and said - "Oh king! I am the husband of the n ga woman you have punished. Listening to her words I came here to attack you but hearing the truth from you I have changed my mind. I want to serve you." Brahmadatta said - "I wish there would be no theft, illicit relations and accidental deaths in my kingdom.” The serpent king said -“So it shall be. This attitude of service to others is admirable. You may ask something for yourself too.” Brahmadatta said –“Oh serpent king! I wish I would be able to understand every creature's language.” The n gaking said – “I am so happy with you that I give you even this knowledge that should not be given. But you must remember the unshakable and tough rules of this knowledge that if you share with any other person what that creature spoke, your head will break into seven pieces.” Brahmadatta assured the serpent king and the latter gave him that knowledge and left. Once when Brahmadatta was sitting with his favourite queen in the make-up room, he heard two house sparrows talking to each other. The female sparrow was pregnant, she told the male sparrow – “I have this whim that you bring the paste from the king's body and apply it on my body.” The male sparrow said – "it seems you are now tired of me hence you are pushing me into my death.” Listening to the birds' conversation Brahmadatta began to laugh aloud. The queen was surprised at the king laughing suddenly. She asked him the reason. Brahmadatta was in a dilemma. He tried to evade the queen's question by engaging her in all kinds of conversations but the queen was adamant. Brahmadatta tried to explain to the queen – "Oh queen! Try to understand. I do not want to hide anything from you, but there is a secret behind this revealing my head will break into seven pieces." The queen said in disbelief -"If that is so, then I too shall give up my life with you, but I cannot live without knowing the secret." 229

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367