Jain Legend Vol 2

Author(s): Hastimal Maharaj, Shuganchand Jain, P S Surana
Publisher: Hastimal Maharaj Shugan C Jain P S Surana

Page 180

on the other seat. In fact, the seat on which C akya seated himself was intended for king Nanda who would always sit on it to donate money. So as per the instructions of Nanda's son, a servant asked C akya to vacate the seat and sit on another seat. C akya felt insulted and did not budge. The servant then kicked C akya and made him vacate the seat.
Insulted by the servant, C akya flared up in anger. In front of the vast gathering of people present there, he, in a thunderous and deafening voice took an oath-“I will rest only after I completely annihilate this Nanda, his army, sons, friends and his treasure”.
After taking this oath, glaring at Nanda with knitted eyebrows and fiery eyes and trembling with fury, C akya walked out of the palace and left the city. He remembered the prediction of the Sthavira which he heard from his parents, that in future, though not an emperor, he will become equivalent to an emperor, and remaining like a shadow behind the screen, he will wield power like an emperor. “The words of a renunciant
rama a never go false”. So thinking, C akya firmly decided to search for such a person, through whom he can destroy Nanda, his dynasty and his kingdom.
Encounter with Candragupta
Wearing the robes of a religious mendicant, C akya set out in search of a capable person. Wandering from place to place, one day he reached the village where the people who take care of the peacocks of King Nanda resided. Looking at the sage-like C akya, their chief said, “O Great Soul! My expectant daughter has a strange longing to drink the moon. How is it possible to fulfill her impossible desire? If, during pregnancy a craving is not fulfilled, not only the child in her womb even my daughter may also die. This is worrying me a lot. It will be of great help, if you fulfill this strange yearning of my daughter”.
The erudite C akya immediately understood that the person, whom he is searching for, is in the womb of the Chief's daughter. So he said to the Chief, "If you promise to hand over the boy to me when he attains youth, I will fulfill your daughter's desire”.
The Chief happily accepted the pre-condition. Then under the instructions of C akya, a hay and grass hut was made ready. A big hole
180