________________
138
JAIN RAMAYAN
After Sugriv became the king of Kishkindha, he gave his sister, Shriprabha in marriage to Dashmukh Ravan. The marriage was celebrated with grandeur and eclat. In this manner, the tradition of cordiality and amity that had been in existence through generations between the Rakshasa dynasty and the Vanara dynasty again became firmly established. Sugriv happily accepted Dashmukh Ravan's overlordship. Everywhere, the atmosphere was peaceful and Ravan's pride was appeased. He returned to Lanka happy and fully satisfied. Sugriv made Chandrarashmi, heir-designate to the throne of Kishkindha so that he might assist him in the administration of the kingdom.
When Ravan saw any beautiful girl on his way to Lanka, he married her. If anyone opposed his wish, he abducted the girl and married her.
This is the strangeness of the efficacy of Karma and its irony. On one side a fragrant flower of virtues and on the other side a sharp thorn of blemishes and vices! The rose has fragrance; but it also has thorns behind it. This is the wonderful game of nature. Even Ravan possessed the fragrance of such virtues as devotion for the Jin, magnanimity and heroism, and he also possessed the thorns of cruelty, heartlessness, arrogance, blinding passions, maddening sensual desires and other such vices, but on the whole his life was beautiful and fragrant like a flower because he was a prospective Tirthankar. In future, his soul was going to reach the status of a Tirthankar.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org