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270
JAIN RAMAYAN
Prahasit advising Pavananjay to have patience said, “Dear friend! Have a little patience. You will see Anjana your propective wife, personally.. All right ?”
Pavananjay heaved a sigh of relief after securing this assurance from his friend, Prahasit; and he began to look for the arrival of the night with uncontrollable eagerness when he would be able to see his fiancee. Every moment seemed to be a year to him.
But poor Pavananjay did not even dream that on that night the seed of a terrible calamity was going to be sown. If man could know the right thing at the right time, he would be a god indeed.
The Jiva that keeps traversing the Samsar with an intense emotional excitement and a hectic speed sometimes falls into miserable and pitiable circumstances. Not only this; he also drags other Jivas into those terrible and calamitous situations. The truth of this will be known to us from what happens in the life of Pavananjay.
The sun declined to the west and disappeared behind the peaks of the Western mountains. Dense darkness enveloped the earth. The sky was beautifully decked with innumerable twinkling stars. Pavananjay was maddened by his desire to see his fiancee, Ananja, renowned for her beauty. Prahasit came at the right time. He gave Pavananjay the necesary instructions; and then, the two set off through the sky and reached the banks of the Manasasarovar, the magnificent lake.
King Mahendra had created by means of his magical and supernatural powers, a splendid mansion of seven storeys. The mansion looked resplendent in the light of the wicks burning in golden lamps studded with gems. At that time, Anjana sat in the seventh storey of her mansion engaged in a witty and jocular conversation with her companions.
The two friends stealthily crept into the seventh storey; and stood at a place where no one could see them; and from
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