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104
JAIN RAMAYAN
ing an untruth". Every word uttered by Nagush revealed his mental agony and anguish.
"My Lord! What is the use of worrying over it now? What had to happen, happened. Who can avoid the decrees of destiny ?"
“The King's face revealed his inner agitation and fatigue. Simhika entreated him to take rest. Nagush slept on the queen's luxurious bed. Simhika sat by his bed-side to render service to him. After having taken rest for a few hours, the king returned to his palace taking Simhika with him. The members of the royal family were overwhelmed with delight to see the King and the Queen returning together.
Time's winged chariot kept speeding. In course of time. Queen Simhika gave birth to a son. Nagush's joy knew no bounds.
The birth of the child was celebrated with all grandeur and eclat. Food, clothes and money were given as gifts to all destitute and helpless people. Worship and other devotional activities were arranged in all the temples, in the city. The child who was the heir to the throne of Ayodhya became the apple of the eyes of the people of Ayodhya. King Nagush performed the consecration ceremony to the boy and Queen Simhika recited the Navkar Mantra in the ears of the child. The King desiring to lay the foundations of a sound education for the child, engaged scholars and saints of outstanding excellence to educate him in all the arts and accomplishments befitting a prince. Yet the greatest teacher was Simhika herself; because the child that is not taught by its mother will remain an unhewn and unchiselled stone. "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world". This is a great truth.
The duty of a mother does not end with giving birth to a child. Her duty is not merely to feed the child, to dress the child; to play with it and make it play. She has to educate the child and lay the foundations of culture in the child. She has to draw out, develop, and discipline the innate potentialities of a child. The mother has to carry out the following duties :
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