Jain Stories 01

Author(s): Mahendramuni, K C Lalwani
Publisher: A B Jain Shwetambar Terapanth Samaj

Page 45

AMVADA
21
now? The wicked queen was sent into exile and the first queen Lilavatı took charge of the parrot.
'Although all arrangements were made to make the parrot's life comfortable, this could impart no ease to the king in the form of a bird One day, the bırd expressed a desire to court self-immolation by entering into fire rather than live in an animal form, but, as chance would have it, Acharya Kulachandra arrived in the city just at that time. At the request of all, he took the case in his own hands, assuring everybody that he would restore the king to his original form within the next few days The Acharya took no more than a week to achieve this miracle. The king, already disenchanted of the mundane life, was now determined to give it up He abdicated in favour of his son, and followed in the footsteps of the holy man The queen too joined the holy order of the nuns
"Within a few months after her initiation, the queen, now a nun, was about to give birth to a child The king, now a monk, was shocked, since this would defile them both in public eyes The queen humbly said that she was already pregnant at the time of her initiation, but she suppressed it then, lest this should delay her joining the holy order. The queen-nun gave birth to a daughter and died soon thereafter The king-monk had now to mother the poor girl, That girl is Amaravati whom you sav.
'Sır, believe me, the girl is the very embodiment of grace and beauty. One day, as she was roaming in the forest, the God of Wealth, who was flying overhead, was attracted by her grace He came down to her and made an offer of three exceptional gems, one of which is capable of preventing the turbulence of the sea, another the turbulence of the wind, and the third one is capable of protecting against all evil spirits Estremely intelligent as she is, she accepted the