Jain Stories 03

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

Page 76

4 ANJANA
The great lady Anjana was born of the first queen Hridayasundari, wife of King Mahendrasena. She was the only sister of a hundred brothers So her parents and brothers, all loved her very much By her habits, too, she was sweet and charming And so she was loved by all in the royal household She impressed anyone at first sight
To find a suitable groom for such a worthy girl, King Mahendrasena sept mapy envoys to lands for and near but without any success Many royal families were contacted but it was no easy job to find a suitable groom for her One day, as the king was discussing it with the minister, the latter said,
“Your Majesty! To the best of my knowledge, there are two prioces who would make excellent grooms for our princess, one Prince Vidyutprabha, son of King Hiranyabha, and the other Pavadanjaya, son of King Prablada Between the two, Vidyutprabha is superior, but the astrologers' reading is that he would pass away to be liberated at the age of cighteen Pavananjaya presents no such problem and is believed to have a long life So the princess may be married with him."
After some time, King Mahendra and King Prahlada met by chance at the Nandisvara island, and interestingly enough, the proposal came from King Prablada King Mahendra readily accepted it It was decided to complete the marriage ceremony on the third day from then on the bank of the Lake Manasa.
When ad cvil thing is to come up in life, even a normal desire may turn into a curse There were only three days left for thc marriage when Pavananjaya said to his friend Prohasit,