Jain Story Book

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 62

She was very thankful to Haribal for rescuing her. She requested him to accept her as his wife and escape from the place along with her before her father arrived there. Haribal agreed to marry and left the place. He however told her that he could not leave Lanka without gaining some royal token of Lanka. By virtue of her father's connections, Kusum managed to get a sword of the king. With that sword they left Lanka and with the help of the heavenly being they flew back to Vilaspur
During the absence of Haribal, Madanveg tried to secure the love of Vasanti. He used to send her the precious gifts that she accepted for not openly displeasing the king in absence of haribal. She however did not respond to his love gesture and kept him waiting on one or other excuse. Madanveg was sure that Haribal could never come back. He was therefore willing to wait till she accepted him. As such he was sorely disappointed when he learnt about the safe return of Haribal.
Outwardly he received Haribal courteously and behaved as if nothing had happened. He felt now all the more jealous because Haribal had two most attractive wives. He once tried to put Haribal to fire by deceit. But Haribal remained safe with the help of the heavenly being. The king ultimately realized that every time the destiny was in favor of Haribal. He therefore gave up all his designs. He was getting old and had no sons. He was looking for a match for his only daughter who was heir apparent to the throne. Haribal was handsome and bold enough to undertake even the hard tasks at his command. He decided to give his daughter to Haribal and later on he renounced the worldly life in favor of Haribal. Thus Haribal gained all sorts of happiness by observing religious tenets.
The entire assembly was impressed by learning about the benefits accruing from the observance of restraints. Anand also realized the importance of observing life of restraints. He became first Shravak of the Lord and initially adopted the vow of abstaining from all sorts of gross violence.
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Sushamä and Chilätiputra
In Räjgruhi there was a very prosperous businessman named Dhanadatta. He had five sons. Later on he got a daughter who was named Sushamä. She was very beautiful and every one loved her. Among his employees there was an orphan boy who was the son of a maid servant Chiläti and was therefore known as Chilätiputra. He used to take care of Sushamä. The boy was mischievous and vicious. He used to pick up unnecessary quarrels with the neighbors. Dhanadatta used to rebuke him for such incidents but that had no effect on Chilätiputra. Dhanadatta however retained him as an employee out of compassion for the orphan boy.
Once Dhanadatta noticed Chilätiputra sexually abusing Sushamä. This was too much for him and he instantly fired the naughty boy. Chilätiputra was homeless and did not know where to go. Moving here and there, he came across the notorious burglar Vijay who used to live in the dense forest area in the neighborhood of Räjgruhi. He had a band of 500 burglars working for him. He took Chilätiputra under his shelter. Chilätiputra learnt the art of burglary from Vijaya and in due course became expert burglar. Vijay was very happy with his performance and made him the deputy chief.
When Vijay died, Chilätiputra was unanimously accepted as the chief. He was bold enough to undertake daring burglaries. He did not hesitate to kill those who dared to oppose him. Thereby he struck the hearts of the people with terror. Indulging in the burglaries, he amassed lot of wealth. He could now afford to live luxurious life. Every one of his colleagues also had enough