Jain Story Book

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 68

enamored of him. Instead of shouting for help, she therefore asked for his love. Vankchool however remembered his vow of not mating a queen and refused to accept her offer.
The queen was very beautiful and did not believe that any one could resist her gesture. She told Vankchool that if he declined her offer, she would make him to face severe punishment for entering her bedroom. But Vankchool was now very firm in observing his vow and resolutely declined to abide by her desire. Thereby she got very enraged. In order to teach him a lesson, she deliberately undressed her hair and tearing her clothes, she shouted that some wicked man had entered the bedroom to rape her and called for help. The watchmen immediately rushed there and arrested Vankchool.
The next day he was brought to the royal court on the accusation of trying to rape the queen. Vankchool had decided that it was the test for observation of the vow and had made up his mind to tell the truth. He stated that he had entered the palace only for committing burglary and had no evil design towards the queen. Every one thought that his defence was unacceptable and he would be sentenced to death. It had however so happened that when Vankchool entered the royal bedroom, the king had finished his work and was approaching there. As he heard some voice coming from the bedroom, he had concealed himself behind the door and had overheard what had happened. He therefore not only released Vankchool but offered to accept him as a friend. Vankchool wanted something of that sort. He gladly accepted the offer. Giving up his settlement forever, he started living in an elegant palace in Ujjayini leading highly religious life. His friendship with the king grew with the passage of time and he gained the role of a close advisor to the king.
Once Vankchool got seriously ill. All the physicians tried their best to cure him but were unsuccessful. At last one person with specialized knowledge said that the disease was normally incurable but it could be cured by giving him the flesh of a crow. The king was very pleased to hear that and called for the flesh. But Vankchool was bound by his vow of not taking the flesh of crow. He therefore refused to take it. Every one pressed him because he had to take it only as medication. But Vankchool would not budge. He had gained a friend named Jindas who was always associated with his religious activities. The king called Jindas to persuade Vankchool to take the flesh for the sake of the maintenance of the body. Jindas however advised him to stick to his vow. Seeing that his end was near, Jindas asked Vankchool to adopt all possible vows and only remember that he was the soul. Vankchool gladly did that and remained all the time conscious of the soul. That way, he got to the end of life with utmost equanimity and attained heaven.
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SUDARSHAN AND QUEEN ABHAYÄ
Very long back, a king named Jitshatru was ruling over Champäpuri. He had a beautiful young queen named Abhaya. She was very proud of her beauty and used her glamour to get from the king whatever she liked. In that city there was a businessman named Sudarshan. He was handsome, youthful and attractive. He was very religious too and observed all possible austerities and restraints. Monogamy is one of the major restraints for house holders and it is as significant as is celibacy for the monks. It was however the age of polygamy and having multiple wives was considered a symbol of social status. Wealthy and handsome, as he was, Sudarshan could have afforded to marry many girls. He however knew that monogamy is highly virtuous and wanted to observe it to the utmost extent. He had therefore taken only one wife whose name was