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JAINA LITERATURE IN TAMIL
87
escape the fruits of one's own karma is but the result of ignorance. Hence we were not afraid of our own fate which is the consequence of our own previous action. We have to laugh simply because the whole scene here is steeped in so much ignorance. As a result of our own conduct that we sacrificed a fowl made up of rice-flour, we had to suffer and endure for seven births, successively taking the form of lower animals and suffering all sorts of pain. Only in this period, we have the good fortune to regain our human form. We know very well that all this suffering was the result of our silly desire to offer sacrifice to Kālī, though the actual victim of sacrifices was merely an imitation fowl made of flour. After realising this, when your people asked us to pray to Caņņa-Māridevī for the prosperity and welfare of yourself and your kingdom as a result of the sacrifice of several animals and birds together with human beings, we could not but laugh at the simplicity and ignorance of the people here."
When the king heard this, he gave up the idea of sacrifice and wanted to know more about the life of the two victims who exhibited such magnificent peace of mind even in the very jaws of death. Thus ends the first section.
In the second section is narrated the story of these two youths and how they brought upon themselves all the troubles on account of sacrificing a mock-fowl. The scene is laid in Ujjain, the capital of Avanti of Mālava-dēša. The ruler of the country was one Aśõka.
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