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King SHRIPAL & MAYÁNASUNDARI
one day arrived at Ujjayini city, the capital of Malwa region.
o r ang Sinharath ruled over
V Champa-nagar. By his queen, Kamalprabha, he had a son named Shripal. The King died when Shripal was five years old. King Sinharathis brother Ajitsen was very ambitious and took this opportunity to seize the throne. He was keen on getting rid of Shripal in order to make his position as King secure. When Kamalprabha became aware of Ajitsen's vicious plan, she fled from Champa-nagar along with her son. Learning about her escape, Ajitsen sent his trusted soldiers to pursue her. How long could the poor lady go, especially since she had to run on foot with a young child? As the soldiers got close, she did not know how to save her son. She saw a group of lepers. In desperation, she asked them to take her son into their custody. They warned her about the risk of her son contracting the disease of leprosy from them. However, she had no choice if she wanted to save her son, so she entrusted her son to them.
King Prajapal was ruling there. He and queen Rupsundari had two daughters named Sursundari and Mayana-sundari. They were very beautiful and intelligent. The King loved both of them and made adequate arrangements for their training in the arts and crafts. The girls mastered all of them in due course. Once the King decided to test their knowledge and called them in the assembly hall. He asked a number of questions to Sursundari who gave satisfactory replies to all of them. At the end, the King asked her by whose favor she got all her skills and also the amenities and luxuries that she enjoyed. The girl humbly replied that she gained all that by the King's favor. The King was pleased with her replies and decided to reward her appropriately.
STORIES PRECEDING BHAGWAN MAHAVIR
Then he asked several questions to Mayana-sundari. She too gave satisfactory replies to all his questions. At the end, the King asked her the same question that he had asked Sursundari. He had expected Mayana to give an identical reply and thus please him. But Mayana had total faith in the religious philosophy she had studied at length. She therefore replied:
Shripal was very bold and handsome. The leper colony became very fond of him and took great care of Shripal. Ultimately, Shripal contracted leprosy. When he became a youth, the people made him their leader, and named him
Umbar Rana. Under his leadership, the 104 group travelled from place to place and
"O father! The great King! With due respect to you, all the comfort that you provide me are only because of my meritorious (Punya) Karma. Everyone gets
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