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ILACHIKUMAR
n ancient times, there lived a
wealthy businessman named Dhandatta in the town of Ilavardhan. His wife llachi gave birth to a very lovable and handsome boy. Being the only son, the parents deliberately kept him nameless as was the custom in those days. As the son of Ilachi he came to be known as llachiputra. He was raised with loving care and attention and never lacked any luxuries. He grew up to be a handsome youth and was eventually known as llachikumar. His parents felt it was time to find a wife for him. They did not need to look very far. Since they were a prosperous family and Ilachikumar was their only son, many families wanted their daughters to marry him. His parents prepared a list of selected names and asked llachikumar to choose the one that he liked the most. However, Ilachikumar could not make a
selection.
Ilavardhan. In those days, there were no stadiums where acrobats could perform. They performed their skills for their audience on the open streets. Beating drums to announce their arrival, the acrobats planted poles in an open square off the main street and connected them with ropes. Many people assembled there to watch the show. The acrobats climbed the pole one after another and started demonstrating their skills by performing on the rope. They were walking and jumping over the high rope, fascinating the people with their performance. Attracted by the commotion, Ilachikumar also went to watch the show. While watching the performance of the acrobats, his attention was drawn to the young daughter of the chief acrobat. She was very beautiful and was dancing very gracefully to the tune of the drums with bells on her feet. Ilachikumar was so mesmerized by her beauty and charm that he could not take his eyes off her
One day a party of acrobats
came
At the end of the show, the acrobats descended the rope and started collecting money from the peoplewho had assembled for the show. People were very pleased with the performance and paid handsomely. After collecting a large amount of money, the acrobats left the square to camp for the night and everyone else went home. llachikumar also returned home. But his mind was still on the beautiful girl he
had seen that day. At dinner, his
to
