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parents found him silent and unresponsive to their efforts to converse with him. His parents had never seen him so dazed. His father questioned his absent-mindedness but he did not answer. After dinner when his mother persisted on the reason for his silence, he finally replied that his heart was attracted to the acrobat girl and he wanted to marry her.
daughter to his son. The acrobat, however, declined the offer and replied that he could not break the convention. Dhandatta then asked him about his tribal convention.
The acrobat said that he could give his daughter only to the person who could win an award from a royal court by pleasing the king with his acrobatic skill and would then give dinner to his community from the prize money. Dhandatta was disappointed to hear that because it was apparently impossible for his son to fulfill the condition. He explained to his wife what had happened. She called her son and said that the girl would only marry an expert acrobat and asked him to forget her.
His mother was taken aback to hear that. She said that she could find him a very beautiful and lovable girl from a high caste and respectable family and asked him to forget the lower caste acrobat girl. llachikumar replied that he had never met any other girl who attracted him and he wanted to marry that girl. Acknowledging his resolve on the matter, she told her husband about their son's intentions. Dhandatta was shocked to hear this. He tried to dissuade his son from his intention but llachikumar remained firm. Dhandatta was a sensible man. He could see that llachikumar would not be at peace without that girl. He did not want to lose his son for the sake of prestige. He therefore called the chief of acrobats and requested to give his daughter in marriage to llachikumar
Ilachikumar was silent but his mind was racing with thoughts. He felt that he would not be able to live happily without the girl and was willing to make any sacrifice for her. He was even prepared to learn acrobatic skills for that purpose. His parents misunderstood his silence as disappointment and felt that in time he would recover. They tried to divert his attention to other matters to help him forget; llachikumar allowed them to believe that they were succeeding. But his mind was made up. When acrobat group decided to leave the town of Ilavardhan, llachikumar secretly left his home and joined acrobat group.
STORIES PRECEDING BHAGWAN MAHAVIR
The acrobat refused because he was bound by the convention of his tribe. Dhandatta thought that he might be looking for money for the girl. He therefore offered to give as much wealth as the acrobat wanted for agreeing to marry his
He discarded his fancy clothes and put on an acrobat's uniform. He started learning their skill. He was smart and
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