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STORIES PRECEDING BHAGWAN MAHAVIR▸
diligently learned the acrobatic skills. The girl fell in love with him and helped him to learn the skills. With her help he easily mastered the skill and soon became an expert acrobat. When group reached the city of Benatat, he requested the father of the girl to organize a show at the royal court. Thereafter, the chief went to the young King and requested him to watch the performance of the young acrobat and to award him a suitable prize for his skills.
rope
The King agreed and the acrobats erected the poles in the compound of the royal palace where the office of the state and the elite of the city were invited to watch the performance. The King occupied his seat in the balcony of the palace. Bowing to him, Ilachikumar went over the pole. Jumping onto the rope started displaying his acrobatic skills. He walked on the with ease and grace. He also perform risky jumps and somersaults. It was a superb performance. No one had ever seen such acrobatic feats. Everyone was highly impressed with his skill. Ilachikumar felt gratified by the appreciation of the people. He thought that it was enough to please the King as well. He came down, and bowed to the King again and requested an appropriate award.
During the performance, however, the King's attention had been diverted by the beautiful girl. She fascinated him. He saw how she gazed lovingly at
110 Ilachikumar throughout the performance.
to
He thought that he could easily gain her if he somehow got rid of Ilachikumar. The chief acrobat approached king and asked if he had enjoyed the performance. The King pretended that his mind had been occupied with problems of the state and he was not able to give his full attention the performance. He requested Ilachikumar to show his skill again. Accordingly, Ilachikumar got on the rope again and displayed skills. At the end of the show, the king pretended to be drowsy and asked him to repeat the performance, Ilachikumar could not believe it. He suspected that there was something wrong. However, since he was still eager to accomplish his cherished goal of marrying the girl, he decided to try again.
He started the ropewalk once again. He triumphantly looked around. While up there, he noticed a beautiful woman offering sweet food to a young monk. She was in the prime of her youth and was very attractive and highly graceful. What surprised Ilachikumar was that the monk was completely unaffected by her beauty. He compared it to his own situation. He had changed his entire life for the beauty of one girl and the monk was impervious to the lovely woman in front of him. He was amazed by the self-contented and detached attitude of the monk towards the beautiful woman. What power kept the monk aloof in the presence of that woman? In addition, while remaining aloof, peace
