Jinamanjari 2001 09 No 24

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 67

Meanwhile, Yaṣomati was enjoying the company of his consort Kusumavati in a tent in the garden. Wishing to show her his skill in hitting invisible objects with arrows simply by hearing the sound, he shot an arrow, which pierced and killed the rooster and the hen left behind by the hangman. Soon after, Kusumavati conceived, and the birds found their next birth in her womb.
During the ante-natal period, the queen implored the king to proclaim protection from injury for all creatures and prohibit the sale of wine and the use of meat. Further, she expressed a keen desire to have teachings on kindness to living creatures expounded to her, and to worship holy women noted for their self-control. Convinced that he was going to have a child with an innate leaning towards the Jaina religion, the king tried his best to fulfill the wishes of the queen.
In due course Kusumavati gave birth to a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, who were respectively called Yaṣastilaka and Madanamati. The boy and girl were better known as Abhayaruci and Abhayamati on account of the mother's solicitude for "abhaya" or "protection from injury" for all creatures, during the period preceding their birth. The children grew up, and it was rumored that Abhayaruci would soon be made crown-prince and Abhayamati would be married to a king from a nearby area.
One day Yaṣomati went hunting and happened to see the sage Sudatta in the garden of the Temple of the Thousand Spires. Ajamāra, a boon companion of the king, suggested that the inauspicious sight of the naked ascetic augured ill for the hunt. This thought annoyed the king and made him feel disgust for the sage. A merchant, who had come to pay homage to Sudatta, entreated Yaṣomati not to be disrespectful towards the saint who was once the king of Kalinga and who had renounced his throne to practice religious austerities. Yaşomati took the advice and both he and the merchant paid their respects to the sage, who greeted the king with a benedictory (blessing) gesture.
The affable conduct of the sage touched the king to the heart. Repenting that he should have ever harbored ill feeling for so good a man, Yaṣomati resolved within himself to cut off his own head and lay it at the feet of the sage as an expiatory offering. The great saint at once read Yaṣomati's thoughts and
61