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this time, another two Vidyadhara brothers from the Northern Vijayārdha made a religious trip to Lankā. Ou their way, they saw a beautiful Jina temple on the Pudi hill in the Malaya country and from there they pickerl up a tinc Jina image While returning home they temporarily deposito'l the image on the Terīpura bill and went for worship into the Jina temple. On their return they tried to lift up the image but it would not move. Seeing no other way, they buried the image in a box at the very spot. Later, they learnt from a sage that the place where they had left the imaye was destined to become a holy spot and that ove of the brothers in his next birth will gain enlightenment there. At this information the brothers renounced the world and became ascetics. Amitaveya, the elder, by his holy practices, died and attained heaven, while the younger, Suvega, spoiled his religious austerities by hypocracy, as a result of which he was born an elephant in the next birth. Amitavega came to know of the misfortune of his younger brother, reminded him of bis fate and preached religion to him, Thus the elephant became & worshipper of the holy spot where they had buried the image. Later, when he found that the image was removed from there be took sanyasa and went to heaven after death. The Vidyadhara then advised Karakanda to construct one inore cave on the upper side of the previous cave. Karakanda more than fulblled this pious wish of the Vidyadhara by excavating two more caves.
While Karakanda was yet encamping there, a wild elephant came to drink water from the lake. Catching the smell of the army-elephants, it advanced towards the camp which was atonce thrown into a tumult. The king came out with his arms but the elephant suddenly vanished out of sight. Returning to his camp he found, to his utter amazement, Madadāvali missing. The search that followed prored futile. In his overwhelming sorrow, he was consoled by a Sura who told him the story of his former birth, He had a pet parrot which ras once attacked in its cage by a snake That snake was reborn as a Vidyadhara who had now assumed the form of an ele. phant and stolen his wife from bim. He, however, assured the king that he would regain her when he returned from his victorious campaign. The Sura revealed his own identity as no other than the king's parrot in his former birth. The king doubted the possibility of his ever regaining Vadanāvali and to remove his doubts the Vidyādhara cited the example of Naravāhanadatta whose story is told in the next chapter.
VI
This chapter is entirely taken up by the story of Varavāhapadatta told by the Vidyadhara to Karakanda.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
