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once more took a vow, and became angry and died without repenting of her anger, and became the wife of the lord Içána.* From that position she fell, and was conceived as the daughter of the hermit Harishena, in the womb of his wife Prítimatí, and was born in the hermitage as Rishidattá; so, my good lady, it is owing to the influence of deeds in a previous birth that this grievous accusation was brought against you.'
When Rishidattá heard this account of her former existence from the mouth of the sage, she remembered all her births. When Kanakaratha heard that, he felt inclined to renounce the world; and both of them, after placing their son Simharatha on the throne, took the vows in the presence of the religious teacher Bhadrayaças. They performed the most terrible mortifications, and both of them obtained absolute knowledge. This pair of kevalins enduring mortification, when the accumulated actions of a long existence had come to an end, having gained glory by destroying the enemy of the soul's peace, obtained the most blessed state abounding in the most exalted happiness.
Here ends the story of Rishidattá, having reference to virtue.
Now follows the story of Metárya, concerning compassion to living creatures.
STORY OF METÁRYA.
In this very land of Bharata, in the city of Sanketa, there was a king named Chandrávatamsaka. He had two queens, named respectively Sudarçaná and Priyadarçaná. Sudarçaná had two sons, named Sagarachandra and Munichandra; whereas the two sons of Priyadarçaná were named Gunachandra and Bálachandra. Then King Chandrávatamsaka established Sagarachandra in the position of crown-prince, § and gave Munichandra a
* One of the older forms of Çiva-Rudra (Monier Williams). + Kevalajnána. The possessor of such knowledge is called a kevalin. See Dr. Hoernle's Uvásaga Dasáo,' appendix iii., p. 44. The state is, of course, moksha, or liberation.
Yuvaraja.
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