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related the whole circumstance. Amaradatta observed : * My friend, a corpse cannot speak, but this is the sport of a demon. Whether it be true or false, this obstacle may be overcome by displaying valour; as in old times Jnánagarbha, by exerting himself, warded off the calamity impending over him.' Then Mitránanda said : Who was this Jnánagarbha ?' So Amaradatta told his story ::
'In this very land of Bharata there is a great city STORY OF THE WISE MINISTER JNÁNAGARBHA.
paw named Champá; in
it there was a king of the name of Jitaçatru, and a minister of the name of Jnánagarbha. The minister's eldest son was named Subuddhi. He had also many other sons. One day, when the king was sitting in his court, a certain great soothsayer, who could predict the future, came there. The king caused a seat to be given to him, and said: “Tell me, soothsayer, what do you know ?” He said: “King, I am a soothsayer that predicts according to the appearance of eight parts of the body." The king said: “Then what will happen to these courtiers within a fortnight?" He considered, and said: “Within a fortnight this minister Jnánagarbha will die with his whole family." When Jnánagarbha heard this, he dismissed the assembly, and went home with the soothsayer. There he questioned him in detail. The soothsayer said : “ Your eldest son will be your ruin.” When he heard this, he dismissed the prophet with gifts, and told the circumstance to his eldest son. Then the minister, in order to save his family, put his eldest son into a chest, making provision in it for food and natural necessities, and after putting a padlock on it, he had it sealed with the king's seal, saying: “This is my household treasure." Then he deposited the chest in the king's palace, and he himself, going home, proceeded to worship the shrines in his own house, taking care to have it guarded on every side with cavalry and infantry. Now, on the fifteenth day from this, the following cry was raised by the female slaves in the king's inner apartments : “Run, run, the son of the
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