Kathakoca or Treasury of Stories

Author(s): C H Tawney
Publisher: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation New Delhi

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carried off by her son.' Then the king asked, with his heart full of wonder: 'Revered sir, whence has she a son ? The only son that she had was devoured by accursed death. She never had a second son. Your speech is not true. It does not tally with facts.' Then the hermit, in order to remove the king's doubt, told the story of the family goddess, and Madanakumára also heard the tale. Then he was delighted at beholding his own father. So Madanakumára was reunited to his father, and great rejoicing took place. Then Jayasundarí said to the possessor of 'absolute knowledge : 'Revered sir, what deed brought about my separation from my son ?' The hermit answered: 'Because in a former life, in your birth as a parrot, you took away the egg of your rival for sixteen muhúrtas,* therefore in this life you have been separated from your son for sixteen years. For He who causes joy or grief to another, even though it be no larger
than a grain of mustard, Sows a seed in the fruitful field of the next life, and reaps abundant
fruit.
When Jayasundarí heard this speech from the hermit she was afflicted with remorse, and asked the forgiveness of the queen-consort Rati, and Rati also asked her forgiveness. Thereupon King Hemaprabha said to the hermit: 'Revered sir, what merit did I perform in a former life that in this life I have obtained such a vast kingdom, with Jayasundari for my consort ?' Then the hermit said: 'In a former life, in your birth as a parrot, you, with your son and daughter, offered whole grain to the mighty Jina ; then you died and went to the world of the gods; thence you fell and obtained a kingdom. When the king had thus been instructed with regard to his former life, he gave his kingdom to the son of Rati, and he and Jayasundari and Madanakumára became hermits; and after they had observed their vow for a long time the three died, and were born as gods in the seventh world of the gods. After they have fallen thence, they will be born as
* A muhúrta is properly a period of forty-eight minutes.