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xii
KUMARAPALACARITA
During his flight while resting under a tree, he noticed & rat bringing out from a hole twenty-one silver coins, one by one. When the rat afterwards began to restore them, he allowed it to go into the hole with one of them and then took possession of the rest. The rat on its return, not finding the treasure, was so deeply grieved that it died immediately on the spot. Kumārapāla was much pained to see this incident. On the way, while going without food for three days and tormented by hunger, he happened to meet a lady with a large retinue on the way to her father's house. She invited him with affection. as a sister and treated him to rich food. Thus journeying for several days through the country, he arrived at Stambhatirtha, Khambhat-Cambay, where Hemācārya, the great Jaina saint, resided at the time. There he called at the minister Udayana's house to ask for food. Again Udayana saw him in the convent, where iu reply to his questions, Hemācārya, on the strength of the marks he noticed on his person, prophecied that Kumārapāla was going to be the ruler of the whole land. Noticing that Kumārapāla hesitated to trust in the prediction, Hemācārya made two copies of the statement of his prophecy and handed over one to the minister and the other to Kumārapāla. The statement ran thus ;-*"If you will not be anointed king on Sunday the second day of the dark fortnight of the month of Kārtika when the moon will be in the constellation hasta in the year 1199 Samvat, I shall give up the work of prophecying hereafter." On seeing this, Kumārapāla and Udayana agreed to abide by the orders of Hemācārya if the prophecy should be realised.
* garuferalniot : p. 194. line 4.
सं० ११९९ वर्षे कार्तिक वदि २ रवी हस्तनक्षत्रे यदि भवतः पहाभिषेको न भवति तदातः परं निमित्तावलोकसंन्यासः ।
