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Life and Stories of Pārçvanātha
to be a pregnant doe. Being greatly distressed at his mortal sin of having slain an embryo, he decided to go to the hermitage, in order to obtain there absolution for his sin. As he entered with his two friends, he was received kindly, but, when he asked whether there was any expiation possible for the crime of killing the embryo of a doe, the chief Sage of the hermitage answered evasively that, • while Hariscandra was king, no injury could happen to their hermitage' (603).
At that point a tumult arose, out of which was heard the voice of the Sage's daughter, Vañcanā. She wailed :
O mother, if this doe of mine shall die, then I will starve myself to death!' And her mother in turn wailed: “ If you will starve yourself, then I will do likewise; bereft of you, life is of no use to me.' The Sage had the two women brought into his presence, and, with wily intent, asked Vañcanā why she was crying. In this manner he elicited from her the statement that she was crying over the loss of the doe, her play-fellow, raised by her from childhood. The Sage, now acting as if he did not know that the king was the offender, depicted in lurid colors, the misfortune that would befall his house thru the death of his daughter and his wife, as well as the loss of his spiritual sanctity. He then pretended to wonder whence such an unexpected calamity could have arisen during the rule of a king of the royal line of Ikşvāku. The king, greatly dejected, exposed his guilt by asking what he should do: he could punish others, but not himself. The Sage hid his face in his garment of bark, excoriated the king with sharp invective, which he kept up even after the king offered to enter the fire, abandon the country, or take the vow (628). The Sage remained inexorable, but finally, at the suggestion of his pupil Angāramukha, acting as his accomplice, prescribed that the king should
