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Life and Stories of Pārçvanātha
Story of the four merchants' sons, concluded After listening to further instruction from the Sage, King Viçvasena (formerly Sundara) asked why he felt so great a love for the two merchants. The Sage narrated the events of the four merchants' sons' lives, as well as that of Sundara himself. In the end they all took the vow, became gods, and will, in due time, obtain the station of Siddhas, or Enlightened' (718-732).
Frame story: Pārçvanātha continues his sermon on
dharma
Having concluded his exposition of the threefold dāna, Pārçva turns to the second branch of the dharma, namely çīla, or' virtue' (see 6.272), which he subdivides and classifies, especially with regard to its application to ascetics (yati) on the one hand (ten vratas), and to householders (gļhin) on the other (twelve vratas) 32 (767). He then turns to that highest virtue which even the gods find difficult to observe, namely bramharūpa, or avoidance of illicit attachment to those who belong to others. This he illustrates by the following story (732772):
Story of Madanarekhā and her son Nami. David and
Uriah 33
In the city of Sudarçana, in the land of Avanti, ruled a king Maạiratha; he had a younger brother Yugabāhu. Yugabāhu had a wife, Madanarekhā, beautiful and vir
**Cf. Stevenson, Heart of Jainism, pp. 205 ff.
"A fine Prikrit version of this story, in Jacobi's Ausgewählte Erzähl. ungen, pp. 41 ff.; also Kathākoça, pp. 18 ff. A variant of part of the same theme in Kathakoça, pp. 14 ff. According to Leumann, in a note to Taw
