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Life and Stories of Pārçvanatha
by another Yakṣa, named Asitakṣa, who had been his enemy in a former birth. Mahendrasinha asked what was the cause of the enmity between the prince and the Yakṣa. Bakulamati narrated (1056): .
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Previous births of Sanatkumāra and the Yaksa Asita 50
King Vikramayaças of Kāñcanapura had five hundred lovely wives. In the same city lived a merchant, Nāgadatta, who had one exceedingly beautiful wife, Viṣṇuçri. One day, the king saw her, succumbed to her fascinations, and took possession of her as a member of his harem. Nāgadatta wandered about in despair, calling her with endearing names, while the king, deeming himself lucky, passed his days in degraded satisfaction. But the queens, tortured by jealousy, slew Viṣṇuçri by sorcery, and now the king was exceedingly grieved. He would not permit his ministers to perform funeral rites over her body, so they cast her body into a park outside the city. The king continued to abstain from eating and drinking, until they took him, on the third day, to the park, and showed him the cadaver of Viṣṇuçrī, overrun by worms, dripping with putrefaction, eyes picked by crows, infested by birds of prey, and smelling foully. The king became averse to the world, and took vows with a teacher, Sudharma. Having performed severe asceticism, he was reborn in the third Kalpa, fell thence, and was born again in Ratnapura as Jinadharma, the son of a merchant. In the meantime Nāgadatta had died from grief, passed thru many animal existences, and finally was born in Sinhapura, as the Brahman Agniçarman. As wandering, three-staved "1
50 See p. 13, and the additional note 28, on p. 206.
tridandin, carrying a bunch of three staffs'; see Tawney, Kathākoça, p. 33, note; Hertel, Paricistaparvan, p. 189.
