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Life and Stories of Pārçvanātha
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king; had them beaten; but could extract no more information. They were thrown into a hell-like pit, but nothing further came to light (138).
Now at the end of six months a certain rogue in the garb of an ascetic,15 having been caught with money on his person, was brought before the minister. Because a mendicant should not have so much money, he was condemned to death as a thief, and taken outside by the soldiers. He then confessed that he had formerly stolen the king's treasure, of which the chest was a part, and all was duly found except that chest (144). The thief then tells his story. He is the son of a Brahman in the city of Pundravardhana; his name is Çridhara. Once he saw some men apprehended as thieves, and cried out that those criminals ought to be executed. A Muni reprimanded him for his ignorance, telling him that those offenders were merely harvesting the fruits of a previous existence: 'You also will certainly gather the fruit of your previous faults.' When asked to explain, the Muni narrated (49-150):
Prenatal history of the thief in the guise of an ascetic 16
In the city of Garjana, you lived as a pious Brahman, named Candradeva. There also lived a celebrated ascetic, Yogātman. Now a certain widow, Viramatí by name, went off with a gardener, named Sinhala; as fate would have it, Yogātman disappeared on the same day. When all the people of the town gossiped that Vīramati had gone somewhere, you stated that she had certainly eloped with Yogātman; the people, therefore, became
15 See additional note 12, on p. 191. * This story recurs in Samarádityasamk sepa 4. 201 ff.
