Book Title: Life and Stories of Jaina Savior Parcvanatha Author(s): Maurice Bloomfield Publisher: Maurice BloomfieldPage 79
________________ Story of Sundara und Madanavallabhā 65 ground, he came to Crīpura, in the outskirts of which city he went to sleep under a mango tree. The king of Çrīpura having just died sonless, the five oracle method (pañcadivya-adhivāsana 45) of finding a successor was employed. The procession of elefant, horse, chowries, umbrella, and water-jug, headed by the court arrived at the spot where Sundara slept. The horse then neighed, the elefant roared, the water-jug emptied itself on the king, the umbrella stood over his head, and the two chowries waved. He was carried in triumf on the back of the elefant to the city, and received the homage of the ministers and vassals. Not even in all this glory did King Sundara, devoted to his own most beloved wife, think of marriage, for sooner than have two wives a man should go to prison, or exile, or hell (838). The king's two sons separately wandered far, but in time each arrived at Cripura and met at the watch of the town. The merchant Somadeva also, having Madanavallabhā, their mother, in his caravan, came to that city, and asked the king for watchmen for his caravan. The two boys were assigned to this duty. By night, in order to pass the time, the younger asked the older to tell him a story, whereupon he told him his own story. Their mother, Queen Madanavallabhā, still attached to Somadeva's camp as woman of all work, lying awake sadly, overheard 46 the boys, recognized them as her long-lost children, came out, and embraced them with tears. Somadeva was angered by this occurrence, and had the boys brought before the king. Him they told what had happened between them and the woman from the camp. The king then questioned Somadeva, who told him that the woman had been carried with his caravan from Pộthvi * See additional note 20, on p. 199. See additional note 2, on p. 185.Page Navigation
1 ... 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271