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NARRATIVE TALE IN JAIN LITERATURE
itself into a Yaksa, who thenceforth becomes a faithful friend to the prince; he also gives him a ring, by the aid of which he can assume any kind of form he desires. Padmottamā, the daughter of King Dharmapat is bitten by a poisonous snake. The king promises his daughter to the man who will cure her of the snake's poison. Jivandhara alone is able to do this with the help of his Yaksa friend, and he wins this princess, too, as his wife. A few days later he comes to a lovely grove, where he worships in a Jaina temple. All of a sudden a Campaka tree begins to burst forth in red blossoms, the cuckoos begin to sing charmingly, the pond by the temple fills itself with limpid water, the water-lilies open, bees approach in swarms, and the doors of the Jaina temple fly open of their own accord. Now it had been prophesied that the merchant Subhadra should give his daughter Kșemasundari in marriage to the man at whose coming all these miracles should take place. So Ksemasundarī, too, became the wife of Jwandhara. He wins a fifth wife, Hemābhā, owing to his skill is archery. Princess Sricandrā observes a pair of doves enjoying themselves and falls into a swoon, for she remembers that she had been a dove in a previous existence and had lost her husband. After a long search, and with the assistance of Jivandhara, the former husband of the princess is found in the person of NandāŅhya, Jivandhara's half-brother, who is again married to her. Jivandhara stays away from his family for 16 years, because in a former birth he had separated the young one of a flamingo from its parents for 16 months. At last comes the reunion with his mother, which is described very touchingly. She enlightens him regarding the fact that he is the son of King Satyandhara who was killed, and asks him to seize the reins of government. He promises to do this when the right moment shall have come.
By the aid of his magic ring he comes to Rājapura as a merchant. There the merchant Sagaradatta gives him his daughter in marriage, as he was her destined husband according to prophesy on the part of the astrologers. Disguised as an old and wandering Brahman ascetic, he comes one day into the audience hall of Kāșthāngāraka and is entertained by him. After leaving the hall, he offers
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