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NARRATIVE TALE IN JAIN LITERATURE
existence, but is not angry with the cook who slaughtered him as a pig. Thereupon in his next rebirth he again becomes a man, in fact he is reborn as the son of his own son. When he is one year old, he remembers his previous existence. He sees that his daughter-in-law has now become his mother, and that his son is now his father, and is at a loss to know how to address them. Hence he does not speak at all, and is called "the dumb one." When he has reached the age of twelve years, an all-knowing monk invites him to come and be instructed by him. Then he breaks his vow of silence, and follows the monk into the religious life. The fate of the nun Susamgatā is tragic. In one of her former births she had given a female friend a love-potion for a lover. For this slight sin she was reborn, in succession, as an elephant, a monkey, a bitch, a cat, a Canḍāla girl and lastly as a Śabara girl. The savage Sabaras drove her away from their village. Whilst she is wandering in the forest, she meets some monks, to whom she does honour. For this she becomes a queen in her next existence, the consort of the king of Kosala. A remaining portion of the Karman was, however, still left. Thus it happened that a female demon (Yakṣi) who was in love with the king, assumed the form of the queen, and succeeded in persuading the king that the real queen was a demon. She is driven away, and is about to commit suicide. Then she meets a monk, who tells her about her previous existences. After some time the king, who had in the meantime discovered the truth, finds her again, but both of them now renounce the world, and enter the Jaina Order.
XXI
THE STORY OF SIDDHARŞI
The story of Siddharsi is told in the Pravavaka-caritra :
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Siddha was a cousin of the poet Māgha. He was married to Dhanya, a woman of good family, but in the course of time he got into bad company, took to gambling and spent the nights with evil companions. One day his mother saw her young daughter-in-law weeping, and asked her what
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