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GLIMPSES ALONG LIFE'S JOURNEY
steps of his father, and renounced the world. Atibala, his son, then became the king of Alkāpuri. He married the fair princess Manoharā. The soul of Jaya Varmā took birth as a son to Atibala and Manoharā, as stated above. They called him Mahābala.
Atibala was a great king, but he, too, at the appearance of the signs of old age, took to asceticism, to rid himself of the enemy, karma. Mahābala succeeded him. As the fruit of his previous life's asceticism, Mahābala was endowed with many great virtues and was surrounded by all kinds of splendours and the good things of the world. For a long time he enjoyed life and was much respected by all.
Mahābala was not only a great king; he was also a great thinker. He had four ministers who favoured four different creeds. These were : Mahāmati, who was a materialist, Sambhinnamati, who held that things were unreal, being really only so many ideas ’; Šātamati, who maintained the doctrine of voidness; and Svayambuddha, who was a Jaina. The family religion of the king, too, was Jainism; but Svayambuddha felt much anxiety about him, and wanted to turn his thoughts definitely towards dharma (religion), so that the possession of wealth might not stand in the way of the future prosperity of his soul.
