________________
20
would take ill, accepted them. (P. 54. I. 21.)
Then Dharana went to his own city. The king came out to receive him. Dharana was led then to the royal palace where he was duly honoured. Then he went his home. There he offered charities etc. His parents asked him about Laxmi. He felt dejected. The parents did not further ask him thinking it would wound his feelings and that Laxmi might have done that usual female perfidy. The king then came to him and Dharana, being pressed by the king as to what order he wanted to promulgate, asked for the release of all prisoners and non-injury to all living-beings. The king promulgated this order, with due striking of prison-gongs, After spending there some time with Dharana, the king went away (P. 56. I. 3.)
Once Dharana went to garden Malayasundara, where he saw Revilaka, a son of a noble man, sporting with his beloved. He was reminded of Laxmi and her perfidy. There he, being dejected of this world, went with his friends to the grove of As'oka trees. He found there a great teacher named Arahadatta. Arahadatta and other hermits offered them religious benediction. They sat