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280
SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
'Anyway, the necklace of Chellana shall be worn round your neck in no time'
Vidyuta was a resourceful robber who could delude an equally practical, alert and clever premier like Abhayakumar He entered the seraglio in desguise. He pilfered the necklace and sneaked out However, the chief of the police could see him He asked spontaneously,
'What is it that you carry Vidyuta ?' 'Nothing, sir' 'You do carry something' 'Who is it that has informed you?' 'Your unusually heavy footsteps cause me suspicion' 'Rest assured, sir It is nothing.'
Thus reassuring the police officer, Vidyuta moved off In no time the police-stations were alerted about the palace robbery The thief was to be arrested promptly
The chief of the police-station chased Vidyuta with his force The robber had learnt of this alarm and chase He rushed to the cremation ground Varishena was meditaing there The robber left the necklace near him and ran away
The police reached the cremation ground in hot pursuit of the robber Finding the jewels near the saint the police officer took him to be a swindler, his saintly impresonation being a ruse to conceal his crime He was arrested and produced before the king The king saw that his own son Varishena was produced as a robber How could he steal his own mother's jewels? It was impossible However, the police was convinced of his criminal act The circumstancial evidence led to no other inference How to adjudicate in such circumstances ? To defer to the filial affection or pronounce the severest sentence? The call of duty prevailed upon his conscience and he awarded the princely accused the capital sentence, of course, with a heavy heart The executioner took him to the cremation ground
Varishena had practised meditation as Mahavira had done in the cremation ground He was not afraid a bit He was
