Stories From Jainism

Author(s): Mrugendramuni
Publisher: Jain Yoga Foundation

Page 56

13
VALAKALCHIRI
T7 ing Somachandra lived with his wife Dharini in the
1 city of Patanpur. One day while brushing the King's hair, she showed her husband a grey hair and cried out, "Look here. A messenger has come!" The king could not understand this, and, the queen explained that his grey hair was the messenger of death.
Then the King enthroned his son Prasannachandra and became a monk. His wife was pregnant and yet she too became a nun. In course of time she gave birth to a child but she died during the delivery.
The child was wrapped up in the bark of trees and therefore was named Valakalchiri. The child grew up and though he was sixteen years old, he was ignorant of the world and its ways. He passed his life in serving his father in the forest by gathering fruits, etc.
One day King Prasannachandra wanted to see his brother. He asked four coutesans to bring Valakalchiri from the forest to the palace. They assumed the form of nuns and went to the hermitage of Somachandra. Here they found Valakalchiri who welcomed the nuns and offered them fruits.