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he was still in the village chief's house with Ratnavati. He successfully beat them back and the village chief and others congratulated him. Later he proceeded to Rajagrha. He left Ratnavati in a monastery before he got into the town but on his way he was addressed by two beautiful damsels who told their own story to him as follows:
They were the daughters of king Jvalanasikha and queen Vidyucchikha of the city kingdom of S'ivapura. Their eldest brother was Nattumatta. The king once had been to a pilgrimage to a holy place on mount Astāpada reputed for its Jina temples. He was accompanied by his friend Agnisikha and the two daughters. They saw two holy ascetics sitting under an Asoka tree and after doing their usual obeisance to them they sat down to listen to the holy discourse the ascetics were preaching. The discourse was as follows:
"Samsara (worldly existence) is worthless, the body is perishable, life is (momentary) like the appearance of clouds in autumn, youth is like the flashes of lightning, enjoyments of pleasures are like the (tasting of) kimpäka fruit (which has a charming exterior but is very poisonous). Transient as the glow of the evening red (or twilight) is the pleasure of the senses, fickle as the dew drops on the tip of kusa grass Laksmi (Wealth), misery (or sorrow) is very easy to get (or easily obtained), (while) happiness is very rare (or is obtained with difficulty) and the movements of the god of Death are never hindered (or never impeded is the progress of Death). Therefore, such being the case, let the course of delusion be abandoned and let the mind be fixed on the religion preached by the prince of Jinas."
Agnisikha asked the ascetics about the marriage of the two princesses and the ascetics predicted that the man who slays the brother of the two will be their husband. These words much distressed every one and the young women declared their intention to forgo all worldly pleasures. Their brother however continued to be fond of all the worldly pleasures and cared only for his baths and
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