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their chariot and Agadadatta thrust his hand which he had wrapped up in his garment into its mouth and with the other hand, he plunged the sword into its back. They left the dead tiger and went on to meet the black snake with a shining jewel in its hood, who hissed frighteningly at them. Agadadatta paralysed its movements and journyed on. Without any more difficulties he arrived at S'ankhapura where his parents were most happy to receive him. There were many long festivities organised for their welcome and Agaḍadatta and Madanamañjari enjoyed all kinds of pleasures. One afternoon, Agadadatta had asked all the members of his party to go away so that he would be alone with Madanamañjari and at that time a dangerous snake bit Madanamañjari. She quickly became unconscious and the venom spread through her veins so rapidly that before anything could be done, she was dead. Agaḍadatta made a funeral pyre for her and he decided to throw himself also on it. But as flames flared up to envelope Madanamañjari's body, a pair of Vidyadharas came from the sky and told Agadadatta that they would revive Madanamañjari and that Agadadatta should not be impatient like that to kill himself. Accordingly she was brought back to life and Agadadatta took her to a nearby temple which was dismally dark. Agadadatta left Madanamañjari there and went out to get some fire. As he came back with fire, he saw a bright streak of light but it quickly disappeared. He wondered what light it could have been; Madanamañjari said it must have been the reflection of the fire he was holding in his hand. Agaḍadatta handed over his sword to her so that he could bend down and blow on the fire when he heard the sound of the sword as it fell on the floor. To his surprise, the sword was pulled out of its scabbard. When asked, Madanamañjari only said that it fell on the stone floor out of her hand in sheer fright.
After a few days of pleasure and delight in each other's company, Agadadatta was carried away by his horse to a remote forest where many holy monks and ascetics lived. One of them a very distinguished looking old man, gave Agadadatta a detailed account of everything he had done since he killed the Bhilla chief, Dharanidhara by name. His five brothers decided to seek their revenge on Agadadatta. It was they that had brought about
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