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child was given such a name, Avakirnaka, which means a foundling. As a boy he showed signs of leadership, and the royal blood in him knew how to assert itself, though he knew nothing about his real parents. He expected his playmates to treat him as a king. When once he had scabbies he asked them to scratch his body ever so often that he was called Karakandu and this name stuck.
Once Karakandu heard what two monks were talking between themselves on the merits of a bamboo stick. One of them said that a certain bamboo that was growing in the funeral ground would assure kingship to its owner. Karakandu rushed up to possess it. The same remark was overheard by a Brahmin boy and he too wanted to get hold of the same bamboo; the quarrel that ensued between the two boys was so fierce that it had to be taken to the court for a judge to decide. He told Karakandu that he might have it for himself but on condition that if he ever became a king he should give to the Brahmin boy a village of his choice. Both the boys agreed
I the judge gave the stick to Karakandu but the Brahmin boy did not feel really happy. He and his friends decided to resolve the conflict in their own ways at which Karakandu felt distressed. He and his family left the place and sought refuge in a remote village in the area of another state. Now it so happened that the king of this state had just died heirless and according to the custom a party of royal officers led by a royal horse was sent out to discover a worthy candidate for the throne. One day Karakandu was sleeping under a tree when the horse came and went round him and stopped to indicate that he was the proper man. The royal officers discovered in Karakandu all the auspicious signs and he was announced the new king of the state. But some people (the Brahmins) would not willingly accept this choice till Karakandu took the jewel of a bamboo staff which radiated bright dazzling light. (This quite convinced every one.) King Karakandu turned into Brahmins the low-caste men living in Vātadhānaka from which community he himself came and thus raised their status.
Soon enough the Brahmin boy came to claim the gift of a village that Karakandu had promised in a court of law. Karakandu asked
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