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20. NAGGAI
Once king Simharatha of the country of Gandhāra went to inspect the two horses that were brought to him as a present. The king mounted one of them in order to try him and his son took the other. The horse that the king was riding was trained in the inverse manner, it went faster when the rein was pulled and the king was not aware of this. When he pulled the rein, the horse ran and in order to restrain it, the king pulled the rein harder and the horse increased his speed. This is how the king went twelve yojanas away and entered a great forest. He felt very tired and let go the reins and the horse suddenly stopped. He dismounted, tied it to a tree and wandered around in search of fruits.
When the king climbed to the top of a mountain, in order to stay there overnight, his eyes fell upon a palace of seven stories around there. He entered the palace and met an extremely beautiful, graceful young woman in the full fresh bloom of youth. When she saw the king coming in, she quickly rose to greet him and offered him a seat. An intense love sprang up between the two of them. The king asked who she was and why she should be living alone in the wilderness. The young woman said that she would tell the whole story of her life at length only after the king had consented to marry her in the balcony of the palace which had all the things that were necessary for the nuptial rites. The king was extremely happy to agree.
They both went to the sanctuary of the Jina, and worshipped him before they went through their Gāndharva marriage. In the morning of the day after the wedding, they both performed the worship of the Jina and she told the story of herself to the king which
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