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27. MEGHAKUMĀRASRAMNA
CARITRA
A great king Srenika ruled over Räjagrha. His queen's name was Nanda and Nanda's son was Abhaya. He was very handsome, brave, intelligent and capable. The king had left much administration of his kingdom to him. There was however another wife to king Srenika. Dhārini was her name. She once saw a dream in which a tall elephant, silver white in colour descended from the sky and entered her mouth. The queen quickly woke up from the dream. She was quite excited to see it as she knew that it was one of the fourteen great dreams. She at once went to the bed-room of the king and gently awakened him. She narrated the dream to him and asked what could possibly be the meaning of such a dream. The king too felt as happy as the queen herself and assured her that the dream meant to convey that a son would soon be born to her and that son would be the gem of the family. Dhărini's eyes were filled with tears of joy. She kept awake for the rest of the night, recalling to her mind several auspicious stories of gods and saints so that no other evil thought, feeling or dream would undo the auspicious dream that she had just seen.
In the morning, the king sent for the interpreters of dreams to interpret the dream of queen Dhărini. They also confirmed the king's interpretation and only added that the son that would be born was destined to be either a great king or a great monk. Nevertheless, the king continued to feel happy and distributed precious gifts amongst the interpreters of dreams.
During the third month of pregnancy, the queen felt an acute
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