________________
185
nothing but a morsel of delicious food could produce such a foul smell, what would any one say about the human body which has all sort of muck inside such as cough, vomit, semen, blood, pus, urine and excreta ? The wisest thing to do would be not to be attached to the human body and the pleasures and enjoyments it might give. Then Malli reminded them all of their previous three lives with Mahābala as the leader in the city of Vitasoka in the Salilävativijaya country. She also spoke of their intimate friendship and of their promise to each other that they would all do whatever one of them did and when Mahābala landed on the ideal of becoming a monk they all followed suit. She further explained how she came to be born in her present birth as a woman. She confessed to the little trickery that she as Mahābala had practised in the hope of gaining more merit for herself : When they all observed a fast for four meals, after to a common understanding, Mahabala would extend it by a couple of meals. In fact, on every such occasion, he tried to do one better without the knowledge of the others. They were all born as princes after their stay in heaven was over, whereas Mahābala was given the birth as as princess.
When she spoke like that the six kings gradually started recalling their previous life-cycles and came to agree fully with whatever Malli had said. When Malli announced her decision to give up her present worldly way of life, and spoke of her disgusting and terrifying experience with the sami sära, they said that they would follow her. Malli advised them to return to their own towns, put their sons on their thrones and come back with their minds firmly resolved to renounce the world, and she gave them one year's time for making the final arrangements.
When Malli was on the point of entering the religious order, Indra, the lord of the gods, felt tremors in his throne and through his avadhi knowledge, understood its exact reason. He despatched his messenger to the city of Mithilā with his personal gifts for her as had been the custom. He sent three hundred and eighty eight
res and eighty hundred thousand gold coins. Malli was grateful to Indra and distributed the entire money to the rich and the poor, to the travellers and messengers, to beggars and pilgrims. Her
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
