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life time so that the bitter fruit should have ripened now into this shapeless body. "I have not seen hell or hell-beings," he said to himself. "But surely this man is suffering pains similar to that in hell."
He came back to Mahavira and gave him a full account of all that he had seen and asked, "O revered Sir, who was this man in his former existence ? In what village or in what town was he born? Having done what has he come to experience this painful existence?" Mahāvira then narrated the following story:
In the city of Satadvāra there was a king named Dhanapati. One of his district officers was Ikkäi. His jurisdiction spread over five hundred villages and his district office was located in the town called Vijayavardhamana. Ikkāi was impious and took great pleasure in doing evil acts. He used to harass, kill, threaten, beat and plunder people of his villages. He also extracted a lot of money from his people through heavy taxation, high rate of interest and punitive fines. He also extorted, at the point of sword, several brides and compulsory contributions. He kept in his service several bad characters with whose help he looted and killed way-farers and merchants. When he presided over any law suits, when legally permitted evidence was produced, he saw it but declared that it was not there at all. He heard legal arguments and declared he did not hear them. Even when he said anything, he quickly disowned and said he never said it. When he accepted anything, he did not hesitate to say that he did not take it. In fact, his behaviour as the district administrator was most sinful.
One of these days, he fell ill and it was discovered that sixteen different diseases attacked him at one and the same time. He ca his domestic servants and ordered them to proclaim very loudly at all the places where four roads met, in parks and gardens, in all the market places that the district officer was prepared to give plenty of money to any physician or surgeon or any other skilled man or their sons if they could cure him of the sixteen diseases that he was suffering from or even one of them. He instructed his servants to proclaim this announcement several times at all the places.
In response to the proclamation, many physicians with their bags full of instruments and medicines came to the residence of
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