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barber Citta to kill the king. He promised him half the kingdom for such a service. The barber told the prince that he would willingly do the job but on second thoughts he felt terribly apprehensive and went to the king to reveal the treacherous intention of his young prince. The king acted very quickly and got his son arrested and gave to him the cruel punishment because of which he was being subjected to the mock coronation.
No wonder, the prince behaved in this manner and no wonder either that he was being tortured in the manner Gautama had noticed. In his earlier life time, the prince Nandivardhana was a jailor Duryodhana by name. He had in his collection an extraordinary range of the instruments of torture canes, sticks, clubs, whips, straps of leather, razor blades. swords etc. He also kept in stock several pots in which he stored urine of different animals like cows, buffaloes, goats, rams, camels and elephants. He also had some pots filled with water mixed with chunam or oil mixed with salt and some pots full of copper, tin, lead, iron pieces which were heated to an unbearable degree. The jailor took great delight in making use of most of these instruments of torture on the inmates of the jail. He handcuffed them or fastened fetters on their feet and some he would keep in stocks so that their hands, feet and neck were immobilised. He also devised a variety of other punishments with needles big and small, scorpion sting weapons and instruments like nail-pullers. This way he accumulated many sinful deeds and when he died he went to the sixth region of hell. After that period was over, he was born as the prince of the king Sridāma and queen Bandhusri of Mathurā.
To Gautama's further query as to what would happen to the prince after his death, Mahāvira said that it would be quite some time before he met with his death. This span of life being sixty years. After his death he would be condemned in the Ratnaprabhā region of hell and after this period he would be born as a fish. The fisherman would kill him and he would be re-born in the family of merchants in the city of Hastinapura. As a young man in that family he would meet an ascetic with whose help he would attain enlightenment and be finally emancipated from all his worldly misery
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