________________
42
certainly retire but continue to stay on in the town inself. Dhanu therefore built a small house on the banks of the river Gangå for himself and set up a shed where travellers and religious mendicants could rest and eat. When he went to live there he created goodwill amongst people around him to get secret work accomplished. With the help of the people, he got an underground passage of two gavyūti in length to connect the shed to the resinous house in which Dirgha had planned to burn alive prince Brahmadatta and his bride.
The wedding took place amidst great pomp and splendour and the couple was conducted to the gorgeous resinous house. Varadhanu was with the couple and spent some time with them before the prince decided to retire. In a short while loud cries rose; the whole structure burst into flames and the prince felt worried about his bride's and his own safety but Varadhanu told him of the secret passage his father had made and asked him to take it to the safety of the shed. Nevertheless the bride could not reach the shed along with the prince and naturally enough he felt worried about her but Varadhanu assured the prince that the bride in fact was not a royal princess but an ordinary woman that was persuaded to take her place throughout the ceremony. All this was done with the consent of the princess he was supposed to have married. Varadhanu and his father were aware of the dangerous plan of the king and therefore they contrived her substitute and the prince's escape. They had kept two horses ready for the prince and Varadhanu at the shed and without losing any more time, they rode several miles before the horses collapsed out of sheer fatigue and the riders felt hungry, thirsty and exhausted. Near a village they stopped. Varadhanu got a barber from the village to shave off Brahmadatta's head and disguised him as a Jain mendicant. He changed his own dress as well and both got into the village. Brahmadatta had on his chest a piece of cloth four fingers broad for concealing sri vatsa mark on it. in the village, as they passed a fine looking house, a servant came out and invited them inside where they were treated to excellent hospitality and all comforts at the hands of the Brahmin owner of the place. Brahmadatta was treated to a big surprise, the Brahmin offered his daughter in
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
