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CHAPTER SEVEN
With these reflections, disgusted with samsāra, nobleminded, he went and took initiation at the feet of Acārya Suvrata. Free from interest in the body, he dried himself up by penances of one day, two days, a month, et cetera, as the sun dries up water by its rays. After practicing severe penance, in course of time he died and became a chief-god in Sanatkumāra with a maximum life. Previous births of Sanatkumāra as Jinadharma and of
Asitākṣa as Agniśarman (44-65) Then at the end of his life he fell and was born a merchant's son, Jinadharma, in the city Ratnapura. Even from childhood, he always observed the twelvefold dharma of the layman,280 like the ocean observing its boundary. Worshipping the Tīrthakaras with the eightfold pūjă, 281 feeding the monks with gifts of food free from faults, et cetera, possessing extraordinary devotion, favoring his coreligionists, like brothers, with gifts, he passed some time.
· Now, Nāgadatta, grieved by the separation from his wife, wandered in animal-births after death because of painful meditation (ärtadhyāna). Wandering through births for a long time, he became a Brāhman's son, Agniśarman, in the city Sinhapura. In course of time he became a three-staved ascetic and went to the city Ratnapura, devoted to severe penance of two months, et cetera. Harivāhana was the king in that city. He was à Vaişņava and he heard that an ascetic had come. At the time for breaking his fast, he was invited by the king and went to the palace. By chance he saw Jinadharma. Then because of the hostility of a former birth, the Rși, red-eyed from anger, spoke to King Harivāhana whose hands were joined (respectfully):
"If you set a very hot dish of rice-pudding on this merchant's back and feed me, O king, then I shall eat, but not otherwise."
280 45. See I, 25 ff., 207 ff. 291 46. See II, n. 411.
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