________________
180
CHAPTER SEVEN
whose feet were transfixed, as from the roof of a house about to fall. He himself cut the long girth and took the saddle and bridle from the horse. The horse reeled and fell to the ground and was at once deserted by breath as if from fear of destruction at the same time. Then Aryaputra wandered here and there in search of water because of thirst, and did not see anyone in the forest which was like a desert. Your friend became confused because of his physical delicacy and fatigue from long travelling and from a forest-fire. After he had gone a long distance, he sat down quickly at the foot of a saptaparṇa and fell on the ground, his eyes closed (in a faint).
Then from the power of his merit a Vakṣa, a forestdivinity, sprinkled his body with cool water like nectar. When he had become conscious, he got up, drank the water he gave him and asked him slowly, 'Who are you and where is the water from?' The Yakṣa-king said, 'I am a Yakṣa living here and for your sake I brought this water from Mänasa.' Then Aryaputra said again, "This intense burning in my body will not stop without a bath in Lake Manasa.' 'I shall fulfil your wish,' the best of Yakṣas said and put him in a plantain-bowl and took him to Lake Manasa. There he bathed Aryaputra according to rule with cool pure water, like an elephantdriver bathing an elephant. Aryaputra's weariness, penetrating his whole body, was removed by the water with a pleasant touch like skilled shampooers.
Fight with Asitākṣa (193-214)
The Yakṣa Asitākṣa, an enemy of your friend from a former birth, came there like a new Kṛtänta to slaughter him. 'O villain, stop! You have been watched by me for a long time, like an elephant by a hungry lion. How far will you go?' Abusing him in this bragging way, he uprooted a tree and threw it-he, a low fellow at Aryaputra, as easily as a stick. Your friend knocked away the falling tree with his hand and made it fall, like an
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
