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FIVE PREVIOUS INCARNATIONS
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will fall on the lord of Potanapura.' The chief-minister, very disgusted at that speech bitter as poison, said, 'What will fall on you?' The astrologer replied: 'Do not be angry at me, minister. I tell this which has been seen in the śāstras, sir. I have no enemy here. On the contrary, on that day a rain of clothes, ornaments, jewels, and gold, like a stream of treasure, will fall on me.'
I said to the minister: 'Do not be angry with him, noble sir. He is a benefactor, like a spy, because he tells the truth. But, astrologer, tell where you learned the omen. There is no confidence in the speech of one without authentic knowledge without proof.'
The astrologer replied: 'Hear, Oking. My father, Sāņdilya, became a mendicant with Prince Baladeva when he adopted mendicancy. After that I became a mendicant, confused by love for my father. Then I learned the whole collection of omens. Undeviating knowledge may be only from the teaching of the Jinas, not elsewhere. Profit and loss; pleasure and pain; life and death; victory and defeat: I know these eightfold omens. 272
After I had grown up, one day in wandering I came to an excellent town Padminikhanda. My father's sister, Hiranyalomikā, lives there, and her grown daughter, Candrayaśas. Formerly she had given her (in betrothal), when she was a small girl, to me still a boy. The marriage had not taken place because of the obstacle of my initiation. When I saw her, I, infatuated, abandoned the vow like a burden and married her. For how long do those . afflicted by love have discrimination? Knowing my own good fortune and your great misfortune by omens, I came here. Do that which you know, O king.'
After saying this, he ceased speaking. The familyministers, though intelligent, were bewildered at once in regard to the king's protection. One of the ministers said, 'There are no bolts of lightning on the ocean, surely. The master should embark on a boat and stay there seven
272 191. Cf. II, p. 193, n. 346.
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