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BIRTH, MARRIAGE, AND EXILE OF RĂMA AND LAKŞMANA 185
on the part of minds overcome by greed? Sukośala's nurse wept unrestrainedly, when she knew that her master observing the vow had been expelled from the city. Asked by King Sukośala, "Why do you weep?" she explained in words choked from grief: "Your father, Kirtidhara, put you on the throne, when you were a child, and became a mendicant. Today he entered this town for alms. Your mother had him expelled because she was afraid you would take the vow now at the sight of him. I am weeping because of this sorrow.'
"
After hearing that, Sukośala went into his father's presence, his hands folded submissively, his soul disgusted with existence, and asked him for the vow. His wife, Citramālā, who was pregnant, came with the ministers and said, "Master, you ought not to abandon the kingdom without a master. The king said, "A son of yours by me, though in your womb, has been installed on the throne, noble lady. For usage is like the past."
After saying this and talking with all the people, Sukośala became a mendicant under his father and
practiced severe penance. Free from selfishness, free from passions, the father and son, great munis, wandered together, purifying the earth. Grieving at the separation from her son, Sahadevi, absorbed in painful meditation, died and became a tigress in a mountain-cave. Now, the two munis, Kirtidhara and Sukośala, their minds subdued, free from attachment to their own bodies, devoted to study and meditation, remained in a mountaincave to pass the four months of the rainy season, having a well cared-for appearance. When the month Kartika came, as they went to break fast, they were seen on the road by the tigress, who was like an evil messenger of Yama. The tigress ran toward them swiftly with her mouth yawning. From afar the approach of enemies and friends is the same. Even when the tigress attacked them, the two excellent Jain ascetics who were engaged in pious meditation remained in kayotsarga. The
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