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CHAPTER I BRAHMADATTACAKRICARITA After bowing to Sri. Neminātha, I shall narrate the life of Cakravartin Brahmadatta, whose birth took place in his congregation.
Previous incarnations (2-104)
In the past there was a son, named Municandra, of Candrāvatansa in the town Säketa in Bhārata in this same Jambūdvipa. Weighed down by the pleasures of love like a porter by burdens, he took the vow under Muni Sāgaracandra. Guarding a mendicancy worthy of honor from the world, once upon a time he went with his guru to wander in a foreign country.
He entered a village on the road for alms and, becoming lost from the caravan, wandered in the forest like a deer lost from its herd. Overcome by hunger and thirst in the forest, he fell ill and was nursed by four cówherds like brothers. As a kindness to them he delivered a sermon. There is compassion on the part of the good even for those committing an injury; how much more for those bestowing help!
The four, possessing tranquillity, took the vow under him, like four forms of fourfold dharma.306 They observed the vow strictly, but two of them felt disgust with dharma. People's course of mind is varied. The two went to heaven because of their penance, even though feeling disgust. Penance, practiced even for one day, necessarily leads to heaven.
After they fell, they became twin-sons of a slave, Jayavati, by a Brāhman, Săndilya, in Daśapura. After they had grown up in course of time, at their father's order they went to protect
306 8. See I, p. 18 ff. for an elaborate exposition of four-fold dharma: liberality, good conduct, penance, and state of mind.
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