Book Title: Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 6
Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra
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STORIES OF RAUHIŅEYA AND OTHERS
291 karaņas, splendid with dramatic interpretations of the body. Once for a moment the king did not see Prabhāvati's head, but saw her body dancing like a torso in a battle. The king was disturbed at once by the sight of the bad omen and the lute slipped from his hand, as if he were going to sleep. The queen was angered by the sudden interruption of the tāņdava and said, “Why am I deprived of (musical) time, since you have stopped playing?' Thus asked again and again the reason for dropping the lute, the king told what had happened. . For a woman's persistence is very powerful
The queen said: 'Dear, according to that bad omen, I am short-lived. Let death come to me who have followed the teaching of the Arhat since birth. I am not afraid. On the contrary, the sight of the bad omen is cause for joy on my part, since it is a warning to me to give up worldly things completely. After this speech, the queen with unchanged intention went to the women's apartments; the king, whose ears were closed to the religion of the Arhat, was disregarded.
One day Queen Prabhāvati, whose purificatory bath had been taken, had a slave-girl bring her clothes suitable for the occasion of worship of the god. By the force of impending calamity, the queen saw these clothes red and became angry, saying, “These are not suitable at this time. Because of her anger, Queen Prabhāvati struck with a hand-mirror the slave-girl, who died from such a (small) thing. For the course of death is uneven. At once Prabhāvati saw that the clothes were really white and she thought: ‘Alas! I have broken a vow. The killing of any other five-sensed being is cause for hell. How much more this killing of a woman ! Therefore, it is better that I take the vow.'
Then Queen Prabhāvati, making an añjali, described the evil omen to the king and the disgust with worldly existence from the great crime of killing the slave-girl, and made the following request: 'Master, I do not have long to live. Permit me to abandon completely worldly things now, lord. You saw me headless; moreover, just now I saw the clothes
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