Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 6

Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 52

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CHAPTER ONE four-part army, coming in turn at the time of the rains (and staying), indeed, until the gathering of the rice."
Triprstha said to them: “Who, pray, will stay so long? So show me the lion, that I alone may kill him.” Then they pointed out the lion who had gone into a cave in Mt. Tunga. Seated in a chariot, Rāma (Acala) and Sārngin (Triprştha) went to the cave. The people made a loud noise at the sides of the cave and, on hearing it, the lion came out, his mouth open in a yawn.
Saying, “Our fight is not equal if I am in a chariot and he is a foot-soldier," Triprștha got down from the chariot with his shield and sword. He has teeth and claws as weapons; I have a shield and sword. Verily, that is not right.” With these words Hari threw away his shield and sword. The lion noticed that and, remembering former births, reflected:
“The fact that he came alone to my cave is one piece of impudence; dismounting from the chariot is a second; throwing away his weapons is a third. Therefore, I shall destroy him, arrogant (durmada) like an elephant blind from ichor (mada)."
With these reflections, this best of lions, his mouth wideopen, instantly took a leap, sprang up, and fell upon Triprstha. Triprstha seized his upper jaw with one hand and his lower jaw with the other and tore the lion asunder like an old garment. The gods rained flowers, ornaments, and garments on Hari; and the people, filled with astonishment, praised him, saying, “ Well done! Well done!”
“Alas ! how was I killed by this boy today!” The lion continued to struggle from anger at this reflection even though he was in two pieces. Then the soul of the Gaṇabhịt Gautama, the charioteer of Sārngin who was the soul of the last Arhat, said to the quivering lion: “He is a lion among men; you, on the other hand, are a lion among beasts. Therefore, you were killed by him. Why do you foolishly feel disgraced, since you were not killed by a low person ?”
Consoled by this speech like nectar, the lion died, and became a hell-inhabitant in the fourth hell.