Book Title: Two Prakrit Versions of Manipati Charitra
Author(s): R Williams
Publisher: Royal Asiatic Society

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Page 228
________________ 215 TRANSLATION 989. Then the Noble Steer knelt down before the judge at the tribunal and put out his tongue. The judges said : 990. He wishes to remove the stain of guilt by licking a red hot ploughshare.' Hearing this he assented by moving his head. 991. Then the judges had a ploughshare heated and said : Let coolness be in the fire if he is not the author of the crime ; 992. if he is the perpetrator he will be burned.' They left the Noble Steer with this adjuration and he licked the : : flaming hot ploughshare and was cleared of guilt. 993. An excited uproar and applause were heard among the people, a garland of flowers was flung on his neck and a drum was beaten. 994. On being flogged Bhadrā avowed the real truth of the case before the judges and others and was banished from her country. 995. Just as the Noble Steer proved his innocence by himself, so, Kuñcika, shall I prove my innocence before you. 996. The disciple Kuñcika said: 'Just listen to a popular saying, the tame koil birds sleep by night and wax forms in their eyes, 997. at daybreak the flies get up and eat the wax, thereby removing the seal of sleep from their eyes. 998. The tame koil birds then eat the flies which have done them a good turn. In just the same way you, reverent sir, are harming me your benefactor.' 999. The sādhu Manipati said: Listen to my parable of how a doubt was dispelled by autpattikī buddhi. 1000. In the city of Campā there was a well-known and long admitted guildsman Dhanapāla who had a daughter called Dhanasri. 1001. There was another guildsman Dhanadatta, recently admitted and with recently acquired wealth who had a daughter Kanaka śrï ; and a friendship arose between the two girls.

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