________________
DISCOURSE 84
straight to the harem. He met the queen and said to her, "I will marry you, my dear queen". The queen was clever and she knew how to act at a particular time. She said, "Very good! I will marry you. I will marry you to-day; I will become your wife and will give you heavenly happiness, in this palace. Now you please go back. I will send you new and excellent robes, a splendid crown and other articles of dress and decoration. You wear them and come here. Meanwhile, I will wear excellent dress and decorations".
155
Chand Khan was brave and valiant but he did not possess the sense to understand the propriety of time. He was greatly elated and delighted by the words of the queen. The queen sent him new robes, a splendid crown, excellent shoes and various other articles of dress and decoration. Chand Khan wore them with overflowing infatuation. After wearing them, he fell down even before he could take ten steps; he fell down unconscious and he died within moments.
The queen had smeared a potent kind of poison to the crown and the shoes. The queen came there, spat upon the dead body and said, "You sinner... you cur! This is the death that you deserve.... Lecherous fellow!" After having said this, she kicked the dead body and went away from the palace by a secret passage. She left the city by that secret passage.
Jain Education International
If Chand Khan was a sensible man; if he had the discretion to realise the significance of time and place, he would not have desired to marry the queen of Ginore, "Would a Rajput queen agree to marry me so soon? Why is she in such a hurry? Why does she want to send me robes, a crown and shoes at the time of marriage?" He did not think of any of these things. These thoughts never occurred to him. He had no sense of the propriety of time and place and he was killed. The queen was sensible and clever. That was why she gave an immediate consent to marry him. She scrutinized sensibly the question of the propriety of time. She won the confidence of Chand Khan and sent him to the abode of death.
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org