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LIFE OF SHRI SUMATINATHSWAMI
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Vijayasen
was the King of Shankhpur town in the Purva Mahavideh area.
He had a son named Purushasimha.
While he had gone for a walk in the garden one day, the prince
listened to the discourse of Acharya Vinayanandan Dev.
He became detached and turned ascetic.
As the result of vigorous penance and higher spiritual practices,
he earned the Tirthankar-nam-and-gotra-karma.
Completing his age, he reincarnated as a god in the Vijayant
dimension. From
Vijayant dimension, the soul that was Purushasimha descended into the
womb of queen Mangalavati/Sumangala, wife of king Megh of Ayodhya.
The news of the queen being pregnant made the atmosphere of
Ayodhya live with happiness and joy. One
day tow women and a little boy came to the king's court to seek justice.
One of the women put forth her case before the king, "Sire!
We both are wives of a rich seafaring merchant.
Our husband has left for his heavenly abode leaving behind we
two, a son, and heaps of wealth. The
child truly belongs to me but this second wife of the merchant claims it
to be her. This is nothing
but a conspiracy to grab the wealth that would be inherited by the
child. Save me, my Lord!
I seek my son and justice from you". The
story narrated by the other woman was also the same. Shouting charges and counter charges at each other, both the
women claimed the possession of the child.
The child could not indicate his true mother as he had got equal
affection from both. As the
boy born in some remote place, there was no eyewitness available. The
king was in a quandary. Even
after a lot of probing and weighing the available evidence he could not
solve the problem. Any
ill-conceived solution could end up in doing injustice to the innocent. The king and his ministers all were in a fix.
The night was approaching and the king was getting late for his
dinner. He adjourned the
case and went into the palace for dinner. The
queen asked, "Today you are late for the dinner, your highness.
What is the matter? Was
there some complex problem?" The
queen said with a smile, "Your Highness, let a woman solve the
problems of women. Send the
case to me and allow me to resolve the issue". Next
morning the queen herself came to the king's court. Both the women and their son were produced before the queen.
There was no apparent indication in the behavior and disposition
of the two women that could give any indication of the genuineness of
one. All of a sudden, the
queen got an inspiration and she said, "This enigma has no simple
solution. There is one
object and two claimants. The
object, being a live person, cannot be split into two.
Under the circumstances the only solution I can thing of is to
keep the matter pending. I
carry a pious soul in my womb. Let
us wait till it is born and is ready to resolve this issue.
During this period of waiting, let the son and the property of
the deceased is taken into the custody of the state.
Till then the claimants may wait". Hearing
all this one of the claimants readily accepted the arrangement but the
other started weeping. In
choked voice she said, "No! Please
don't separate me from my son. I
will not be able to survive without my son for such a long period, I
withdraw my claim. Let the
other woman take the child as well as all the property of my husband.
My only submission is that I may be allowed to at least meet the
child. I will be contended
with that only". The
queen recognized the pain and concern of a mother's heart.
She gave her judgement, "The woman who immediately agreed to
my proposal is the imposter. Her attachment is not to the child but to the wealth.
She may be imprisoned. The
one who wants to surrender her claim is the real mother.
The child and the wealth may be given to her with all
honor". Everyone
present in the assembly was dumbstruck by this witty method of judgement.
The imposter pleaded guilty and submitted to be pardoned. On
the eighth day of the bright half of the month of Vaishakh, the queen
gave birth to a son. A wave
of peace and goodwill swept the whole world.
Appreciating the fact that the marked improvement in wisdom and
sense of judgement during the pregnancy was the influence of the
presence of the illustrations and pious soul, king Megh named the new
born as-Sumati (wisdom or right thinking). When
he became a young man, Sumati Kumar was married, and in due course
inherited the kingdom. King
Megh became an ascetic. After
a long and peaceful reign Sumatinath, too, became an ascetic.
He attained omniscience under a Priyangu tree on the eleventh day
of the bright half of the month of Chaitra.
He established the four pronged religious ford and became a
Tirthankar. On the ninth
day of the bright half of the month of Charitra he got Nirvana at
Sammetshikhar. |