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Kamatha and Marubhuti
his own wife. He reported the affair to the king, Aravinda, just but stern monarch, who had Kamatha forcibly mounted upon an ass,83 marked with many insignia of shame, and expelled from the city (700).
Kamatha, disgraced, deprived of wealth and relatives, roaming solitary in the forest, brooded revenge against his brother. He decided to bide his time. Consumed by wrath, yet unable to retaliate, he happened upon a hermitage in the forest, took sacred vows (dikṣā), and practiced asceticism on a mountain. In the mean time Marubhūti became despondent on account of the dire retribution he had brought upon his brother. Even tho restrained by the king, he went to the forest to conciliate Kamatha (717). He threw himself upon his knees and begged forgiveness, but Kamatha took up a stone and with a single blow smashed his brother's head, and at the same time his own ascetic vow. While in pain from that mortal hurt Marubhuti harbored distressed thoughts (ārtadhyāna); he was, therefore, reborn as a wild elefant, leader of a herd in the Vindhya mountains. His sister-in-law Varuņā also, blinded by anger, was born as a she-elefant, and hecame his mate. Wildly they roamed together in the forest (727).
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King Aravinda, living at the pinnacle of worldly pleasures, one day contemplated a great storm. The breaking of the clouds reminded him of the perishableness of all things in Samsara. Disgusted with his own excessive indulgences, he decided to abandon the world and its pleasures. His wives begged him not to abandon them, nor to expose the kingdom to danger. Nevertheless he took the vow in the presence of a teacher, and
"See additional note 9 on p. 188.
Second pre-birth of the future Părçva.
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