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CHARUDATTA
73
"On the third day from to-day, a cow will come here to drink from this well. If, at that time, you can catch hold of her tail very fast, there may be an escape for you."
This gave a ray of hope to Charudatta, and he became more alert not to miss the chance.
After passing this piece of information, the man inside the well breathed his last,
On the third day, the said cow came there Having drunk, as the cow was about to return, Charudatta caught hold of her tail and jumped out He sat for a while to chant the holy namokara. Then he left that place
Hardly had he gone far when a wild buffalo chased him Charudatta ascended on a hill. The buffalo sat on the passage waiting for him But good luck prevailing, a huge cobra came out of a cave 101 the hill and swallowed the buffalo. Charudatta now came down After he had crossed through the forest, he reached a village There he met a friend of his father, Rudradatta, who himself was a merchant. Charudatta stayed with him for some time.
But Charudatta's luck was still in ferment and would not allow him to settle down Now he and Rudradatta prepared a plan of going to the Land of Gold No sooner was the plan ready than the two set out They crossed a turbulent river and reached the region of Tonk The way ahead was extremely dangerous for walking on foot Besides, it did not give them speed So they bought two big-sized he-goats and continued their journey on their back But the Land of Gold was still very far So Rudradatta said,
"If we proceed at this speed, we shall never reach our destination for a very long time So we should devise some means of reaching there early"
Both started thinking. Soon, however, Rudradatta hit upon an idea Said he,
“Well, I have an idea Let us kill our goats and use their hides to prepare two bags. Then we get inside each and lia on the ground some big-sized bharunda bird,
