 As the prince was sucking at his mother's breast, he
held her nipple firmly and said :"Respected Mother, do tell
me about father. If you don't ,I'll chew off your nipple."
The Queen could not decieve her son anymore, so she said:"
You are the son of King Aritthamajanaka of Mithila. Your father
was slain by Prince Polajanaka. To safeguard you ,mother came
to this city. The Brahmin took me in and looked after me as his
younger sister." Feom that moment on, even when anybody
would call him ' The Widow's offspring', the prince would not
get angry anymore. |
The Brahmin looked after her in his own house. Not long
thereafter, The Queen gave birth to a son with a resplendent
golden complexion. The Queen gave him the name of Mahajanakakumara
after his royal grandfather. As a child, the prince played with
other children. Any child who would disturb or annoy him, the
prince would grab him firmly and beat him loudly. He was physically
quite strong and of a rather strict disposition resulting from
a subconcious inborn pride of being of pure royal blood. The
children were both hurt and scared, so they cried loudly When
asked:" Who beat you?" They would answer :" The
widow's offspring." The prince thought :" The children
always say that we are the widow's offspring. Well, it doesn't
matter, we'll just go and ask our mother."
So one day, the young prince asked his mother :"
Respected Mother, who would my father be?" The Queen withheld
the truth :" The Brahmin is your father." The next
day, the prince beat the children again and when they again said
:"The Widow's offspring beat us", he said :" Is
the Brahmin not my father?" The children retorted with a
question :"What sort of relative of your is the Brahmin?"
The prince opined :" these children say :' What sort of
relative of your is the Brahmin?' Our mother surely does not
tell the trurh to us. She does not open her heart to us. Nevertheless,
we'll go and press her for the real fact."
The prince learnt the Three Vedas and all the sciences
within his sixteenth year. At the age of sixteenth, he was a
handsome figure to behold. He told himself :" We'll get
back the throne that was rightfully our father's." So he
asked his mother :" Respected Mother, did you bring any
valuables with you? I'll trade to incrase the value and get the
throne of my father back." The Queen answered :" Dear
son, I did not come here empty handed. We have three kinds of
valuables. We have rubies, pearls and diamonds. Any one of these
kinds would be enough to get back the throne. My son, take all
these and regain the throne. Don't try to trade."
