ISBN : 81-7508-349-2 

Vol. No : 711 

This Jain story is based on a version originally written in Hindi by Muni Mahendrakumar. In the course of his study of the Agamas (Jain texts), the Muni discovered a large storehouse of short stories. These stories were simple, and their aim was to make Jain philosophy understandable to the common person. The stories were written, as the Muni says, “in different ages by men with widely divergent experience, but all against the backdrop of Jainism”. They were written to help “the fallen, the misguided, and the downtrodden along the right path”.Most Jain stories are interminable, and remind one of a Chinese box which, when opened, reveals another box, which in turn reveals another, and so on. The tale in this Amar Chitra Katha is one of such innumerable stories. King Shrenika is rewarded with a celestial necklace from a deva who warns him that once broken, the person who repairs the necklace would die. He then gifts it to his wife, Queen Chellana, after which the tale progresses. In the original text, the story ended with the retrieval of Queen Chellana’s necklace from an ascetic’s neck. But we have taken the liberty of completing the story in a manner which, we hope, is faithful to the original intention.