58Jayananda

Jayananda was a Brahman minister to the king of Bengal who secretly practices the Dharma. In the course of time, he made many torma offerings which were reported to the king. He was caught and put to prison, the king refused to release him despite his pleas.

Because the Brahman was accustomed to give torma offerings, many birds appeared. Not finding the offerings, the birds gathered on the king’s palace. The palace guards tried to remove the birds, as the people watched and wonder. As the amount of birds increased, a man who had the ability to understand the voice of birds heard them say: “That Brahman, who was like a mother and father to us, has been condemned by the king.” He told this to the king, in reply, the king said he will release the Brahman to a lonely place if the birds to leave. The message was passed to the birds, and they left. The king took faith, and every day he gave the Brahman 20 bushels of rice to make torma offerings.

The minister came to be known as Jayananda and for 700 years, he worked for the benefit of beings, then he went to the realm of the Dakas.

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