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A. CHAKRAVARTI :
acquired proficiency; now go through the length and breadth of the land of the Rose-Apple and look for some one able to match question and answer with you.'
: So, placing a branch of Rose-Apple in her hands they dismissed her with these words, 'Go forth, Sister; if any one who is a layman is able to match question and answer with you, become his slave; if any monk, enter his Order as a nun, adopting the name 'Nun of the Rose Apple'. She left the hermitage and went about from place to place asking questions to everyone she saw. No one was able to match question and answer with her; in fact, such a reputation did she acquire that whenever men heard the announcement, 'Here comes the Nun of the Rose-Apple,' they would run away.
Before entering a town or village for alms, she would scrape a pile of sand together before the village gate and there plant her rose apple branch. Then she would issue her challenge, “Let him that is able to match question and answer with me trample this rose apple under his feet.' So saying, she would enter the village. No one dared to pass beyond that spot. When one branch withered, she would procure a fresh one.
Travelling about in this way, she arrived at Sāvatthī, planted the branch before the city gate, issued her challenge in the usual way, and went in to seek alms. A number of young boys gathered about the branch and waited to see what would happen. Just then the elder Sārīputta, who had made his round and eaten
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