Awakening of Karkandu Diwakar Chitrakatha 023

Author(s): Pankajmuni, Shreechand Surana
Publisher: Mahavir Seva Trust Mumbai

Page 11

THE AWAKENING OF KARKANDU
Reaching at the gate of the upashraya she paused
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णमो अरिहंताणं णमो शिखाणं णमो आयरियाणं णमो उवज्झायाणं गमो लोए सव्वसाहूर्ण
The afflictions have brought me to the doors of religion. Now why
should I return to Champa city....Why not devote the rest of
my life to religious practices and meditation in the company of these
nuns here.
Resolving thus the queen entered the Upashraya. She approached the head of the nuns and after bowing her she introduced herself and narrated her story. The head consoled her and said, "Sister! this is the play of karmas. Sorrow follows happiness and pain follows pleasure. The cycle of fate moves like the wheel of a chariot." The queen said, "Bhagavati! Please show me the path of liberation." The head said, "Religion is the boat that can help man cross this ocean of sorrows." The queen, "Bhagavati! I want to renounce this mundane life and get initiated. Please give me diksha". I want to become a shramani (Jain female ascetic) and make my life purposeful with the help of austerities and meditation." Assured of the detachment of the queen, the head Shramani gave her diksha. Queen Padmavati now became Shramani Padmavati. At the proper time she told her preceptor about her pregnancy with all innocence. The head Shramani secretly sent her to the house of a devoted Shravak (Jain layman). She gave birth to a son. Padmavati put the ring bearing the mark of King Dadhivahan on the finger of the infant, wrapped him in a blanket and put him under a tree near the cremation ground. After this she returned to the Upashraya.
In the morning Yamdand, the watchman of the cremation ground passed that way. He saw something wrapped in a costly blanket lying under a tree. He rushed nearer. When he heard an infant crying he jumped with joy
Oh! What a miracle! A divine looking child and in this state! Must be the cause of embarrassment to some
lady of high status....
Jal# Formal initiation into the ascetic order.
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