________________
518 ]
[ A brief life-sketch of Jambu-Svami
thinking." So they decided to put their own thought together with the intention of the bridegroom before their daughters. It was also made clear to them that their own decision would be final in this matter, for it was thought that girls could decide what was beneficial for them better than any body else.
when both the opinions were placed before the girls they were puzzled for the first time, because it was a testtime for them. But at last they were successful in their firetest. They thought over this matter very seriously and then said to their kinsmen, "Good girls choose only one husband and that, too, for once. On the contrary, the girls, who are morally corrupt wed and change their husbands again and again. The marriage of a good girl is decided by the agreement of mind, body and word: and as such only body or only word has no right to put an end to the decision which has been established between us through our mind, body and word by our parents and by ourselves can never be broken. In our humble opinion, to give our hand to another man would be to prove our unchastity before the world, and to ruin our this life as well as the next. It is our settled opinion that when we are once conjugally related to one man it is folly to accept another. Let us follow our fate. We have no objection, if Jambu Kumara accepts consecration the very next moment after his marriage, but to marry us with any other person is highly objectionable."
This was how the girls persuaded their parents to marry Jambu Kumara and no body else. Now let us have a glimpse of their inner heart. They said to one another, "Do not fear. Although the girls and ladies of this world are call
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
