Jailer

Author(s): Abhayshekharsuri, Sujata P Kapadia
Publisher: Harshadray Private Limited

Page 68

man. He thought, “If my wife is speaking so affectionately with another man on the wedding night itself, she must definitely be of an immoral character. I want nothing to do with her”. He left, letting his in-laws know that the marriage was unacceptable to him. The wife was shocked beyond words when she heard this. Considering worldly life to be futile, she became detached from worldly things and happiness and accepted nunhood to live a pious life.
As fate would have it, with passage of time, the two brothers got married to the two sisters-in-law (bhabhi) from the previous life. The nun, in her travels, also came to the same city. Due to the affection the wives had for her in the previous birth, they had a lot of respect and devotion for her, even in the present birth. Hence, they used to go to serve her and request her to come to their home for alms everyday. On one such day, the nun went to their house and started preaching to them, when the wives went inside to attend to some chore, leaving a necklace outside. Sadhviji was left by herself with the necklace. A peacock from a painting on the wall came to life, took the necklace and disappeared (This was a trick played by some peripatetic celestial). The nun was blamed for the theft of the necklace. The head nun admonished the younger nun, “What was the need to stay in a householder's home for a long period of time? Now to wash away the blot of this blemish, you will have to undertake a 'Sagarika’ fast”. The younger nun started her fast, standing in
Sadhviji = a Jain nun Sagarika = a kind of austerity