________________
JAIN JOURNAL
The day when Indradatta noticed this inattentiveness of Kapila it was raining. He curtly asked him what he was thinking.
But it was very difficult for him to say what he was thinking when it was all dark and pit-pat sound of rain-drops was resounding all around. His eyes were then fixed on a rain-drenched bird on the top of tamāla tree and he was thinking of the maiden's eyes which were as telling as those of the bird. But he could not say all these things to his master.
So the preceptor rebuked him.
Kapila was angry. He went for his meals but did not return. He took the girl with him and left for another place.
From that day a new life began for Kapila.
But as the days passed he could find that the love which he felt for the girl could not reciprocate in the humdrum of daily life. He saw also that she was not so superb as he used to think but was a simpleton.
So when she began to paster him with her demands for gold-necklace, anklets, brocade, he found in it a desire to fill the void that separated them. He was really disillusioned and thought how mean she was.
Kapila worked hard to earn his bread but it was not enough to buy a gold-necklace or anklets or brocade. So he remained quiet. This kind of life had no meaning for him.
When he was in this state he heard of a merchant Dhana who gave two māśās of gold as alms to anyone who happened to come to his gate first in the early morning. Kapila saw in it a ray of light—as if really the sun had arisen over the hills and a beam of it shooting through the dew-drenched deodar foilage was falling on the goldnecklace of his beloved. She had anklets at her feet and a sweet smile over her lips, her face being lined by the end of the brocade. Kapila could not sleep that night. When it was pitchy dark and stars were shining in the sky he was out on the road so that he might reach the merchant's house first.
It was dark and he was alone on the road. The sentry on duty suspecting him to be a thief caught him and produced him before the king next morning.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
