Jain Legend Vol 4

Author(s): Hastimal Maharaj, Shuganchand Jain, P S Surana
Publisher: Hastimal Maharaj Shugan C Jain P S Surana

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Vasativ s s who were also from his native place. At once he decided to help the Vasativ s s. He conveyed the king's message to the queen and returned back. The attendant approached the king and said humbly, “O King! I conveyed your message to the queen. But O Majesty! I have seen a spectacular spectacle there. Just like how we place different kinds of offerings before the idol of Arhat (omniscient), similarly loads of expensive jewellery, clothes, novelties, fruits, dry fruits, sweetmeats, etc. have been offered in heaps to the queen. She appears as the personification of Goddess-Arhat with all those offerings placed in front of her."
The king immediately grasped the entire situation and contemplated, "These Temple dwellers did not abandon their efforts to expel the Vasativ s s, even after I publicly accepted them as my gurus." He then ordered the attendant, "Go to the queen at once and convey this message to her the king declares that if you accept even a betel nut from among those gifts, neither you will remain his, nor he yours.'
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The attendant in a trice went back to the queen and delivered the message. The queen was perturbed. She said to those officers in a commanding and wrathful tone, "Pick up your respective gifts and return to your homes. They are of no use to me."
The officers took their gifts and returned back to their homes. Thus even the last attempt of Temple dwellers also resulted in a stalemate.
They once again discussed the pros and cons among themselves and arrived at a decision, "If the king decides to honour the ascetics who came from other places, then we will leave our mansions and migrate to other places." So leaving the temples (Caityas) and the kingdom, they relocated to another place.
When the king was informed about this development, he asserted, "It does not matter if they do not like to stay here; let them go wherever they want." Later on, bachelors were appointed on wages to carry out the worship of deities. There was no hindrance in the performance of pj (worship) and it continued on a regular basis. The Temple dwellers could not stay at any other place, except the temples where they were accustomed to all types of comforts and luxuries. So gradually one by one they returned to their respective temples on some pretext or the
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