Jain Stories 01

Author(s): Mahendramuni, K C Lalwani
Publisher: A B Jain Shwetambar Terapanth Samaj

Page 78

JAINA STORIES
"My dear I have heen cheated by the forest diety. My head is reeling I cann't sit I must lie down
Please spread
the bed again
54
11
Bodhibhatta lay down Soon his temperature ran high and he was in delirium When, after a few hours, his restlessness subsided, he was no more.
A sinful act has its own tongue, it never remains a secret People came to know a good part of the incident leading to the premature death of the merchant, and the lady was turned out from the city But there was no repentance in her She started a vicious life and met with a VICIOUS end.
Coming back to the king-monk, in the morning, when the cow-herd boys came to pick up their clothes. they were shocked to find that the clothes were no more, instead, the monk's roasted body lay on the ground They were bitterly
penitent
"We had thought of helping the man, instead Our doing has injured him so badly"
Without wasting time on the spot, they at once came to the house of a merchant named Kunchika in that city.
Kunchika was a well-known follower of the Sramana path. He was so named because he held every evening the keys (called kunchi) for many a grannery in the city When the boys narrated the tragic incident to him, the merchant also regretted it very much and hurried to the spot in their company. The monk still lay unconscious He was removed to the merchant's house and placed in a separate room As a monk could be nursed only by some fellow monks, some monks in the neighbourhood were immediately alerted and they came at once When asked about the necessary medicines, the merchant told them that all other medicines would be available with him. except one. lakkha-paka (meaning boiled 1,00,000 times) oil, which the