Jain Stories 01

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

Page 97

MUINPATI
73
share in it. So I partake one gem for myself, one for my wife and one for my son, So saying, he picked up all the three gems and departed.
'The goddess was disappointed She had been deceived. She started thinking how to teach this man a suitable lesson. Just then, a more powerful deity, a paksa, came to that place. The goddess narrated the whole story to him, when the yaksa burst out laughing, 'You are more fortunate, I must say, The fellw took out his own gemsBut my experience is still worse' Then he started his own story which was as follows 'Once a merchant was on a voyage with a whole ship-load of cargo, when the ship got stuck against an invisible reef, of whose existence the merchant knew nothing, and inspite of the best efforts, the ship did not move, The merchant remembered me in desperation and promised me a buffalo if I could make the ship move forward, This I did, but after his safe return home, he simply forgot all about the promise I gave him reminders and threatened him with drastic action At last, the fellow procured a wild buffalo from the jungle and came to my temple with the members of his family, friends and relatives, and a band party. Then he placed a loop on the buffalo's neck and tied the other end of the rope with my image He did not smite the animal, but dedicated it alive. Then, as the drums started beating, the wild buffalo got terrified and was on its heels, dragging my image with it, I was badly injured. Some people in the crowd were good enough to cut the rope and save me from a further drag They restored my image on the pedestal, So, you see, goddess, it happens like that when you are in the clutches of a rogue You are at least lucky that you did not yourself get hurt like me Teach him a good lesson, if you can'
"What could the goddess do but wait for a chance One day, she found the merchant's wife in the street, and she entered into her body The lady at once started behav