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46
JAINA STORIES
He came beneath the tree, but as he remembered his vow, he shouted :
"To whom does the jar belong? I am very thirsty."
At the other branch of the same tree, there was a cage from where a parrot responded.
"This belongs to a medical man He has gone in search of herbs in the desser parts of the forest Nobody knows when he may come back. If you are thirsty, you may very well drink from the jar But neither its owner nor his agent '18 present here at this moment"
Gunadhara was so badly thirsty that his eyes had almost shot out and it was not possible for him either to speak or to walk. Still he said to the parrot, "Thirst may take my life, but I don't accept a thing not properly given to me" He sat down with his eyes closed When after sometime he opened them, he found to his surprise that neither the leather-jar nor the parrot and the cage were there, instead, there stood a deva who said,
“Sire, I am a resident of Vipula which is located atop -the mountain Vaitadhya My name is Sura and I am a Vidyadhara My father who has joined the holy order resides in a park outside your city. I had been there to pay respect to him just at the time when you took the vow of pot accepting anythiog not duly given You are a merchant and you have to move to far-off lands on business "So I wondered if it would be possible for you to honour your vow It was for testing you, therefore, that I laid a few traps, the necklace, you remember, the jar full of treasure It was I again that made the horse die The jar, the cage and the parrot were all placed by me on the tree"
So saying, he recalled the necklace, the jar, the horse and many other things, and made a gift of them to the merchants
Gunadhara-"Why do you give me all these ?"
Vidyadhara-"It was my father who told me to keep away from superfluous riches, but I did not care to listen
