Jain Stories 03

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

Page 11

1. SURASUNDARI
In the city of Champa, there reigoed a king named Aridamana Ratisundari was the name of the queen A daughter was born to them She was so beautiful that she was named Surasundarı When she reached the age of seven, the king sent her to the preceptor's school for study She was very intelligent and had a strong memory She could remember anything only by hearing it once
In those days, a very rich merchant named Dhanapala lived in the same city. His business was not limited to his own city only, it was spread over lands far and near, even beyond the seas In fact, he had become very famous as a merchant His wife was named Dhapavati They had affluence of wealth and influence but something was missipg which made the couple very miserable They bad no son At last, however, after a few years, their source of misery was removed A luminous son was born to them He was named Amarkumar when he was eight years, old, the merchant sent him for study to that very school where Surasundari studied Amarkumar too was very brilliant in his studies Any lesson uttered once by the preceptor was immediately picked up by the boy Within a short time, he acquired all the 72 arts
Once the preceptor went out for a few days on an urgent business and he placed Amarkumar in charge of the school to look after both the boys' and the girls' sections during his absence One day, Amarkumar was out for his daily inspection during the midday recess in the company of a friend At this time, Surasundari, who had a beavy stomach that day, felt sleepy and she lay down on a bench in the class room and was soon fast asleep When Amarkumar reached the spot, he looked at her, and suddenly he saw that something was tied at the corner of her sarı Just out of curiosity, he opend it and there came out seven shells.