Jain Stories 03

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

Page 18

JAINA STORIES
Surasundari was now clear about her own dark prospects in the ship She looked at the vast ocean Its water was calm It was attracting her to hide her purity beneath the waves. She uttered the namiokar and gave a deep plunge into the ocean The merchant raised an alarm and asked the men of the crew to jump after her and rescue her, but none had the courage to risk his life
So long as Surasundari was on board the ship, she was a great protection for the passengers and the crew as also for herself by dint of her great purity But no sooner had she disappeared in the waves, her protection was no longer there A great storm raged on the sea in which the ship was lost after a few violent tosses Not a single life could escape The ship itself had broken into pieces and the logs were afloat on the waves One such huge log reached Surasundari, and she held it fast and hept afloat, leaving herself to the course of her destiny After being tossed for a long time, she could feel the land beneath her feet She was so exhausted that no sooner did she reach the shore than she fell down senseless This happened to be a port named Venatat and there were many people on the shore At once they flocked to help the lady who had been carried to the shore by the waves
As she regained her sense, she found herself surrounded by strangers who had helped her 10 her difficulty Now that she was restored to consciousness, they enquired all about her As she was about to give them an account of herself, something strange happened in that town An elephant had broken loose from its enclosure and was running about helter-skelter all over the city He was now approaching the port People ran away in great confusion As the elephant's eyes fell on Surasundari, he picked her up in the trunk and threw her high up into the sky Surasundari was very much alarmed and began to shout for help As luck would have it, a ship was sailing on the sea Surasundari