Jain Stories 03

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

Page 48

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JAINA STORIES
will not do that So if I leave her here, she will have no other choice but to go to her parents'
No sooner did he think like that, he at once took steps to give effects to his thought He left Damayanti alone in that forest and was on his legs But after he had gone to some distance he felt a heaviness in his heart Thought he
“Did I not promise at the time of marriage that se shall Ine together both in joy and sorrow? Did I not say-'I shall not betray thee'? And what am I doing non to her 75
His legs would carry him no further. He stood for 2 while wholly perplered, and then he retraced his steps. He came back where Damayantı still lay fast asleep. He looked at her He took her in deep embrace
Three quarters of the night passed like this. Nala could not arrive at a firm decision Sometimes he thought of discarding her, and again he thought of not leaving her alone Sometimes he felt a deep attachment for her and again he became hard like a thunder But at last soltness yielded, and Nala took a firm decision to leave Damavam in the forest While departing, he scribbled his message to ber on a corner of her sarı
Nala was non passing through a deep forest, when suddenly he heard a voice,
"Nala, come, hurry up, man, I am burning salo
Nala looked all around but found none But after had gone a short distance, he saw #black cobra on alles beneath which there was a fire ablaze in all fury the cobra who spoke in a human voice and which had heard