Jain Stories 03

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

Page 67

MRIGANKALEKHA
57
carried away by a man of the bhila tribe and the merchant, inspite of his best effort, could find no trace of her.
Somehow, Mrigankalekha escaped from the clutches of that bhila and hid yerself in a forest She was terrorstricken, but there was no way out At night, she had a premature labour pain and she gave birth to a male child At day-break, to clean herself, she came to the bank of a -tank, placed the child and Sagarachandra's ring wrapped in a piece of cloth on the bank and herself entered into the water At a moment of absent-mindedness on her part, a dog picked up the bundle and fled Luckily, the child and the ring were recovered in time by a merchant named Baisravana who took the child home Just then his own wife gave birth to a dead child It was a great consolation "for the poor lady to get another child to take the place of her dead one The boy was named Surendradatta His arrival gave a great turn to the family's good fortune
in vain
When Mrigankalekha came out of the tank, the child was not there nor the ring All her searches for them were This was a fresh tragedy and her heart broke into pieces A milkmaid Lalita saw her and she brought her to her own home For the time being, Mrigankalekha was settled in the milkmen's colony Now, the leader of the colony, one Gokula, was a debauch kalekha in the colony, he 'her, but because of Lalita, night, however, he stole her tul to be touched by him
After this event, -esteem in the colony
When he saw Mrigancherished some evil designs on he could not be successful
One But the lady was too powerThe same night, Gokula died
Mriganhalek ha was held in the highest But ill luck would not give her respite One day, she drifted away again and found herself in the clutches of a village headman, Sundara by name This man was committed to perform a big sacrifice with an offer of 20 heads to propitiate the goddess who had
even there