________________
213
water there, she again went on. Being fatigued, she rested under a banyan-tree, and was seen by the members of a caravan. They said: "Good lady, who are you? You appear like a goddess. She answered: 'I am a human being; having strayed from my caravan, I am wandering about in this wood. Show me the way to Tápasapura.' They said : 'We came here to fetch water. As the sun is near the mountain of setting, we cannot show you the way. But if you will come with us, we will take you with the caravan to some place of refuge.'* Then Davadantí went with them to the caravan. The leader of the caravan saw her, and asked her: 'Who are you?' She said: 'I am a merchant's daughter, who, while asleep in the forest, was deserted by my husband, and I came here with your men as if with relations. The leader of the caravan said: 'I shall go to Achalapura; so, my child, you had better come there too: I will transport you like a flower with the utmost care.' Then he made her get up into the best waggon. The leader of the caravan set out on his journey. He halted in a mountain thicket perfumed with the clouds of fragrant dust that issued from the expanded blossoms of the trees. At night Davadantí heard some member of the caravan reciting the formula of adoration of the five chief saints of the Jaina religion. She said to Dhanadeva, the head of the caravan: 'He who is reciting the formula of adoration must be a lay disciple, a religious man; therefore I wish to behold him. The head of the caravan was as kind to her as a father, so he took her there. She saw the lay disciple, and found that he was worshipping a likeness of a Jina drawn on cloth, which was black as the leaf of a tamála-tree. Davadantí also worshipped the likeness, and welcomed and honoured the lay disciple. She asked him :
Of what Tírthankara is this a likeness ?' He answered : 'I am a merchant dwelling in the city of Kánchí. One day a holy man named Jnánayukta came there. I bowed before him, and asked: “When shall I attain salvation ?" He
* This passage appears to be corrupt, and I cannot conjecture the right reading.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
