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Pearls of Jaina Wisdom
incident of offering of food by Candanā to Mahāvīra. Candanā was daughter of the king of Campā ( Campānagar in Bhagalpur district of Bihar ). At that time the ruler of Kośambī invaded the city of Campā. The queen and her daughter Vasumati fell into the hands of a royal officer of the enemy. The officer wanted the queen to be his wife. She resisted but when she failed in her attempts she committed suicide. Now the officer went to the city market and sold Vasumati to a rich merchant Vrşabhadatta for a large sum. The merchant was kind-hearted. He brought Vasumati to his home and entrusted the young girl to the care of his wife, asking her to look after her not as a slave but like their own child.
Vasumati was very gentle by nature. She was hard working and intelligeni. In no time, she attracted the household people so much that they called her Candanā ( whose nature is cool and calm like sandalwood paste ). But as ill-luck would have it, the merchant's wife became suspicious and began to give her all sorts of troubles. One day when the merchant had gone out of station, she called for a barber and got her head shaved. Then she chained and beat her and bolted her in a room. Warning the servants not to tell about this to the merchant, she went to her mother's place.
Next day when the merchant came, he enquired about Candanā but nobody gave any reply. He felt that she might have gone out somewhere. Like that two to three days passed. Then the merchant got annoyed and scolded the servants. Then one servant told the truth. The merchant opened the door and brought her outside and gave her some boiled rice — the only available food in his house. At that time, Śramaņa Mahāvīra came to the town begging for alms. He had taken a vow that he would accept food only from the hands of a princess who was made a prisoner, and who was fastented to a chain. Seeing the great ascetic, Candanā cried and called him inside the house and offered him the coarse rice. Mahāvīra accepted the food with all grace.
Later Candanabālā renounced the worldly pleasures at Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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