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SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
The Lord sighted the form Chandana was in, clairvoyantly In the none-too-attractive appearance of Chandana he divined her doubly-bright destiny
The Lord went on his usual beat to seek meals from Kaushambi households The householders came out with meals respectfully However, the Lord turned away without accepting it It was so the next day The third and the fourth day were no different people began to whisper amongst themselves The Lord visits the houses but turns away without accepting the meals offered to him What could be the cause ? thought they
Four months were over The Lord stuck to his stoic vow The citizens of Kaushambi knew that the Lord was foregoing his meals but none knew why it was so The Lord would not share his secret with anybody His vow of silence grew stronger day by day
Sugupta is the minister of Kaushambi Nanda is his wife She is a devotee of saints The Lord visited her place for begging meals She solicited him to kindly accept meals But he would not accept any Nanda was heart-broken Said her maid, ‘Mistress, pray, why be so dejected ? It is so with him everywhere He visits each door but averts himself the moment food is offered for the last four months he has been behaving likewise Why then such low spirits on that account?'
The statement of the maid further disheartened the lady
The minister came home for meals He was astonished to find Nanda in a blue mood He tried to know the cause but to no avail
Nanda was gloomier than ever
Her face was a battleground of the successive emotions At last the minister asked her, What could be the cause of your worry, dear lady?'
'What use discussing it?' 'Unless you let me know how shall I learn of the cause ?'
'Is not a minister supposed to mina the affairs of the entire state?'
'Yes, why not?'
