________________
107. MANDITA
In the city of Venātata a tailor named Mandita had his shop on a busy road. He always tied a bandage around the knee on which he applied a generous coat of ointment and told every one that he had some skin trouble. Whenever he had to walk, it seemed he did so with some effort and in order to support himself on the road he always carried a stick. Mandita was addicted to stealing other people's property and at night, he went about the town, made holes in the walls of houses and stole whatever fancied him. Near the city was a garden and a certain spot in the garden led the way to an underground dwelling and Mandita concealed all his stolen property there in charge of his unmarried sister. In the middle of this underground house, there was a well. Every one that Mandita involved in the crime by his subtle and persuasive speech was asked to carry all the stolen property to this underground place. He assured his accomplices that his sister would extend all welcome to them and make them feel at home there. But the wicked arrangement was that the sister would ask the helpmate of Mandita, who brought her the stolen goods, to sit at a place on the brink of the well and pretending to wash his feet, she would push him down into the well where the poor fellow perished.
The tailor went on robbing the city and the king's police could not catch him at all. There were lots of complaints against the inefficiency of the police and the people finally conveyed their grievances to Müladeva who had recently become the king there. Müladeva asked the chief of the city guards to look into it but he could not succeed in catching the thief. Then Müladeva decided to
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
