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SIXTH INCARNATION AS APARĀJITA
249
After hearing this speech of hers and considering the suitability, he instructed her to perform the penance called dharmacakravāla.' 807 'You, absorbed in worship of gurus and Arhats, must perform two three-day (fasts) and thirtyseven caturthas. From the power of that penance another birth like this will not happen to you again, like offspring to a hen-crow.' 808
She gave attention to his speech, bowed to the best of munis, went to her own village, and performed the penance. From its power she obtained sweet food when she broke her fast, such as she had never obtained before even in a dream, a prelude to the play of good fortune. From that time she received two and three times as much pay for her work in the houses of the rich and also good clothes. So Śrīdattā got to have a little money and made pūjā to the gods and gurus according to her ability.
One day an old place in the wall of her house, struck by wind, et cetera, fell down and she found gold, et cetera. At the completion of her penance she made a great finishing ceremony with pūjās in the shrines, gifts to monks and nuns, et cetera. On the fast-breaking day at the end of her penance, when she looked around the country, she saw the Rși Suvrata who had fasted for a month. Considering herself fortunate, she gave him herself pure food, et cetera, bowed to him, and asked about the religion of the Arhats. The muni replied to her: 'It is not our rule for a sermon to be delivered anywhere by the ones who have gone for alms, lady. If you wish to hear religious instruction, come at the right time to my house when I have gone there, lady,' With these words he went away.
807 265. The penance starts with a three-day fast, then a fastbreaking day, then 37 fasts of one-day alternating with fast-breaking days, then a three-day fast and a fast-breaking day, making a total of 82 days for the series. Tapāvali, p. 5. .-808 267. Cf. kākavandhyā, 'a woman that bears only one child.' I have found nothing to support the belief that a hen-crow lays eggs only once.
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