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580
The Unknow
two young sădhvis were carried off by cholera, another at Nāgaura.19 Some time later, when the group was at Indaura, plague began to decimate the population. The sādhvis followed the śrāvakas who went for refuge to Ujjayini.20 Another time they were overtaken suddenly by plague in Jayapura. When the inhabitants fled from the town, the sādhvis remained, for the căturmāsya was not yet over.21
On the subject of vihāra, Sadhvi Sajjana has developed an important point in the chapter entitled: "Arrival in the land of her birth",22 The ascetic life does not remove love for one's native land, indeed, to the contrary. Having renounced all, a sādhvi's disposition is one of maitri, friendship for every_being. Moreover, within this universal friendship, the land of one's birth holds pride of place. There is a sna, a debt, that each one owes to the prthvi-kāya, the "body of the land" which has supported and nourished the sādhvi since her birth; there is also a ima towards one's family and the local inhabitants. A sadhvi continues to be one of theirs. She owes it to herself to guide them, give them the joy of her presence, which is for them a blessing. Sadhvi Pur.ya returned to her native village a few years after her dikşā and spent there one month. The inhabitants received her with enthusiasm, proud to welcome the little Pannā of days gone by. By her presence and her words she re-kindled their faith and enlightened their minds; it became the occasion of a renewal. It was then also, it is said, that she sowed the sced of vairāgya in the heart of her young brother who later on became Muni Trailokyasagara.
Subsequently, when she had become pravartini, Sādhvi Punya turned her attention towards the most remote villages of the desert, where the inhabitants, receiving no visits at all, or very few, from ascetics; were living in such ignorance of their tradition as to neglect completely their local temple. Nor did her ardour stop there, for she
19 Ibid., pp. 240-242.
20 Ibid., pp. 325-327.
21 Ibid., pp. 388-389.
22 Ibid., ch. 22.
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