„梂 縈Ｏ３ 蔣潮 J - Jainism, Jain Religion - colleges

Five months and twenty-five days had passed since Bhagavan Mahavir had eaten anything. The twenty sixth day of the sixth
month dawned. It was past noon when Prabhu Vardhaman, wandering for alms, was approaching the house of merchant
Dhanavah. An expectant crowd followed him.
Chandana was sitting on the threshold of the cellar, one foot inside and the other outside. In her hand was a basked and in
the basket, stale pulse-bran. When she looked at the shackles on her limbs a broken dream emerged in her memory and she
became lost. All of a sudden she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and a murmur of a crowd. She looked up and
found that the great savior Shraman Mahavir was standing at her door. Chandana became enthralled. She thought, “Thank
Lord! You have yourself come to my rescue from this pitiable condition”. A glow of happiness dawned on her face. She forgot
all her misery, the pain turned into joy as if every cell in her body was dancing. She tried to stand, “Welcome O Lord! Please
accept something from these wretched condition of his resolution were visible, only Chandana had no tears in her eyes.
Mahavir turned and started moving away.
„±üü ¿¢¢Ý¢² ½±¼é J
As soon as Mahavir turned, Chandana’s joy vanished as if struck by lightening, “How unluckily I am that even in this wretched
condition Prabhu has returned empty handed from my door”. Filled with self-pity she started crying.
Mahavir turned back and looked. All conditions of his resolution were visible now. He stepped ahead and extended her
cupped palms before Chandana. Joyous Chandana took the pulse-bran from the basket and put it in the extended palms of
Bhagavan Mahavir. Mahavir broke his fast. (M-24)
The next moment Chandana’s shackles shattered to pieces. Divine drums sounded in the sky. Divine applause echoed from
all directions, “Hail the almsgiving”. Flowers, fragrant water and perfumes showered from the sky and the courtyard of
Dhanavah was filled with heaps of gems. Her beauty had magnified thousand folds. Gods and goddesses adorned Chandana
with beautiful garments and ornaments.
This resolution of the period of penance of Bhagavan Mahavir may be deemed as the first step of the human endeavor for
women’s liberation.
Last Calamity: Nails in the Ears
After spending the twelfth monsoon-stay of his period of practices in Champa, Bhagavan Mahavir arrived outside a village
named Chhammani and stood in meditation. It was dusk and a cowherd was returning home from his farm. When he saw
Mahavir standing just outside his farm he said, “Ascetic! Please look after my oxen, I will return in a few minutes”, and he left.
The cowherd went into the village and returned a little late. The oxen had drifted away grazing. Not finding his oxen, he
asked, “Ascetic, where are my oxen”?
jainuniversity.org
Mahavir was in deep meditation and unaware of all this. The cowherd asked again, and once again he did not get any
response. He got irritated and shouted, “You hypocrite! Are you deaf, don’t you hear anything”?
Mahavir still did not respond. The cowherd lost his temper, “Your pretender, it seems that both your ears are useless. Wait
a minute, I will give you a proper treatment”. He picked long nail like thorns from a nearby shrub of Kansa grass and pierced
the ears of Mahavir deeply by hammering the thorns in. (M-25/1)
Even such excruciating agony did not move Mahavir from his meditation; neither did it evoke any feeling of anger or aversion
in him.
Completing his meditation in normal course he went inside the village for alms. He arrived at the door of a trader named
Siddharth. A friend of the trader was sitting with him. He was a doctor. Both of them gave pure food to Mahashraman with
due respect.
Doctor Kharak told Siddharth, “Friend, the face of this Shraman has a divine glow but there is a shade of tiredness too. Some
inner pain is visible in his eyes. I feel this great sage suffers from some inner agony”.
Siddharth replied, “Friend, if such a great sage suffers from some kind of pain, we should immediately go and treat him”.
After taking alms Mahashraman returned. Taking Doctor Kharak with him, Siddharth followed. Going into the garden, where
Prabhu rested, when the two examined him they found the two thorns stuck in his ears. Kharak shivered with remorse. The
friends medicated oil and forceps and pulled out the thorns. This caused such an unbearable agony to Mahavir that an
anguished cry was forced out of him. Blood oozed out from his ears. The doctor dressed the wound with some coagulant.
(M-25/2)
Amar Muni - Tirthankar Charitra - Surana # 42
www.jainuniversity.org