E D U C AT I O N
Lessons from the Life of Mahasati Chandanbala
By Anop R. Vora and Rajkumar Jain (Members of Jain Digest Editorial Staff)
Story in Brief
Most Jains know about the inspirational story of Chandanbala. The story itself is simple: She was the daughter of King Dadhivahan and Queen Dharini of the city of Champapuri, Bihar, India and was named Vasumati. In the old days, India was ruled by tiny kingdoms. They used to have territorial wars quite often with their neighboring kingdoms and the stronger kings used to take over the weaker ones by sheer force. When her father lost one of such wars, she and her mother decided to escape but got captured by an enemy soldier. He decided to sell her as a slave because this was an acceptable practice in those days. A rich merchant saw Vasumati in the slave market but by looking at her face and demeanor, he felt that she must be from a noble family and somehow had been separated. He made the necessary payment to the soldier and brought her home out of compassion, hoping that someday he could find her parents and unite them.
The merchant told his wife (Moola) to treat Vasumati as their daughter. They decided to name her as Chandanbala. Moola noticed the good looks of Chandanbala, became suspicious of her husband’s motive and started worrying that her husband might dump her and marry Chandanbala. When her husband went out of town on a business trip, Moola decided to get rid of her; so she called a barber and asked him to shave off her beautiful hair. Then she hired another worker and asked him to tie her legs with heavy shackles and lock her up in a dark room; after which she went to visit her parents’ home in town.
When the merchant returned and did not see either his wife or Chandanbala, he found out what happened from one of the loyal servants. He immediately released Chandanbala and since she was hungry, he gave her boiled lentils and went to get more food and also a blacksmith to remove the shackles. She decided that she will eat the lentils only after offering them to a Sadhu first.
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While she was waiting, Lord Mahavira stopped by for alms. One can just imagine the joy she must have felt! But then Lord looked at her and noticed that one of his pre-decided conditions for breaking his fast of 5 months and 25 days was still missing. She met all conditions except the tears in her eyes, and therefore Lord Mahavir turned away. Feeling heart-broken, tears started running down Chandanbala’s face. In a crying voice, she once again requested the Lord to accept the food. Lord Mahavir saw the tears in her eyes and came back to accept the food knowing that all his conditions were met. Chandanbala put the lentils in Lord Mahavir’s hand and felt very happy. The heavenly gods became aware of this event and celebrated it by breaking the shackles of Chandanbala, growing her hair back and dressing her as Princess with their magical powers. The local king found out about the story and took Chandanbala to his palace. Later on, she took Diksha and became a disciple of the Lord.
