The Story of Patachara

During the life time of the Buddha, there was a very rich man in the city of Savatti. He had a beautiful daughter and a son. Patachara was the name of the daughter. As she was beautiful the parents protected her and did not allow her to go anywhere alone.

Even to-day, there are some parents who are very protective of their pretty daughters thinking that they will fall in troubles.

The parents of Patachara made some arrangements for her to get married to another rich young man. But she had a secret relationship with one of the servant, who was working for this rich family.

As soon as she came to know that her parent's idea was to get her married to a rich man, she asked her boy friend to take her away. Next day, early in the morning. Patachara left the house with the servant.

They went to a far away place and were living with a lot of difficulties as man did not have a proper job.

After some time, Patachara was to give birth to a child and wanted to see her parents. But she was not able to fulfill her wish, and again, after sometime, she wanted to give birth to her second child, and the end, she managed to leave the house without telling to her husband. However, when he returned home, she was not there, and the followed her.

He met her on the way and pleaded with her to return, but she refused. The night was cold and heavy rain disturbed them badly. She told her husband that she is going to deliver the child, and wanted have a shelter. He went in search a place, and in that dark night he was bitten by a poisonous snake and died. Patachara gave birth to her second child, waited for the husband till morning but as he did not return, she went in search of him. She found his dead body. carrying the new born child, and holding the eldest, she started her journey to Savatti.

To go to Savatti, she had to cross the river, Aciravathi. Due to heavy rain, it was flooded and the elder one could not walked across. She kept the elder boy on the bank of the river and the crossed the river with the new born baby. She left the baby on the other side of the river, and was coming back to take the elder boy. Suddenly she saw a hawk coming to take the child. She claapped and tried to scare the bird. Hearing her voice and the sounds of clapping, the elder boy thought that his mother wanted him to cross the river, so, he walked to her and was washed away. As she was trying to save the child, the hawk took away the baby. So, she lost both child.

Patachara was a very sad; she continued the journey like a mad women. She met a person coming from Savatti, and when she inquired about her parents, he said, the house of her parents was broken due to the wind and heavy rain. Her parents and the brothers, all three were dead and the bodies are still burning.

Patachara's life became miserable. She ran to the temple of Jetawana where the Lord Buddha was preaching Dhamma. The Buddha's unlimited compassion was able to reduce her grief. After listening to the Dhamma, she begged the Buddha to ordain her and she was admitted to the order of Bhikkuni