Aftermath of the Hailstorm
The young nun who Khema Samavati sent to retrieve the amulets at Deer Park confused her orders and did not obtain all of the proper amulets for warding off hailstorms. As a result the nunnery and monastery were both damaged in the storm, although damages were minor. Repairs were made to the buildings using materials foraged from the surrounding woods. It is believed that the monks’ and nuns’ collective efforts in performing the ritual chanting throughout the night before the storm helped subdue the storm’s affect on their buildings. The hail-master reported that the fierceness of the hailstorm was because of the village’s collective past karma for which every citizen must actively try to atone.
What the hail-master said seems to be true. The majority of Khema Samavait’s village were not as lucky as the nunnery and monastery. Their largest farming plots were devastated and the main bridge leading to the next town with whom they do much of their trading was completely washed away. Not to mention, now there is also news of a terrible naga illness sweeping through the population of that town. Khema insists that the whole village must put forth the effort to fix the bridge and make contact with officials in the next town. This is not only as a show of compassion and loving-kindness toward their friend and neighbour town but also as an effort to offset their own collective bad karma alluded to by the hail-master.
The nunnery always held savings of valuable jewellery and gold for aiding those most in need in case of disasters such as this hailstorm. Every ounce of gold that the nuns could pull together went toward the efforts for rebuilding the bridge. There were also materials leftover after the minor repairs to the nunnery and monastery which were all donated to the rebuilding of the bridge as well.
The hail-master also accused the village of evil gossip in response to the rumor that someone’s black magic had caused the hailstorm. He charged that those who had believed and who had helped spread the rumor must perform ritual mantras and cleansing exercises to rid themselves of the evil gossip spirit.
Khema is aiding the ritual expulsion of the “gossip girl” which is the spirit who was responsible for causing so many of the villagers to spread the rumours. Part of the ritual expulsion has been to build an effigy of the culprit spirit which required a collective effort by Khema and two of the other nuns, gathering cloth and stuffing, then sewing it together. The human sized effigy had to be carried up a steep and rocky hillside to be burned at a highest visible point to the West of the village. At the burning of the effigy Khema must sit in a trance state and after uttering a mantra for releasing the “gossip girl” to the atmospheric winds on which she will sail to the land of the Gods and be taken captive. The mantra must be recited 64 times (8X8, 8 being a powerful number for invoking the help of local deities) so its power is amplified and the Gods will hear the prayer. Through her trance state Khema must wait until she sees the local deity appear before her, that is the sign from the Gods that the “gossip girl” has been expelled from the village.
She is planning on joining the other ritualists and doctors on the trek to the next town to help alleviate the naga illness there. She will bring all of the medicinal flowers and herbs she has grown in the nunnery garden. She also knows meditative techniques to help clear the minds of those afflicted as naga illnesses are known to be the result of mental disorders.
