Renowned Sages of Ancient India (A Collection of One Act Plays on Renowned Sages and Socio-Cultural Legends)

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RENOWNED SAGES OF ANCIENT INDIA provides a deep insight into the life and relevance of some of the most significant sages and Semi-divine legends of ancient India. A man is known by the company he keeps. True to this adage, the common populace in ancient India enjoyed the company and companionship of sages, sat at their feet, listened to their discourses and as such, they followed the path of righteousness and holy tenets. It was the age of belief and wisdom. Therefore, all those legends and stories that relate to the sages have been rendered in this collection of One-Act plays in this book. Some mythical legends have also been included in it. Each narrative is presented by a mythical narrator, named Gunadhya. The sages included in this volume are: Lord Hanuman, Rishi Narad, Rishi Prashar, Rishi Ved Vyas, Rishi Valmiki, Rishi Agastya, Rishi Durvasa, Rishi Bhringi, Rishi Yajnavalkya, the story of Nachiketa and his encounter with Yama (God of death), legend of Satyavan-Savitri, and Nala-Damayanti.

The common populace in the Vedic and post-Vedic era, lived in SPIRITUAL INDIA. They relished the company and the companionship of the seers, and felt blessed. The sages had their hermitages, close to the populated areas, a little distance away in the deep woods, or on the mountains, near the rivers, or rivulets, or lakes. The worldly needs of the common people were too few, just meagre in the form of food, shelter and clothing. They lived a simple life in the lap of nature, enjoying the nature's plenty. They were happy with this kind of simple and ordinary life sans any opulence. But down the millennium, things have undergone a complete metamorphosis. Spiritual India has taken a down-turn, and become Secular India. The needs of the present population, as compared to the population of the hoary past, have proliferated, and life has become complicated and cumbersome. The common people, by and large, have become oblivious of their past heritage qua the sages from whom their genealogy, their lineage, emanated. People have become more materialistic, and less spiritualistic. Yet a large chunk of populace continues to follow the religious and spiritual practices, reciting Gayatri mantra, the Hanuman Chalisa, holding gatherings and listening to religious stories and discourses culled from scriptures and holy books, and performing yajnas. In short, a slice of spiritual India still remains intact. Since the human nature is immutable, therefore the spiritual past, qua the sages and seers, is still relevant to us.

Who is a Rishi? He is a holy person, who has Drishti, who has the vision to envision the time past, the time present, and the time future. Since he has the discerning eye, he can see the "unseen," the "unforeseen." Therefore, by a natural corollary, he is a "seer." In fact, through arduous tapasya (penance), he acquires a "celestial" vision, an "I" which brings him closer to the dictum "Aham Brahmasmi," or "so'hum," ("I am HE").

The first writer I watched at work was my father, Dr. C.D. Verma. He would sit whole night at his typewriter typing the content for his books. The task was familiar to him and what was familiar to me was the sound of the typewriter coming from his room with hesitant bursts and long silences in between, perhaps, to take pauses to ponder over his thoughts. Even today, he remains so preoccupied with the subjects he writes about, that he excuses himself in between our worldly conversations to get back to his work. No wonder, as when someone is writing on subjects as sublime and solemn as sages, seers and legends of ancient India, one has to travel back to their times and one's thoughts may flip back and forth in time and space in a stream of consciousness.

This book is an organized dramatic compilation of pen-sketches of some greatest sages, seers, saints and enlightened kings and queens of ancient India. The legends chosen as subjects were famed for their outstanding knowledge, erudition, sagacity, wisdom, enlightenment and realization of the Truth as enunciated in the ancient scriptures such as the Upanishads and the Puranas. They have been presented in all their subtlety through the narrator Gunadhya's delineation of their significance in contributing to the mysticism of India. Here we shall read dramatic narrative about the lives, spiritual experiences, philosophy and learnings of the great Rishis and sages as Lord Hanuman, Vedvyas, Valmiki, Nachiketa, Narad Muni, Agastya, Bhringi, Durvasa, Kapil, Prashar, yajnavalkya in the same lofty tone as about the enlightened duos as majestic as Nal-Damyanti and Satyawan-Savitri. Their lives have had a profound impact on the belief system, rituals and ideology of Indian society. Savitri is still worshipped as a goddess in many households. A special ritual of observing fast to please the goddess, is known as Savitri Vrata (fast). This fast is usually undertaken by married women; but even the unmarried girls observe it these days in order to avoid widowhood, and remain as wife till the husband lives.

The word Upanishad is a synthesis of three words: upa+ni+ sad. Upa means "near", ni means "down," and sad means "to sit." So, Upanishad means "to sit down near," or at the feet of the guru. In the hoary past groups of pupils sat near the preceptor to learn from him the secret doctrines. In the quietude of the hermitages situated in the sylvan surroundings of the deep woods, the sages pondered over the temporal and spiritual problems appertaining human beings, and communicated their knowledge to those who gathered together near them.

There is no gainsaying the fact that it was the best of times when the common denizens thronged to the sages, sat at their feet, listened to their discourses, worldly and other-worldly, laced with wise saws, maxims and spiritual knowledge. The aim of the rishis was to ameliorate the lot of those who came into their contact. It was the best of times when the populace had faith in the seers, adored their wisdom, appreciated their spiritual and religious acme. It was the best of times when sages were lured by the pre-eminence of their Vedic-lore. It was the best of times when the company of the saints eventually established rapport between the hermits and the common devotees. This bonding, this relationship, persuaded the masses for clean-living; they were actuated to follow the path of integrity. The sages swayed their characteristic idiosyncrasies to walk on the high-road to ethical morality. Such tenets of life ultimately brought beatitude and bliss. For a man is known by the company he keeps. True to this adage, the common populace in ancient India enjoyed the company and companionship of sages, and as such, they followed the path of righteousness and holy tenets. And, it was the best of times, when in the ancient past, the primitive man walked by faith: for "faith is the force of life." It was the age of belief; it was the age of wisdom; it was the age of holy men, of sages and saints, who showed the heaven to the common people who looked up to them for their spiritual upliftment.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages