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An Obeisance to the Source of
Uncreated Light
P. C. DASGUPTA
While accepting the drama is the reflection of our existence distinguished by its variegation, conflicts and value either conditioned by unseen forces or observed by gods, as it was felt in antiquity with the culminating ascent of the ideal of moral virtue, it no doubt creates a sublime atmosphere when the audience can avail a view of the beauty of eternity. The sublimity of a dramatic theme as noted here will recall a Latin hymn attributed to emperor Charlemagne and paraphrased by the seventeenth century English poet John Dryden,
Creator Spirit, by whose aid The World's foundations first were laid, Come, visit every pious mind ; Come, pour thy joys on humankind; From sin and sorrow set us free, And make Thy temples worthy of Thee O Source of Uncreated Light, etc.
Such a prayer was echoed in the beginning of a drama on the birth of the twentyfourth Tirthankara Mahavira staged in the hall of Ahimsa Prachar Samiti, Calcutta, on April 2, 1977. Written by Sri Ganesh Lalwani the drama appeared as a gem of an operatte. The play opened with a dance accompanied by a song which touchingly prays for the appearance of the Tirthankara in the World eagerly awaiting his presence. The hymn echoed like the voice of the earth, the soul of mankind for dispelling the darkness or mist of illusion and for rescuing existence from suffering,
'Come, Come O Tirthankara, Dispel darkness and put an end to our sorrow.'
In the next scene queen Trisala explained by dance before king Siddhartha, her husband, the auspicious dreams she saw. These were, a white elephant, a white bull, a lion, the goddess Sri, a garland of flowers, a lake with lotuses, the full moon, the sun, a banner, a vase, the ocean of Milk, the heavenly palace, jewels and a fire without smoke. In the sequence Trisala presented the symbolic aspects of the dreams as described by the Kalpasūtra.
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