Jain Journal 1980 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 34

BANAN
He picks his trumpet from the dust. The awakening of Indrabhuti.
Gautama Procha
-A Drama on An Ancient Thought and Dialogue
P. C. DASGUPTA
Some time about 2500 hundred years ago Indrabhuti Gautama, a very renowned Vedic scholar and priest expressed before Mahavira, the Nirgrantha Jina, his doubts about the existence of soul i.e. the ātman. In reply to his question lying deep in the heart of Indrabhuti, Mahavira explained how there must be a governing element that integrates all the senses, remains separate and can never perish like the physical form. This is soul in its true meaning, it is pure for ever unborn and free of death. A conversation like this echoes as if from distant past across the landscape of civilizations. Such a dialogue on the soul and what is transcendental is the centraltheme of the drama Gautama Pịcchā (literally, 'the Questionnaire of Gautama') which has been composed by the eminent