Fall of Nalanda

ACT I
Somewhere in Medieval India.
Tutor - Shungya
Pupil - Astvavardhan

Pupil:
"O great monk!
But for that I have been taught to speak fair
in the last six years that I have studied here
in this great university in the sense of the word so true!
But for that you have taught me
to have a questioning attitude,
I wouldn't have asked this question to you!
Such is your repute
that though you don't agree,
you are seen as a seer,
whose every word is a prophecy!
But what you advise me
contradicts itself,
and who is better than you
to answer a question
that is because of yourself!

So here I go, if I may
and this is what I have to say,
The epitome of academics,
that has grown over half a millenium,
where a score of courses
are pursued by half a thousand pupil each,
where the best are taught by the supreme!
Even many outstanding talents,
consider it out of reach,
and where the masters from around the world
are not one or two
but thousands into two,
where has accumulated the world's largest repertoire
of books and essays
for anybody to even imagine to acquire !
Also, you tell me
that I am a prodigy

then what other place is suited better for me 

than this that is almost angelic,
I have been a sincere student here
why can't I teach,
what I have learned from where?

You tell me
that soon all shall end,
and all the greatness
would not be able to fend,
just a few horsemen
when in their mad frenzy they descend!
and you tell me to go
to go elsewhere
and save myself,
even if such is to happen,
why shouldn't I
give my self
in protecting my alma mater
rather than being a wimp
and may be I pay my due
and we can save it,
all the wise men here
and me and you,
and in the first place
I can not see reason
that a giant great,
would in no time
few sinners would decimate,
Then all that I have learned
seems to be untrue
something you tell me
please would you!!"

Tutor:
"In the same way that I have taught,
some stories I may narrate
as you are so distraught!
That I tell you to go, it is not to save you
it is to save that spark of greatness
that dwells in you,
So you may light the flame again,
It was not to save Manu
that he was saved from The Great Rain!
It was so that the element of life
may not perish in deluge,
at the height of Himalayas
he was offered the refuge!
And that is why I tell you to go,
I wish you to be the globe,
that protects the flame,
not only the flame of knowledge
but that of the true spirit,
that should form the scaffolding,
provide the knowledge with the correct frame!

You ask why shouldn't you stay back
to save this great university
that has been such a generous mother to you,
and why can't I and you and all the great monks
stop this disaster
and that is because the time
when occurs this deathly strike
till that time, neither me
nor you may survive,

And I do see, but am not a seer,
as I do not see future,
but it is the present that is so clear!
It is not whether men on horses from the far west,
or small men in boats from the far east
who shall deliver the final blow,
rather, like White Ants do
it is being eaten from within
so that they may grow!
Like the dried leaf falls from the branch
so shall this great place
without having a strong wind to blow!

And your question would be
why don't I stop this calamity
and that is because I can't,
all of my tenacity
is not good enough
how much may I want!

Your teacher I am and to further make you understand
few more stories I tell you, for you to comprehend!
There was a man called Oedipus
who killed his father and violated his mother,
and there was a king called Yayati
who stole his son's youth for his own pleasure!

This University was started by a King,
God had blessed him with something beyond everything,
that was an eye to recognize great masters
and an urge to nurture the talent
and a vision that that is how would prosper his state!

It was good to be here,
as the master's empyrean goal
was to hone the skills,
A great centre of learning it became
and besides knowledge
great values were drilled!

When the pupils went out
and achieved fame,
they showcased that most arduous tasks
were easy as a game,
with that came the recognition
a great centre of teaching it became!
A tool to achieve ambition
and not only for the disciples
but so for the tutor!
And thus were born the masters
who taught the word
but the spirit was nowhere,
and gradually these debauch masters
became the chief heirs!

Though it may be difficult to discern

but they are Oedipus and Yayati rolled into one!

Their father like masters, they spiritually killed

and rape this Institution that fed them with it's breast-milk!

And once in power, perpetuity they yearn

with their narcissistic motives all young talent they spurn!

And that is how they alveolate the bedrock of this place

like termites bring a wooden castle to utter disgrace

as it may look magnanimous but crumbles with a tweak

and thus a havoc into this great place, they wreak!

And now they are so many
and almost all of them
they know the art of guise so well
you won't know them
such perfect is their guile!
So only to leave is what can be done,
with your torch, go far, before all is vanquished
and start a flame that with all means
can not be extinguished."

Pupil:
"If I am to be the Manu,
then O Prajapti, let me know
upon this journey before I embark,
What all it is, that I should carry
with me on my Ark"

Tutor:
"The spirit of this place
only in books it is left,
so you must carry them with you
or the world is bereft,
and I know the Chief won't let you take them
but still you can take them and how to
in a way only you can,
that I tell you........."



ACT II
Few years later. In the office of Chief.
Chief - Bhaldutt
Tutor - Shungya

Chief:
"An improper man,
a warrior from Kshirgram,
Who couldn't get admitted
in his own clan,
You tell me
that to prove to his Sultan,
He has a devious plan!
With his two dozen accomplices,
he would attack
on this great knowledge fountain!
but the wealth that he looks for,
ain't here,
so what's he going to gain!

And then our patron is the King himself,
of the greatest state on this earth ever,
With his able army
what is it that we should fear!

In fact, the moment he lands
on this noble soil,
he would be cleansed,
the reasons would be changed forever
for which he toils
and he too would be unprofane!"

Tutor (to audience):
"Indeed! true it is as a principle
but alas false is the premise
as the purity of the land has been defiled
and you can't even recognize
how the magic of the soil has retired!"


ACT III
Few months later.
Chief - Bhaldutt
Pupil 2 - Nrehik (Pupil of Chief)

Pupil 2:
"When the army from west attacked,
 killed our king and our state was ravaged,
though passed within few kilometers
but didn't even look at us
and we thought we had escaped,
as they didn't consider us of matter,
But we knew not that soon
from another quarter
someone would come
and clobber and batter!

Has been reduced to ashes,
all the knowledge acquired over centuries!
For months the smoke continues to rise,
Never has history seen such a gloom
and never it will
such dark are the skies!
Lacs of books with treatise on all,
and its not the texts
but as if the subject dies,
and silently thousands of masters
have succumbed to death
no whimper, no cries!
Its not the present that has wasted
but our labour of past
and our future that putrefies!

But what makes me wonder
that an uneducated man,
hungry for material and power,
With sheer brute force,
how could he understand,
that to really finish us
our knowledge he needed to devour?
To squelch us, all that was written
and the minds that could,
both he destroyed just within few hours?

Is it true what I have heard,
that in return
so that forever you may live,
With no compunction
how could you give,
not only your men
but almost the whole mankind
how could you bereave?"

Chief:
"All has been spoken
and can't stand anymore!
Once wished to be the greatest
but felt smallest of the yore,
when that man entered my cell
like no one before,
his eyes were indifferent
neither respect, nor rancor,
with heavy feet
and a blood stained saber,
and I knew that in a flash of a second
my head would fall without a dither,
my life-long ambitions
twirled in my head like a spinning door,
and spontaneously I started to speak in Kharoshti
that I had learned many years before,
I lied that a mere servant I am,
begged to leave me and more to procure,
and told him of my concocted lineage
silently beckoned him to atheneum and more,
and before I blinked he was gone,
was I alive, wasn't sure!

And only after the catastrophe
I realize why Shungya used to implore,
that all books must be made into copies,
and wanted to convert lacs into crores,
so that they could never be detroyed
but I would always abhor!
Alas! That couldn't be done,
and I gauged Astvavardhan as a mere sophomore!
I can't take the burden
such grave is my remorse,
and I have poisoned myself!
But a dying man beseeches you
never to disclose,
answer my prayer in lieu of
all my discourse"

Pupil 2:
"How could you become the greatest
by doing what is so small?
And what you did to live forever
is not letting you live at all,
and when you should have lived
to resurrect what has been plundered,
you have chosen to die
I wish you could have wondered!
Even as a dying man,
you do what you did in your life,
you ask for a return
in the time of such strife!

But as your student
I have to give you that,
and never in history
anybody would know or tell,
how it happened
but nobody would know of you as well!

And few more words may I tell you
so that you can die with ease,
that there is still hope
and that is what gives me the peace!
Astvavardhan, as he made a try
for your consent to copy the books
and with all your swollen pride
you denied, didn't even bother to ask him why!
With his extraordinary assets,
thousands of books, he learned them by rote
and it is him that today I dote,
and I anticipate that after having left from here
he writes them down somewhere,
and one day,
the cache of knowledge that has been ruined,
to his acclaim,
at least in part, he recapitulates it
Is able to reclaim!"
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