The Judgment Of Indra

by Dhan Gopal Mukerji

Genre: Fantasy
Setting: International
Format of Original Source: Play
Recommended Adaptation Length:

Candidate for Adaptation? Not Reviewed

EXCERPT:

OLD MAN. What manner of God is He that deprives a dying mother of her son? Such a God never was known in Hindu life. No such God lives, nor breathes. [Thunder and lightning.]

SHUKRA. Erring Soul, do not blaspheme your creator. He is the God of Truth–God of Love.

OLD MAN [disdainfully]. God of Love,– How can He be God of Love if He dries up the stream of thy heart and blinds thy reason as the clouds blind the eyes of the Sun? Nay, thou liest. It is not the God of Love, but the God of thine insane self–self-love that makes thee rob thy mother of her only joy in life. I–yea, I will answer to God for thee. If, by coming to see thy mother, thou sinnest, I ask God to make me pay for thy sin. Come, obey thy father,–I will take the burden of thy sin, if sin it be.

SHUKRA. Nay, each man pays for his sins as each man reaps the harvest of his own good deeds. None can atone for another. Ah, God! cursed be the hour when I was born. Cursed,–

OLD MAN [angrily]. Thou cursest thy birth?

SHUKRA. Yea, to be born in this world of woe is a curse indeed.

OLD MAN. Then curse thy tormented mind and thy desolate heart; curse not,–

SHUKRA. Nay, I curse the hour that saw me come to this earth of delusion and Maya. I do curse,–

OLD MAN. Thou dost dare curse the hour when thou wert born! Ah, vile sinner! To curse the hour of thy birth when thy mother is dying! God be my witness, he has incurred his father’s wrath. Now,–no God can save thee.

SHUKRA. Nay, nay,–

OLD MAN. Shukra. I, thy father, thy God in life, curse thee. Thou hast deprived thy mother of her child, and her death of its solace. Thou hast incurred the wrath of the Spirits of all thy departed ancestors.

SHUKRA [cries out]. Not thus; not thus. [Thunder and lightning, the whole sky is swept by the clouds.]

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