It is a matter of pride that 3rd Prize winner of the Mohan Rakesh Award – organized by Sahitya Kala Parishad (Delhi) under Mohan Rakesh Natya Lekhan Pratiyogita where 68 entries were judged by a panel of judges – resides in our Sector-50, Block 4/906 Kailash Dham. Dr Partibha Jain received the honour on 10 January for her play ‘Mahashraman Chandragupta Maurya’. The play was staged on 11 January, in Kamani Auditorium; directed by Bhartiya Sharma.
The play was written after 2 years of research of the historical sites and facts related to it. As Dr Pratibha says, “I started my journey of writing this play through research. I visited the Chandra Giri hill near the Shravan belagola hill, in Karnatak, where a cave is called the cave of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. There is also a rock inscription of 45 pictures on the wall, in which the story of the Emperor’s transformation from a king to a Jain monk is engraved.
“Seeing it, I realized that it is an unread a part of our history. Hence started researching on the life of Chandragupta Maurya and got the inspiration to write a play. The second evidence I found is in Indica by Megasthenes, who lived as a Greek ambassador in the court of Chandragupta Maurya. He wrote the story of Chandragupta’s kingdom and his life. The center point of the play is the description of tradition of Indian life’s sutras, religion, work and salvation. Chandragupta was filled with remorse and finally he found peace as a monk, and attained Samadhimaran (इच्छामृत्यु).”
As a playwright Dr Pratibha has written and read out plays in Akashvani (AIR), Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, for 20 years. She was part of a theatre group here. Among her various broadcasting roles, she cherishes her ‘live’ radio programme Grihyalaxmi. For 4 years she was member of Advisory Board, AIR Rewa.
Born in Sagar (MP), she had her education in Ujjain and holds doctorate in Sanskrit from Vikramaditya University, Ujjain. She was Professor in Government Ayurveda College Rewa, for 36 years, where she studied Ayur science and has a certificate Ayurveda Ratna. Along with professional commitments, her rich knowledge and passion for writing made her actively participate and write for AIR during off days from work.
Kailash Dham is now her home, with son Piyush Chaudhry who is an architect and his wife Samta Chaudhry an engineer. Dr Pratibha’s knowledge and interest is not confined to India, she visits historical places and cultural centres on her stay with her daughter settled in California, US.
