Come Thursday, a group of 25 theatre artistes under the banner of Planet-G and in association with Buddhavanam Project and Telangana Tourism will stage a play on the history of Buddhism in the land of Telangana, known as Trilinga Desam some 3,000 years ago.
The play portraying the life of one Bavari from Brahmin community and 16 of his disciples and their association with Buddhism in the bygone era will be staged in English for the audience comprising delegates from 12 countries which follow Buddhism in one way or the other. To last about an hour, the play will be staged from 7.30 p.m. at Green Park hotel.
Celebration of Buddhism
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Explaining about the theme of the play, director of the play Kumara Swamy stated that Buddhism had spread to areas such as Nagarjunakonda and Amaravati in Trilinga Desam from North India before it went beyond the boundaries of Indian sub-continent.
Following the advice of Bavari, all his 16 disciples went to Buddha heard him and followed his teachings. While 15 of them stayed back there one discipline returned to Trilinga Desam and share the enlightenment of Buddha's teachings with his master (guru) and the two went on spreading Buddhism for rest of their lives.
However, such historical facts were not known even in other parts of India, let alone in the countries following Buddhism now.
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Create an impact
“Our group is putting its heart and soul into rehearsals of the play to make as much impact as possible on the day when it is staged for the audience,” Mr. Kumara Swamy said. The play would basically portray the celebration of Buddhism in Telangana, he added.
Special Officer of Buddhavanam Project Mallepally Laxmaiah said that the play would be one of the attractions of the two-day international conference on Buddhism to be held in the city on February 23 and 24.
The Buddhavanam project was making arrangements to stage the play in Telugu on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti on May 10, he added.