What a Sacrifice Sublime

About two thousand years ago In the early morning hours of a cool day When the wind was calm and the Sun had just Started showing his sign in east A small vessel boat standing near the shore Was getting ready to move, after taking on its board, A number of scholars, with their heavy load of knowledge Lying near the boat, were the bundles full of load* Which some scholars were trying to put on board To carry away the much labored treasure of books* For its final long journey from a near by seaport These books were translated by scholars Both Indians and Chinese, in more than a decade Learning in those day’s early universities Was possible only after tough labor And facing hardest living ways The priceless knowledge of that world Was not much known to all those Living in Beijing, Athens or Rome Was being taken out of India to light-up The dark areas and different paths of the globe The Indian scholars with five others Had come from university of Nalanda To see off their Chinese guests up-to the port of Kalika And wanted to go upto an inland near the shore To say adieu and Good Bye, to their friends on board The island was few miles away from the shore From there the guest scholars, were going to start alone Their long journey to far Far-East on their own Ten years companionship had tied them in a bond They came to say adieu to host scholars Shing and Yang The boat was small but full of load With crewmen and scholars And lots of handwritten books on board The boat left the shallow seashore For the near by more deep Kalika port, From there the boat was destined For its final journey towards Far East Towards an unknown land and shore The wind had hardly driven them few miles away When a crewman saw a storm coming from west And saw the boat was staggering on waves With heavy weights on it, its chances of survival was at stake The storm was getting rough and waves were roaring high A voice came from behind, to throw the books in sea To save the boat and lives on board The host scholars, who were eight Knew the value of that work sublime Took a decision to throw them selves instead of books To save the torch of knowledge lighted up by them In the form of manuscript’s load sublime And said only ‘Good Bye’ to those on board Before anyone could have understood They all jumped into the sea and lost without a sign The Chinese scholars exclaimed! ‘What a sacrifice Sublime’ Ravindra *manuscripts (on Bhogpatras-A tree leaf used in early days)