Kanchi. I won't hear of it-you must show me the way, or I shall split you into halves.
"King". You may take my life by that means, but it would be a very precarious method of finding the way out of this. garden.
Kanchi. Why were you, then, going about saying that you were the King of this country?
"King". I am not the King-I am not the King. [Throwing himself on the ground with folded hands.] Where art thou, my King? Save me, oh, save me! I am a rebel-punish me, but do not kill me!
Kanchi. What is the use of shouting and cringing to the empty air? It is a much better way of spending the time to search for the way.
"King". I shall lie down here-I shall not move an inch. Come what will, I shall not complain.
Kanchi. I will not allow all this nonsense. If I am to be burnt to death, you will be my companion to the very end.
From the Outside. Oh, save us, save us, our King! The fire is on all sides of us!
Kanchi. Fool, get up, lose no more time.
Sudarshana. [entering] King, O my King! save me, save me from death! I am surrounded by fire.
"King". Who is the King? I am no King.
Sudarshana. You are not the King?
"King". No, I am a hypocrite, I am a scoundrel. [Flinging his crown on the ground.] Let my deception and hypocrisy be shattered into dust! [Goes out with KANCHI.]
Sudarshana. No King! He is not the King? Then, O thou God of fire, burn me, reduce me to ashes! I shall throw myself into thy hands, O thou great purifier; burn to ashes my shame, my longing, my desire.
Rohini. [entering] Queen, where are you going? All your inner chambers are shrouded in raging fire-do you not enter there.
Sudarshana. Yes! I will enter those burning chambers! It is the fire of my death! [Enters the Palace.]
VIII.
[The Dark Room. The KING and SUDARSRANA]
King. Do not be afraid-you have no cause for fear. The fire will not reach this room.
Sudarshana. I have no fear-but oh, shame has accompanied me like a raging fire. My face, my eyes, my heart, every part of my body is being scorched and burnt by its flames.
King. It will be some time before you get over this burning.
Sudarshana. This fire will never cease-will never cease!
King. Do not be despondent, Queen!
Sudarshana. O King, I shall not hide anything from you. . . . I have another's garland round my neck.
King. That garland, too, is mine-how else could he get it? He stole it from my room.
Sudarshana. But it is his gift to me: yet I could not fling this garland away! When the fire came roaring on all sides of me, I thought of throwing this garland into the fire. But no, I could not. My mind whispered, "Let that garland be on you in your death." . . . What fire is this, O King, into which I, who had come out to see you, leaped like a moth that cannot resist the flame? What a pain is this, oh, what agony! The fire keeps burning as fiercely as ever, but I go on living within its flames!
King. But you have seen me at last-your desire has been fulfilled.
Sudarshana. But did I seek to see you in the midst of this fearful doom? I know not what I saw, but my heart is still beating fast with fear.
King. What did you see?
Sudarshana. Terrible,-oh, it was terrible! I am afraid even to think of it again. Black, black-oh, thou art black like the everlasting night! I only looked on thee for one dreadful instant. The blaze of the fire fell on your features-you looked like the awful night when a comet swings fearfully into our ken-oh, then I closed my eyes-I could not look on you any more. Black as the threatening storm-cloud, black as the shoreless sea with the spectral red tint of twilight on its tumultuous waves!
King. Have I not told you before that one cannot bear my sight unless one is already prepared for me? One would want to run away from me to the ends of the earth. Have I not seen this times without number? That is why I wanted to reveal myself to you slowly and gradually, not all too sudden.
Sudarshana. But sin came and destroyed all your hopes-the very possibility of a union with you has now become unthinkable to me.
King. It will be possible in time, my Queen. The utter and bleak blackness that has to-day shaken you to your soul with fear will one day be your solace and salvation. What else can my love exist for?
Sudarshana. It cannot be, it is not possible. What will your love only do? My love has now turned away from you. Beauty has cast its spell on me-this frenzy, this intoxication will never leave me-it has dazzled and fired my eyes, it has thrown its golden glamour over my very dreams! I have told you all now-punish me as you like.
King. The punishment has already begun.
Sudarshana. But if you do not cast me off. I will leave you King. You have the utmost liberty to do as you like.
Sudarshana. I cannot bear your presence! My heart is angry at you. Why did you-but what have you done to me? . . . Why are you like this? Why did they tell me you were fair and handsome? Thou art black, black as night-I shall never, I can never, like you. I have seen what I love-it is soft as cream, delicate as the shirisha flower, beautiful as a butterfly.
King. It is false as a mirage, empty as a bubble.
Sudarshana. Let it bc-but I cannot stand near you-I simply cannot! I must fly away from here. Union with you, it cannot be possible! It cannot be anything but a false union-my mind must inevitably turn away from you.
King. Will you not even try a little?
Sudarshana. I have been trying since yesterday-but the more I try, the more rebellious does my heart become. If I stay with you I shall constantly be pursued and hounded by the thought that I am impure, that I am false and faithless.
King. Well then, you can go as far from me as you like.
Sudarshana. I cannot fly away from you-just because you do not prevent my going. Why do you not hold me back, hold me by the hair, saying, "You shall not go"? Why do you not strike me? Oh, punish me, strike me, beat me with violent hands! But your unresisting silence makes me wild-oh, I cannot bear it!
King. How do you think that I am really silent? How do you know that I am not trying to keep you back?
Sudarshana. Oh, no, no !-I cannot bear this-tell me aloud, command me with the voice of thunder, compel me with words that will drown everything else in my ears-do not let me off so easily, so mildly!
King. I shall leave you free, but why should I let you break away from me?
Sudarshana. You will not let me? Well then, I must go!
King. Go then!
Sudarshana. Then I am not to blame at all. You could have held me back by force, but you did not! You have not hindered me-and now I shall go away. Command your sentinels to prevent my going.
King. No one will stand in your way. You can go as free as the broken storm-cloud driven by the tempest.
Sudarshana. I can resist no more-something in me is impelling me forward-I am breaking away from my anchor! Perhaps I shall sink, but I shall return no more.[She rushes out.]
[Enter SURANGAMA, who sings]
Surangama. What will of thine is this that sends me afar! Again shall I come back at thy feet from all my wanderings. It is thy love that feigns this neglect-thy caressing hands are pushing me away-to draw me back to thy arms again! O my King, what is this game that thou art playing throughout thy kingdom?
Sudarshana. [re-entering] King, O King!
Surangama. He has gone away.
Sudarshana. Gone away? Well then, . . . then he has cast me off for good! I have come back, but he could not wait a single instant for me! Very well, then, I am now perfectly free. Surangama, did he ask you to keep me back?
Surangama. No, he said nothing.
Sudarshana. Why should he say anything? Why should he care for me? . . . I am then free, perfectly free. But, Surangama, I wanted to ask one thing of the King, but could not utter it in his presence. Tell me if he has punished the prisoners with death.
Surangama. Death? My King never punishes with death.
Sudarshana. What has he done to them, then?
Surangama. He has set them at liberty. Kanchi has acknowledged his defeat and gone back to his kingdom.
Sudarshana. Ah, what a relief!
Surangama. My Queen, I have one prayer to make to you.
Sudarshana. You will not have to utter your prayer in words, Surangama. Whatever jewellery and ornaments the King gave me, I leave to you-I am not worthy to wear them now.
Surangama. No, I do not want them, my Queen. My master has never given me any ornaments to wear-my unadorned plainness is good enough for me. He has not given me anything of which I can boast before people.
Sudarshana. What do you want of me then?
Surangama. I too shall go with you, my Queen.
Sudarshana. Consider what you are saying; you are wanting to leave your master. What a prayer for you to make!
Surangama. I shall not go far from him-when you are going out unguarded he will be with you, close by your side.
Sudarshana. You are talking nonsense, my child. I wanted to take Rohini with me, but she would not come. What gives you courage enough to wish to come with me?
Surangama. I have got neither courage nor strength. But I shall go-courage will come of itself, and strength too will come.
Sudarshana. No, I cannot take you with me; your presence will constantly remind me of my shame; I shall not be able to endure that.
Surangama. O my Queen, I have made all your good and all your evil my own as well; will you treat me as a stranger still? I must go with you.
IX.
[The KING OF KANYA KUBJA, father of SUDARSHANA, and his MINISTER]
King of Kanya Kubja. I heard everything before her arrival.
Minister. The princess is waiting alone outside the city gates on the bank of the river. Shall I send people to welcome her home?
King of Kanya Kubja. What! She who has faithlessly left her husband-do you propose trumpeting her infamy and shame to every one by getting up a show for her?
Minister. Shall I then make arrangements for her residence at the palace?
King of Kanya Kubja. You will do nothing of the sort. She has left her place as the Empress of her own accord-here she will have to work as a maid-servant if she wants to stay in my house.
Minister. It will be hard and bitter to her, Your Highness.
King of Kanya Kubja. If I seek to save her from her sufferings, then I am not worthy to be her father.
Minister. I shall arrange everything as you wish, Your Highness.
King of Kanya Kubja. Let it be kept a secret that she is my daughter; otherwise we shall all be in an awful trouble.
Minister. Why do you fear such disaster, Your Highness?
King of Kanya Kubja. When woman swerves from the right path, then she appears fraught with the direst calamity. You do not know with what deadly fear this daughter of mine has inspired me-she is coming to my home laden with peril and danger.
X.
[Inner Apartments of the Palace. SUDARSHANA and SURANGAMA]
Sudarshana. Go away from me, Surangama! A deadly anger rages within me-I cannot bear anybody-it makes me wild to see you so patient and submissive.
Surangama. Whom are you angry with?
Sudarshana. I do not know; but I wish to see everything destroyed and convulsed in ruin and disaster! I left my place on the throne as the Empress in a moment's time. Did I lose my all to sweep the dust, to sweat and slave in this dismal hole? Why do the torches of mourning not flare up for me all over the world? Why does not the earth quake and tremble? Is my fall but the unobserved dropping of the puny bean-flower? Is it not more like the fall of a glowing star, whose fiery blazon bursts the heavens asunder?
Surangama. A mighty forest only smokes and smoulders before it bursts into a conflagration: the time has not come yet.
Sudarshana. I have thrown my queen's honour and glory to the dust and winds-but is there no human being who will come out to meet my desolate soul here? Alone-oh, I am fearfully, terribly alone!
Surangama. You are not alone.
Sudarshana. Surangama, I shall not keep anything from you. When he set the palace on fire, I could not be angry with him. A great inward joy set my heart a-flutter all the while. What a stupendous crime! What glorious prowess! It was this courage that made me strong and fired my own spirits. It was this terrible joy that enabled me to leave everything behind me in a moment's time. But is it all my imagination only? Why is there no sign of his coming anywhere?
Surangama. He of whom you are thinking did not set fire to the palace-it is the King of Kanchi who did it.
Sudarshana. Coward! But is it possible? So handsome, so bewitching, and yet no manhood in him! Have I deceived myself for the sake of such a worthless creature? O shame! Fie on me! . . . But, Surangama, don't you think that your King should yet have come to take me back? [SURANGAMA remains silent.] You think I am anxious to go back? Never! Even if the King really came I should not have returned. Not even once did he forbid me to come away, and I found all the doors wide open to let me out! And the stony and dusty road over which I walked-it was nothing to it that a queen was treading on it. It is hard and has no feelings, like your King; the meanest beggar is the same to it as the highest Empress. You are silent! Well, I tell you, your King's behaviour is-mean, brutal, shameful!
Surangama. Every one knows that my King is hard and pitiless-no one has ever been able to move him.
Sudarshana. Why do you, then, call him day and night?
Surangama. May he ever remain hard and relentless like rock-may my tears and prayers never move him! Let my sorrows be ever mine only-and may his glory and victory be for ever!