A dramatic romanceSRI AUROBINDO
Collected Plays and Short Stories
Part One
Vasavadutta
A dramatic romance
A Dramatic Romance
The action of the romance takes place a century after the war of the Mahabharata; the capital has been changed to Cowsambie1; the empire has been temporarily broken and the kingdoms of India are overshadowed by three powers, Maghadha2 in the East ruled by Pradyota3, Avunthie4 in the West ruled by Chunda Mahasegn who has subdued also the southern kings, and Cowsambie in the Centre where Yougundharayan strives by arms and policy to maintain the house of Parikshit5 against the dominating power of Avunthie. Recently since the young Vuthsa has been invested with the regal power and appeared at Cowsambie6, Chunda Mahasegn, till then invincible, has suffered rude but not decisive reverses. For the moment there is an armed peace between the two empires.
The fable is taken from Somadeva’s Kathasaritsagara (the Ocean of the Rivers of Many Tales) and was always a favourite subject of Indian romance and drama, but some of the circumstances, a great many of the incidents and a few of the names have been altered or omitted and others introduced in their place. Vuthsa, the name of the nation in the tale, is in the play used as a personal name of the King Udayan7.
| Vuthsa Udayan, | King of Cowsambie. |
|
| Yougundharayan, | His Minister, until recently Regent of Cowsambie. |
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| Roomunwath, | Captain of his armies. |
|
| Alurca, |  |
Young men of Vuthsa’s age, his friends and companions. |
| Vasunthaca, | ||
| The King’s Door-Keeper. | ||
| Chunda Mahasegn, | King of Avunthie. |
|
| Gopalaca, | |
His sons. |
| Vicurna, | ||
| Rebha, | Governor of Ujjayinie, the capital of Avunthie. |
|
| A Captain of Avunthie. | ||
| A Servant. | ||
| Parinaca8, | Attendant at Udayan’s palace. |
|
| Ungarica, | Queen of Avunthie. |
|
| Vasavadutta, | Daughter of Chunda Mahasegn and Ungarica. |
|
| Umba, | Her handmaiden. |
|
| Munjoolica, | The new name of Bundhumathie, the captive Princess of Sourashtra, serving Vasavadutta. |
|
An inner room of the palace in Avunthie9.
Chunda Mahasegn, seated; Gopalaca.
Vuthsa Udayan drives my fortune10 back.
Our strengths retire from one luxurious boy,
Defeated.
I have seen him in the fight
And I have lived to wonder. O, he ranges
As lightly through the passages of war
As might the moonbeam11 feet of some bright laughing girl,
Her skill concealing in her reckless grace,
The measures of a rapid dance.
Brings its portentous morning to our gates,
Our suns are ended13. Yet I had great dreams.
Oudh and Cowsambie were my high-carved doors;
Ganges, Godavarie14 and Nurmada
In lion race bespread15 with sacred dew
The16 moonlit jasmines in my pleasure-grounds.
All this great sunlit continent lay sleeping
At peace beneath the shadow of my brows.
Art thou not great enough
To live them?
O my son, many high hearts
Must first have striven, many must have failed
Before a great thing can be done on earth;
And who shall say then that he is the man?
One age has seen the dreams another lives!
Look up towards the hills where Rudra stands,
His dreadful war-lance pointing to the east17.
Fear not the obstacles the gods have strewn.
Why should the mighty man restrain his soul?
Stretch out thy hand to seize, thy foot to trample,
A Titan’s motion.
But with eyes shut19 to the tempest.
To foemen for the end of haughty strife?
That never shall be seen. The boy must fall.
He is young, noble21, beautiful and bold,
But let him fall. We will not bear defeat.
How22 shall he fall, my son? For Heaven-admired23
Rudra still guards my stern and high-eyed fates,
But many gods stood smiling at his birth.
Luxmie came full of24 fortunate days; Vishnu
Poured down his25 radiant sanction in26 the skies
And promised his far stride across the earth;
Magic Saruswathie between his hands
Laid down her lotus arts.
The austere gods
Help best and not indulgent deities.
The greatness in him cannot grow to man.
Excused27 from effort and propped on difficult28 ascent
Birds that are brilliant-winged fly near to earth.
His hero hours are rare forgetful flights.
Wine, song and dance winging his peaceful days
Throng round his careless soul, it cannot find
The noble leisure to grow great.
There lives
Our hope. My son, spy out29 thy enemy’s spirit,
Even as his wealth and armies! Let thy eyes
Find out its weakness and thy hand there strike.
Thou hast a way to strike?
I have a way,
Not noble like the sounding paths of war.
Take it; let us stride straight towards our goal.
Thy arm is asked for.
It is thine to use.
Invent some strong device and bring him to us
A captive in Ujjayinie’s golden groves.
Shall he not find there a30 jailor for his heart
To take the miracle of its keys and wear them
Swung on her raiment’s border? Then he lives
Shut up by her close in a prison of joy,
Her and our vassal.
Brought to the eagle’s nest
For the eagle’s child, thou giv’st him her heart’s prey
To Vasavadutta? King, thy way is good.
Garooda on a young and sleeping Python
Rushing from heaven I’ll lift him helpless up
Into the skiey distance of our peaks.
Though it is strange and new and subtle, it is good.
Think the blow struck, thy foeman seized and bound.
I know thy swiftness and thy gathered leap.
Once here! his senses are enamoured slaves
To the touch of every beautiful thing. O, there
No hero, but a tender soul at play,
A soft-eyed, mirthful and luxurious youth
Whom all sweet sounds and all sweet sights compel
To careless ecstasy. Wine, music, flowers
And a girl’s dawning smile can weave him chains
Of vernal softness stronger than bonds can31 give
Of32 unyielding iron. Two lips shall seal his strength,
Two eyes of all his acts be tyrant stars.
One aid I ask of thee and only one.
My banishment, O King, from thy domains.
Gopalaca, I banish thee, my child.
Return not with my violent will undone.
A hall in the palace at Cowsambie.
Yougundharayan, Roomunwath.
I see his strength lie covered sleeping in flowers;
Yet is a greatness hidden in his years.
Nourish not such large hopes.
I know too well
The gliding bane that these young fertile soils
Cherish in their green darkness; and my cares
Watch to prohibit the nether snake who writhes
Sweet-poisoned, perilous in the rich grass,
Lust with the jewel love upon his hood,
Who by his own crown must be charmed, seized, changed33
Into a warm great god. I seek a bride
For Vuthsa.
Wisely; but whom?
One only lives
So absolute in her charm that she can keep
His senses from all straying, the child far-famed
For gifts and beauty, flower by34 magic fate
On a fierce iron stock.
Vasavadutta,
Avunthie’s golden princess! Hope not to mate
These opposite godheads.
Follow Nature’s prompting,
Nor with thy human policy pervert
Her simple ends.
Nature must flower into art
And science, or else wherefore are we men?
Man out of Nature wakes to God’s complexities,
Takes her crude simple stuff and by his skill
Turns things impossible into daily miracles.
This thing is difficult, and what the gain?
It gives us a long sunlit time for growth;
For we shall raise in her a tender shield
Against that iron victor in the west,
The father’s heart taking our hard defence
Forbid the king-brain in that dangerous man.
Then when he’s gone, we are his greatness’ heirs
In spite of his bold Titan sons.
He must
Have fallen from his proud spirit to consent.
Another strong defeat and she is ours.
Blow then the conchs for battle.
I await
Occasion and to feel the gods inclined.
My son, thou comest early from thy breezes.
The dawn has spent her glories and I seek
Alurca and Vasuntha for the harp
With chanted verse and lyric ease until
The golden silences of noon arrive.
See this strange flower I plucked below the stream!
And the State’s cares,
King of Cowsambie?
Are they not for thee,
My mind’s wise father? Chide me not. See now,
It is thy fault for being great and wise.
What thou canst fashion sovereignly and well,
Why should I do much worse?
And when I pass?
Thy passing I forbid.
Vuthsa, thou art
Cowsambie’s king, not time’s, nor death’s.
O then,
The gods shall keep thee at my strong demand
To be the aged minister of my sons.
This they must hear. Of what use are the gods
If they crown not our just desires on earth?
Well, play thy time.
Thou art a royal child,
And though young Nature in thee dallies long,
I trust her dumb and wiser brain that sees
What our loud thoughts can never reason out,
Not thinking life. She has her secret calls
And works divinely behind play and sleep,
Shaping her infant powers.
I may then go
And listen to Alurca with his harp?
Thy will
In small things train, Udayan, in the great
Make it a wrestler with the dangerous earth.
My will is for delight. They are not beautiful,
This State, these schemings. War is beautiful
And the bright ranks of armoured men and steel
That singing kisses steel and the white flocking
Of arrows that are homing birds of war.
When battle ripens.
And what of marriage? Is it not desired?
O no, not yet! At least I think, not yet.
I’ll tell thee a strange thing, my father. I shudder,
I know it is with rapture, at the thought
Of women’s arms, and yet I dare not pluck
The joy. I think, because desire’s so sweet
That the mere joy might seem quite crude and poor
And spoil the sweetness.
My father, is it so?
Perhaps. Thou hast desire for women then?
It is for every woman and for none.
One day perhaps thou shalt join war with wedlock
And pluck out from her guarded nest by force
The wonder of Avunthie, Vasavadutta.
A name of leaping sweetness I have heard!
One day I shall behold a marvellous face
And hear heaven’s harps defeated by a voice.
Do the gods whisper it? Dreams are best awhile.
These things we shall consider.
Hail, Majesty!
A high-browed wanderer at the portals seeks
Admittance. Tarnished is he with the road,
Alone, yet seems a mighty prince’s son.
Bring him with honour in. Such guests I love.
We should know first what soul is this abroad
And why he comes.
We’ll learn that from his lips.
Hope not to hear truth often in royal courts.
Truth! Seldom with her bright and burning wand
She touches the unwilling lips of men
Who lust and hope and fear. The gods alone
Possess her. Even our profoundest thoughts
Are crooked to avoid her and from her touch
Crawl hurt into their twilight, often hating her
Too bright for them as for our eyes the sun.
If she dwells here, it is with souls apart.
All men were not created from the mud.
See not a son of heaven in every worm.
Look round and thou wilt see a world on guard.
All life here armoured walks, shut in. Thou too
Keep, Vuthsa, a defence before thy heart.
Which is Udayan, great Cowsambie’s king?
He stands here. What’s thy need from Vuthsa? Speak.
Roomunwath, look with care upon this face.
Hail, then, Cowsambie’s majesty, well borne
Though in a young and lovely vessel! Hail!
Thou art some great one surely of this earth
Who com’st to me to live guest, comrade, friend,
Perhaps much more.
I have fought against thee, king.
The better! I am sure thou hast fought well.
Com’st thou in peace or strife?
In peace, O king,
And as thy suppliant.
Ask; I long to give.
Know first my name.
Thy eyes, thy face I know.
I am Gopalaca, Avunthie’s son,
Once thy most dangerous enemy held on earth.
A mighty name thou speakest, prince, nor one
To supplications tuned. Yet ask and have.
Thou heard’st me well? I am thy foeman’s son.
And therefore welcome more to Vuthsa’s heart.
Foemen! they are our playmates in the fight
And should be dear as friends who share our hours
Of closeness and desire. Why should they keep
Themselves so distant? Thou the noblest of them all,
The bravest.
I have played with thee, O prince,
In the great pastime.
This was Vuthsa then!
And wherefore seeks the son of Mahasegn
Hostile Cowsambie? Or why suppliant comes
To his chief enemy?
I should know that brow.
This is thy great wise minister? That is well.
And thou sayst thou art
Avunthie’s son?
Because I am his son.
My father casts me from him and no spot,
Once thought my own, will suffer now my tread.
Therefore I come. Vuthsa Udayan, king,
Grant me some hut, some cave upon thy soil,
Some meanest refuge for my wandering head.
But if thy heart can dwell with fear, as do
The natures of this age, or feed the snake
Suspicion, over gloomier borders send
My broken life.
Strive to conceal their naked cunning.
Prince,
What thou demand’st and more than thou demand’st,
Is without question thine. Now, if thou wilt,
Reveal the cause of thy great father’s wrath,
But only if thou wilt.
Because his bidding
Remained undone, my exile was embraced.
More plainly.
Nor should a son unveil his father’s fault.
They, even when they tyrannise, remain
Most dear and reverend still, who gave us birth.
This, Vuthsa, know; against thee I was aimed,
A secret arrow.
Keep thy father’s counsel.
If he shoot arrows and thou art that shaft,
I’ll welcome thee into my throbbing breast.
What thou hast asked, I sue to thee to take.
Thou seek’st a refuge, thou shalt find a home:
Thou fleest a father, here a brother waits
To clasp thee in his arms.
Too frank, too noble!
Come closer. Child of Mahasegn, wilt thou
Be king Udayan’s brother and his friend?
This proud grace wilt thou fling on the bare boon
That I have given thee?
Is it much to ask?
To be thy brother was my heart’s desire.
Clasp then our hands.
Gopalaca, my play, my couch, my board,
My serious labour and my trifling hours
Share henceforth, govern. All I have is thine.
Thine is the noblest soul on all the earth.
Frown not, my father. I obey my heart
Which leaped up in me when I saw his face.
Be sure my heart is wise. Gopalaca,
The sentinel love in man ever imagines
Strange perils for its object. So my minister
Expects from thee some harm. Wilt thou not then
Assure his love and pardon it the doubt?
He is a wise deep-seeing statesman, king,
And shows that wisdom now. But I will swear,
But I will prove to thee, thou noble man,
That dearest friendship is my will to him
Thou serv’st and to work on him proudest love.
My father, hast thou heard?
A son of kings swears not to lying oaths.
It is enough.
Then come, Gopalaca,
Into my palace and my heart.
He goes into the palace with Gopalaca.
O life
Besieged of kings! What snare is this? What charm?
There was a falsehood in the Avunthian’s eyes.
He has given himself into his foemen’s hands
And he has sworn. He is a prince’s son.
Yes, by his sire; but the pale queen Ungarica
Was to a strange inhuman father born
And from dim shades her victor dragged her forth.
There’s here no remedy. Vuthsa is ensnared
As with a sudden charm.
I’ll watch his steps.
Keep thou such bows wherever these two walk
As never yet have missed their fleeing mark.
Yet was this nobly done on Vuthsa’s part.
O, such nobility in godlike times
Was wisdom, but not to our fall belongs.
Sweet virtue now is mother of defeat
And baser, fiercer souls inherit earth.
A room in the palace at Cowsambie.
Alurca, Vasuntha.
He’ll rule Cowsambie in the end, I think.
Artist, be an observer too. His eyes
Pursue young Vuthsa like a hunted prey
And seem to measure possibility,
But not for rule or for Cowsambie care.
To reign’s his nature, not his will.
This man
Is like some high rock that was suddenly
Transformed into a thinking creature.
There’s
His charm for Vuthsa who is soft as spring,
Fair like a hunted moon in cloud-swept skies,
Luxurious like a jasmine in its leaves.
When will this Vuthsa grow to man? Hard-brained
Roomunwath, deep Yougundharayan rule;
The State, its arms are theirs. This boy between
Like a girl’s cherished puppet stroked and dandled,
Chid and prescribed the postures it must keep,
Moves like a rhythmic picture of delight
And with his sunny smile he does it all.
Now in our little kingdom with its law
Of beauty and music this high silence comes
And seizes on him. All our acts he rules
And Vuthsa has desired one master more.
There is a wanton in this royal heart
Who gives herself to all and all are hers.
Perhaps that too is wisdom. For, Alurca,
This world is other than our standards are
And it obeys a vaster thought than ours,
Our narrow thoughts! The fathomless desire
Of some huge spirit is its secret law.
It keeps its own tremendous forces penned
And bears us where it wills, not where we would.
Even his petty world man cannot rule.
We fear, we blame; life wantons her own way,
A little ashamed, but obstinate still, because
We check but cannot her. O, Vuthsa’s wise!
Because he seeks each thing in its own way,
He enjoys. And wherefore are we at all
If not to enjoy and with some costliness
Get dear things done, till rude death interferes,
God’s valet moves away these living dolls
To quite another room and better play, —
Perhaps a better!
Yet consider this.
Look back upon the endless godlike line.
Think of Parikshit35, Janamejoya, think
Of Sathaneke36, then on our Vuthsa gaze.
Glacier and rock and all Himaloy piled!
What eagle peaks! Now this soft valley blooms;
The cuckoo cries from branches of delight,
The bee sails murmuring its low-winged desires.
It was to amuse himself God made the world.
For He was dull alone! Therefore all things
Vary to keep the secret witness pleased.
How Nature knows and does her office well!
What poignant oppositions she combines!
Death fosters life that life may suckle death.
Her certainties are snares, her dreams prevail.
What little seeds she grows into huge fates,
Proves with a smile her great things to be small!
All things here secretly are right; all’s wrong
In God’s appearances. World, thou art wisely led
In a divine confusion.
The Minister
Watches this man so closely, he must think
There is some dangerous purpose in his mind.
He is the wariest of all ministers
And would suspect two pigeons on a roof
Of plots because they coo.
All’s possible.
Yes, I would love to see the ocean’s vasts.
Are they as grand as are the mountains dumb
Where I was born and grew? Or is its voice
Like the huge murmur of our forests swayed
In the immense embrace of giant winds?
Wilt thou show
Them to me, Vindhya’s crags, where forests dimly
Climb down towards my Avunthie?
We will go
And hunt together the swift fleeing game
Or with our shafts unking the beast of prey.
If we could range alone wide solitudes,
Not soil them with our din, not with our tread
Disturb great Nature in her animal trance,
Her life of mighty instincts where no stir
Of the hedged restless mind has spoiled her vasts.
It is a thing I have dreamed of. Alurca, tell
The Minister that we go to hunt the deer
In Vindhya’s forests on Avunthie’s verge.
Alurca goes out to the outer palace.
He will, Vuthsa,
Allow thy will. Where does it lead thee, king?
A scourge for thee or a close gag might help.
A bandage for my eyes would serve as well.
Shall we awaken in Alurca’s hands
The living voices of the harp?
Or will’st thou
That I should play the heaven-taught airs thou lov’st
On the Gundharva’s37 magical guitar
Which lures even woodland beasts? For the elephant
Comes trumpeting to the enchanted sound,
A coloured blaze of beauty on the sward
The peacocks dance and the snake’s brilliant hood
Lifts rhythmed38 yearning from the emerald herb.
Vuthsa Udayan, suffer me awhile
To walk alone, for I am full of thoughts.
Thou shouldst not be. Cannot my love atone
For lost Avunthie?
Always; but a voice
Comes to me often from the haunts of old.
Returns no dim cloud-messenger to whisper
To thy great father’s longing waiting heart
Far from his banished son?
Thy satire’s forced.
Thy earnest less?
One hour, a long pale loss,
I sacrifice to thy thoughts. When it has dragged past,
Where shall I find thee?
Where the flowers rain
Beneath the red boughs on the river’s bank.
There will I walk while thou hearst harp or verse.
Without thee neither harp nor verse can charm.
The harmony of kindred souls that seek
Each other on the strings of body and mind,
Is all the music for which life was born.
Vasuntha, let me hear thy happy crackling,
Thou fire of thorns that leapest all the day!
Give me fuel then,
Your green young boughs of folly for my fire.
I give enough I think for all the world.
It is your trade to occupy the world.
Men have made kings that folly might have food,
For the court gossips over them while they live
And the world gossips over them when they are dead.
That they call history. But our man returns.
Do here and in all things, says the minister,
Thy pleasure. But since upon a dangerous verge
This hunt will tread, thy cohorts armed shall keep
The hilly intervals, himself be close
To guard with vigilance his monarch’s life
Against the wild beasts and what else means harm.
That is his care; what he shall do, is good.
To lavish upon all men love and trust
Shows the heart’s royalty, not the brain’s craft.
I have found my elder brother. Grudge me not,
Alurca, that delight. Thou lov’st me well?
Is it now questioned?
Then rejoice with me
That I have found my brother, joy in my joy,
Love with my love, think with my thoughts; the rest
Leave to much older wiser men whose schemings
Have made God’s world an office and a mart.
We who are young, let us indulge our hearts.
Thou takest39 all hearts and givest thine to none,
Udayan. Yet is this prince Gopalaca,
This breed from Titans and from Mahasegn,
Hard, stern, reserved. Does he repay thy friendship
As we do?
Love itself is sweet enough
Though unreturned; and there are silent hearts.
Suffer this flower to climb its wayside rock.
Oppose not Nature’s cunning who will not
Be easily refused her artist joys.
Fierce deserts round the green oasis yearn
And the chill lake desires the lily’s pomp.
He is the rock, I am the flower. What part
Playst thou in the woodland?
A thorn beneath the rose
That from the heavens of desire was born
And men call Vuthsa.
Poet, satirist, sage,
What other gifts keepst thou concealed within
More than the many that thy outsides show?
I squander all and keep none, not like thee
Who trad’st in honey to deceive the world.
O, earth is honey; let me taste her all.
Our rapture here is short before we go
To other sweetness on some rarer height
Of the upclimbing tiers that are the world.
A forest-glade in the Vindhya hills.
Vicurna, a Captain.
The hunt rings distant still; but all the way40
Troops and more troops besiege. Where is Gopalaca?
Our work may yet be rude before we reach
Our armies on the frontier.
That I desire.
O whistling of the arrows! I have yet
To hear that battle music.
Someone comes,
For wild things scurry forth.
They take cover. Gopalaca enters.
Whither so swiftly?
You are near the frontier for a banished man,
Gopalaca.
Why has my father sent
Thy rash hot boyhood here, imperilling
Both of his sons? I find not here his wisdom.
There will be danger? I am glad. None sent me;
I came unasked.
And also unasking?
Right.
Trust me to have thee whipped. But since thou art here!
On our left they wait
Screened by the secret tunnel which the Boar
Tusked through the hill to Avunthie. Torches ready
And men in arms stand in the cavern ranked
They call the cavern of the Elephant
By giants carved. But all the forest passages
The enemy guards.
There are some he cannot guard.
I know the forest better than their scouts.
When I shall speak of you and clap my hands,
Surround us in a silence armed.
His men
Resisting?
No, we two shall be alone.
Fie! there will be no fighting?
Goblin, off!
They take cover again. Gopalaca goes;
then arrives41 from another side Vuthsa
with Vasuntha and Alurca.
We lose our escort!
They lose us, I think.
What fate conspires with what hid treachery?
Our chariot broken, we in woods alone
And the night close.
Roomunwath guards the paths.
The night is close.
Here I will rest, my friends,
Where all is green and silent; only the birds
And the wind’s whisperings! Go, Alurca, meet
Our comrades of the hunt; guide their vague steps
To this green-roofed refuge.
It is the best, though bad.
I leave thee with unwarlike hands to guard.
I am no fighter; it is known. Run, haste.
And yet for all your speed, someone will worship
Great Shiva in Avunthie.
I hear a tread.
Where wert thou all this time, Gopalaca?
Far wandering in the woods since a white deer
Like magic beauty drew my ardent steps
Into a green entanglement.
Simple!
You found there what you sought?
No deer, but hunters,
Not of our troop. We spoke of this green glade
Where many wandering paths might lead the king.
Greater the haste to go!
Follow Alurca and come back with him.
What, cast myself into the forest’s hands
To wander and be eaten by the night?
Come here and bid me then a long farewell.
Are thy eyes open at least? Is it thou in this
Who movest? Come, I should know that from42 thee,
If nothing more.
Why ask when thou hast eyes?
Thou seest that mine are open and I walk;
For no man drives me.
Walk! but far away
From thy safe capital.
What harm?
And with
This prince Gopalaca?
Suspicions then?
Why not suspect at once it is my will
To visit Avunthie?
So?
Not so, but if?
Oh, if! And if return were much less easy
Than the going?
Who has talked of easy things?
With difficulty then I will return.
I go, king Vuthsa.
But tell Yougundharayan
And all who harbour blind uneasy thoughts,
“Whatever seeks me from Fate, man or god,
Leave all between me and the strength that seeks.
War shall not sound without thy prince’s leave.
I will tell,
But know not if he’ll hear.
He knows who is
His sovereign.
King, farewell.
Vasuntha disappears in the forest.
We two have kept our tryst, Gopalaca.
Hang there, my bow; lie down, my arrows. Now
Of you I have no need. O this, O this
Is what I often dreamed, to be alone
With one I love far from the pomp of courts,
Not ringed with guards and anxious friendships round,
Free like a common man to walk alone
Among the endless forest silences,
By gliding rivers and over deciduous hills,
In every haunt where earth, our mother, smiles
Whispering to her children. Let me rest awhile
My head upon thy lap, Gopalaca,
Before we plunge into this emerald world.
Shall we not wander in her green-roofed house
Where mighty Nature hides herself from men,
And be the friends of the great skyward peaks
That call us by their silence, bathe in tarns,
Dream where the cascades leap, and often spend
Slow moonless nights inarmed in leafy huts
Happier than palaces, or in our mood
Wrestle with the fierce tiger in his den
Or chase the deer with wind-swift feet, and share
With the rough forest-dwellers natural food
Plucked from the laden bounty of the trees,
Before we seek the citied haunts of men?
Shall we not do these things, Gopalaca?
Some day we shall.
Why some day? why not now?
Have I escaped my guards in vain?
Not vainly.
This sword encumbers; take it from me, friend,
And fling it there upon the bank.
It is far.
I keep my arms lest some wild thing invade
These green recesses.
Keep thy arms and me.
O, this is good to be among the trees
With thee to guard me and no soul besides.
Thyself thou hast given wholly into my hands.
Yes, take me, brother.
I shall use the trust
And yet deserve it.
I love thee well, Gopalaca.
It was hard to speak,
Now I can tell it. As a brother might
Elder and jealous, as a mother loves
Her beautiful flower-limbed boy or grown man yearns
Over some tender girl, his sister, comrade, child,
In all these ways, but many more besides,
But always jealously.
Why?
Because, Vuthsa,
I’ld have thee for my own and not as in
Thy city where a thousand shared thy rays
Who were strangers to me. In my own domain,
Part of a world that’s old and dear to me,
Where thou shalt be no king, but Vuthsa only
And I can bind with many dearest ties
Heaped on thee at my will. This, Vuthsa, I desired
And therefore I have brought thee to this glade.
And therefore I have come to thee alone.
Thou must go farther.
A clank of arms amid the silent trees?
Gopalaca restrains him.
Thy escort.
Mine?
My father sends for thee.
I seize upon thee, Vuthsa, thou art mine,
My captive and my prize. I’ll bear thee far
As Heaven’s great eagle bore thy mother once
Rapt to his unattainable high hills.
As he speaks the armed men appear.
Swift, captain, swift! I hold the royal boy.
Haste, haste!
There is a growing rumour all around.
Care not for that, but follow me and guard.
They disappear among the trees.
After a few moments Vasuntha arrives43.
The forest lives with sound. It is too late.44
The thing is done45.
Yougundharayan, Roomunwath, Alurca
and others break in from all sides46.
Where is King Vuthsa? where?
His bow hangs there47! his sword48 and arrows lie!
I know not49.
Know not!50 Thou wast with him!51
He sent me from him. I think he’s travelling53
To Shiva in Avunthie.
And thou laugh’st?
Impetuously pursue!
The forest ways and mountain openings flood
That flee to Avunthie. They can yet be seized.54
Hear first king Vuthsa’s message and command55:
“Whatever seeks me from Fate, man or beast,
Let not war sound without thy prince’s leave.
Jestest thou yet56,
Or was this madness? or careless levity?
See how the lion’s cub breaks out, Roomunwath57,
Whom we so guarded in58 our close59 control,
To measure with the large and dangerous60 world
The bounding rapture of his youth and force.
He throws himself into his foeman’s lair
Alone and scorning every aid. I guess
His purpose, but it’s rash, it’s rash. What if61
He62 failed? This boy and iron Mahasegn!
And yet we must63 obey.
He is not yet64
Beyond the borders. But we’ll seek him out
Armed in Avunthie. To the border speed!
They may be seized before they cross it still.
All depart in a tumult of haste except Yougundharayan and Alurca.65
It will be vain. At least my spies shall pierce66
Their inmost chambers, even in his prison
My help be near.
Avunthie, a wooded67 hill-side overlooking the plain.
Gopalaca in a chariot with Vuthsa; armed men surround them.68
Arrest our wheels. Those are our army’s lights
That climb to us like fireflies from the plain.
Is this Avunthie?
We have passed her bounds.
So, thou dear traitor, this thou from the first
Cam’st planning?
This and more for which it was done.69
Thou bearst me to thy father’s house70?
Where thou
Shalt lie a jewel guarded carefully
Close to71 the dearest treasures of our house,
Nor all Yougundharayan’s wiles prevail72
To take thee from our guard.
I must be cooped,73
It seems, and guarded in a golden cage,74
As I was watched o’er in Cowsambie once.75
So76 all men think77 to do their will with me.
But now I warn you all that I will have
My freedom and will do my own dear will
By fraud or violence greater than your own.
Thou never!78 If thou hadst thy bow indeed!
Thou hadst me for the taking. I will break out79
As80 easily.
Thou shalt find the evasion hard81,
Such keepers shall enring thy steps.
But I will,
And carry with me something costlier far
Than what thou stealest from Cowsambie’s realm.
No wealth we have
More precious than the thing I seize today.
That I will see.
Vicurna passes82.
Was’t83 not thy brother rode behind our car?
Vicurna, here!
Come near, embrace me, brother of Gopalaca,
Loved for his sake, now84 for thy own desired
Since I beheld thee, son of Mahasegn.
Vuthsa Udayan, in the battle’s front
I had hoped to meet thee and compel thy praise
As half thy equal in the fight. But this
Is nearer, this is better.
Thou art fair to see.
Thy father has two noble sons. Are there
No others of your great upspringing stock?
Only a sister.
The world has heard of her.
Thou shalt behold.
Oh, then, it is all85 gain
That awaits me in86 Avunthie. O the night
With all her glorious stars and from the trees
Millions of shrill cigalas peal one note,
A thunderous melody! Shall we be soon
In the golden city? But it will be night
And I shall hardly see her famous fanes.
Dawn will have passed overtaking87 in her skies
Our88 chariots long before Ujjayinie’s seen.
The89 vanguard nears; make haste to join with them90.
Roomunwath’s cohorts should tread close behind.
They will not come. My fate must ride with me
Unhindered to Ujjayinie91.
Spur towards93 my father swift-hooved94 messengers95
To cry aloud to him the prize we bring.
Vishnu on me.
Vicurna, mount by us and talk to me.96
Avunthie; in the palace.
A room in the royal apartments.
Mahasegn, Ungarica.
I conquer still though not with glorious arms.
He’s seized! the young victorious Vuthsa’s mine,
A prisoner in my hands97.
Thou holdst the sun
Under thy armpit as the tailed god did.
Make it98 my moon
And shine by him upon the eastern night.
Thou canst?
Loved sceptic of my house, I can.
Have I not done all things I longed for yet99
Since out of thy dim world I dragged thee alarmed100
Into our sun and breeze and azure skies
By force, my fortune?
Yes, by force; but here101
By force it was102 not done.
Wilt thou depart
From thy own nature, Chunda Mahasegn,
And hop’st for victory?
Thou art103 my strength, my fortune,
But not104 my counsellor105.
No, I106 obey and watch.
It107 is enough for me in your strange world.
For by108 your light I cannot guide myself.
Man is a creature, blinded by the sun,
Who errs by vision109; but the world to110 you
That’s111 darkness, they who walk there, they have sight.
Such am I; for the shades have reared my soul.
What dost thou see?
That Vuthsa is too great
For thy greatness, too cunning for thy cunning; he
Will bend not to thy pressure.
Thou hast bent,
The Titaness! this is a tender112 boy
As soft as113 summer dews or as114 the lily
That yields to every gentle pushing115 wave.
A hero? yes; all Aryan boys are that.
Thy daughter, Vasavadutta, is the wave116
That shall o’erflow this lily!
Thou hast seen?117
’Tis118 good; it is the thing my heart desires.
My daughter shall have empire.
No, thy son.
No matter which. The first man of the age
Will occupy her heart; the pride and love
That are her faults will both be satisfied.
Call her here119, my queen.
She shall be taught the thing she has to do.120
Her heart will teach her121. Veena, call to me122
The princess.
Oh123, the heart, it is a danger,
A madness. Let the thinking mind prevail.
We’re124 women, king.
No,125 princesses. My daughter
Has dignity, pride, wisdom, noble hopes.
She will not act as common natures do.
Love will unseat them all and put them down
Under his flower-soft feet.
Thou hast chosen ever126
To oppose my thoughts.
It127 is their128 poor revenge
Who in their129 acts must needs obey. Thy lesson, King!130
Vasavadutta enters and bows down to her parents.131
Let royal wisdom teach a woman’s brain132
To use for statecraft’s ends her dearest thoughts.
My daughter, Vasavadutta, my delight,
Now is thy hour to pay the long dear debt
Thou ow’st thy parents from133 whom thou wast made.
Hear me; thy brain is quick, will understand.134
Vuthsa, Cowsambie’s king, my rival, foe,
My fate’s high stumbling-block, captive today
Comes135 to Avunthie. I mean that he136 shall be137
Thy husband, Vasavadutta, and thy138 slave.
By thee he must139 become, who now resists,140
My vassal even as other monarchs are.141
Then shall thy father’s fates o’erleap their142 bounds,
Then rule thy house, thy nation all this earth!143
This is my will; my daughter, is it thine?
Father, thy will is mine, even as ’tis144 fate’s.
Thou givest me to whom thou wilt; what share
In this have I but145 only to obey?
A greater part that146 makes thee my ally
And golden instrument; for without thee147
I have no hold on Vuthsa. Thou, my child148,
Must be the chain to bind him to my throne,149
Thou my ambassador to win his mind
And thou my viceroy over his subject will.
Will he submit to this?
Yes, if thou choose.
I choose, my father, since it is thy will.
That thou shouldst rule the world is all my wish,150
My nation’s greatness is my dearest good.
Thou hast kept my dearest151 lessons; lose them not.
O thou art not as common152 natures are;
Thou wilt not put thy own ambitions first,
Nor justify a blind and clamorous heart.
My duty to my country and my sire
Shall rule153 me.
I’ll154 not teach thy woman’s tact155
How it should156 mould this youth nor warn thy will
Against the passions of the blood. The heart
And senses over common women rule;
Thou hast a mind.
Father, this is my pride,
That thou ennoblest me to be an157 engine
Of thy great fortunes; that alone I am.
Thou wilt not yield then to the heart’s desire?
Let him desire, but I will nothing yield.
I am thy daughter; greatest kings should sue
And take my grace as an unhoped-for joy.
Thou art my pupil; statecraft was not wasted
Upon thy listening brain. Thou seest, my queen?
Thou hast made thy treaty with thy daughter, King?158
As if this babe could understand! Go, go
And leave me with my child. For I159 will speak to her
Another language.
But160 no breath against
My purpose.
Fearest161 thou that?
No; speak to her.
Ungarica (drawing162 Vasavadutta into her arms)
Rest here, my child, to whom another bosom
Will soon be refuge. Thou hast heard the King,
Hear now thy mother. Thou wilt know, my bliss,
The fiercest sweet ordeal that can seize
A woman’s heart and body. O my child,
Thou wilt house fire, thou wilt see living gods;
And all thou hast thought and known will melt away
Into a flame and be reborn. What now
I speak, thou dost not understand, but wilt
Before many nights have kept thy sleepless eyes.
My child, the flower blooms for its flowerhood only163
And not to make its parent bed more high.
Not for thy sire thy mother brought thee forth,
But thy dear164 nature’s growth and heart’s delight
And for a husband and for children born.
My child, let him who clasps thee be thy god
That thou mayst be his goddess; let165 your wedded arms
Be heaven;166 let his will be thine and thine
Be his, his happiness thy regal pomp167.
O Vasavadutta, when thy heart awakes
Thou shalt obey thy sovereign heart, nor yield
Allegiance to the clear-eyed selfish gods.
Do now thy father’s will; the god awake
Shall do his own. Yes, tremble and yet fear168
Nothing. Thy169 mother watches over thee, child.
She puts Vasavadutta from her and goes out.170
I love her best, but do not understand:
My mind can always grasp my father’s thoughts.
If I must wed, it shall be one I rule.
Vuthsa! Vuthsa Udayan! I have heard
Only a far-flung name. What is the man?
A flame? A flower? High like Gopalaca
Or else some golden fair and soft-eyed youth?
I have a fluttering in my heart to know.
The same.
Mahasegn, Ungarica, Gopalaca, Vuthsa.
King of Avunthie, Chunda Mahasegn,171
Thy will I have performed. Thy dangerous foe,
The boy who rivalled thy ripe victor years
I lay, thy captive, at thy feet.172
Gopalaca,
Thou hast done well; thou art indeed my son.
Hail, monarch of the West. We have met
In equal battle; it has pleased me now to173 approach
Thy greatness otherwise.
Pleased thee, vain youth174!
No, but thy fate indignant that thou strovest175
Against much prouder176 fortunes.
Think it so.
I am here. What wouldst thou with me, King,177 or wherefore
Hast thou by violence brought me to thy house?
To adore178 me as sole master, king and lord,179
Assuming my great yoke as all have done
From Indus to the South.
Thou art in180 error.
Thou hast not great Cowsambie’s monarch here,
But Vuthsa only, Sathaneka’s181 son,
Who sprang from sires divine.
And where then dwells
Cowsambie’s youthful majesty if not
In thee, its golden vessel?
Where my throne182
In high Cowsambie stands. Thou shouldst know that.
There is a kingship which exceeds the king;
For Vuthsa unworthy, Vuthsa captive, slain,
This is not captive, this cannot be slain.
It far transcends our petty human forms,
It is a nation’s greatness. That183, O king,
Was once Parikshit184, that185 Urjoona’s seed,
Janamejoya, that186 was Sathaneka187,
That188 Vuthsa; and when Vuthsa is no more,
That189 shall live deathless in a hundred kings.
Thou speakest like the unripe boy thou seemst,
With thoughts high-winging; grown minds keep to earth’s
More humble sureness and prefer to touch190.
I am content to have thy gracious body here,
This earth of kingship; for with that I deal191
And not with any high and formless192 thought.
My body! deal with it. It is thy slave
And captive by thy choice, as193 by my own.
What thou canst do with Vuthsa, do, O king.
In nothing will I pledge Cowsambie’s majesty,
But Vuthsa is thy own and194 in thy hands.
Him I defend not from thy iron will.
My prisoner, thou canst195 not so escape
My purpose.
I simply meant196, I should not now be here.
’Tis197 not by bars198 or199 gates I can be bound200.
But I will give thee other jailors, boy,
Surer than my armed sentries, against whom
Thou dar’st not lift thy helpless hands.
Find such,
I am content201.
Be Vuthsa or be great Cowsambie’s king,
Thou art here my captive only and my slave.203
I accept thy stern rebuke as I accept
Whatever state the wiser gods provide
And bend my mood and action to their204 thought.
Vuthsa, thou hast opposed my sovereign will205
Who meant to make all lands my private plot,
Fields for my royal tilling. Thou hast fought
And that by war I could not tame thee, hold
As thy most unexampled glory.
Now
My proud resistless fortune brings thee here;
Thou must, young hero, brook enslaved my will.
Thou knowst the law; whoever offers empire
A sacrifice to the high-seated gods,
Him must his subject kings as menials serve;
And this compelled have many proud lords done
Whose high beginnings disappear in Time.
But now I will make all my royal days
A high continual solemn sacrifice of kingship.
Thee, who art Bharuth’s heir, a high-throned son
Of emperors and my equal in the world,
All thy long time I will superbly keep
Ornament and emblem of my arrogant greatness,
A royal serf of my proud house. Thee, Vuthsa,
As fitting thy yet tender years, I make
My daughter’s servant, by her handmaidens
Guarded, thy jailors firm whose gracious cordon
Not even thy courage can transgress. To this
Dost thou consent?
Not only I consent206,
But welcome with a proud aspiring mind,
Since to be Vasavadutta’s servitor
Is honour, happiness and fortune’s grace.
My greatness this shall raise, not cast it down,
King Mahasegn.
Lead then207, Gopalaca,
My208 gift, this captive209, to thy sister’s feet.
He has a music that desires the gods210,
A211 brush that outdoes212 Nature and a213 song
The luminous choristers of heaven have taught.
All this she can command or she can take;214
For all he has, is hers.
Thou smilest, boy?
What thou hast said is simply215 truth. And yet
I smiled to see how strong and arrogant minds
Dream216 themselves masters of the things they do.
Gopalaca and Vuthsa go out by a door leading inward to Vasavadutta’s apartments.217
’Tis only a218 charming boy, Ungarica,
Who vaunts and yields!
What he has shown thee, King,
Thou seest.
Wilt thou lend next this graceful child,
Almost a girl in beauty, thoughts profound
And practised subtleties? I have done well,
Was deeply inspired.
He goes from the chamber towards the outer palace.219
Ungarica (looking after him)220
For him thou hast and her221.
Our own ends seeking Heaven’s ends we serve222.
A room in Vasavadutta’s apartment223.
Vasavadutta, Munjoolica, Umba.
Thou hast224 seen him?
Yes.
Then speak, thou225 perverse silence,
Thou canst chatter when thou wilt.
What shall I say
Except that thou art always fortunate
Since first thy soft feet moved upon our earth,226
O living Luxmie, beauty, wealth and joy
Run overpacked into thy days, and grandeurs
Unmeasured. Now the greatest king on earth
Is given227 thy servant.
That’s the greatest king’s
High228 fortune and not mine. For nothing now
Can raise me higher than I am whose father
Is sovereign over greatest kings. Nothing are these
And what I long to know thou wilt229 not tell.
I have seen the god230 of love
Wearing a golden human body.
Vasavadutta (with a pleased smile)
So fair?
As thou art and even more231.
More!
Cry not out.
His eyes are proud and smiling like the gods’,
His voice is like the sudden call of Spring.
O dear to me even as myself, wear this.
She puts her own chain round her neck.
That is my happiness; keep thy gifts.
Think them
My love around thy neck. Thou hast seen232 truly?
It was not spoken233 to beguile my mind234?
Then tell me all you saw there,235 dearest one;
Not that these things I care for236, but would know.
Munjoolica (showing Gopalaca and Vuthsa who enter)237
Let thy eyes care not then, yet see238.
My brother,
Long wast thou240 far from me.
For thy sake I was far241.
Much have I flung, my sister, at thy feet
Nor thought my gifts were worthy of thy smile,
Not even Sourashtra’s conquered242 daughter here,
But243 now I give indeed. This is that famous244
Vuthsa Udayan, great Cowsambie’s king,
Brought here by me245 to serve thee as thy slave246,
Thy royal serf, musician, singer, page.247
Look on him, tell me if I have deserved.
Much love, dear brother, not that any prize
I value as of worth for such as we,
But thy love gives it price.
My love for both.
My gift is precious to me, for my heart
Possessed him long before my hands have seized.
Then love him well, for so thou lov’st me twice.
Vasavadutta (looking covertly at Vuthsa)249
Although my slave, dear then and prized.250
Are we not all
Thy servants? The wide costly world is less,
My sister, than thy noble charm and grace
And beauty and the sweetness of thy soul
Deserve, O Vasavadutta.
Is it so?
My sister, thou wast born from Luxmie’s heart.
And we thy brothers feel in thee, not us,
Our
father’s lordly star inherited252
And in253 thy girdle all the conquered earth.
I know it, brother.
From thy childhood, yes,
Thou seemdst to know, thou heldst rule carelessly;254
But since thou knowest, queen, assume thy fiefs,
Cowsambie and Ayodhya, for thy255 house!
Vasavadutta (glancing at Vuthsa and256 avoiding his gaze257)
Since he’s my slave, they are already mine.
Nay258, understand me, sister: make them thine.
Thou, Vuthsa, serve thy mistress and obey.
He is a boy, a golden marvellous259 boy.
I am surely older! I can play with him.
There is no fear, no difficulty at all.
What is thy name? I’ll hear it from thy lips.
Vuthsa.
Thou shudderest260, Vuthsa; dost thou fear?
Perhaps; there is a fear in too much joy.
I did not hear. My brother loves thee well.
Take comfort. If thou serve me faithfully,
Thou hast no cause for any grief at all.
Men call me so.
And now my servant.
That my heart repeats.
I did not hear. Cowsambie’s king, my slave,
What canst thou do to please me?
Dost thou choose
To know the songs that shake the tranquil gods
Or hear on earth the harps of heaven? dost thou
Desire the line and hue261 of living truth
That makes262 earth’s shadows pale? or wilt thou have
The infinite abysmal silences
Made vocal, clothed with form? These things at birth
The Kinnarie, Vidyadhar263 and Gundharva264
Around me crowding on Himaloy dumb
Gave to the silent god that smiled265 in me
Before my outer mind held thought. All these
I can make thine.
Vuthsa, I take all these,
All thy life’s ornaments that thou wearst, for mine
And am not satisfied.
Dost thou desire
The earth made thine by my victorious bow?
Send me then forth to battle; earth is thine.
I take the earth and am not satisfied.
Say thou266 what thing shall please thee in thy slave,
What thou desir’st from Vuthsa?
Do I know?
Not less than all thou hast267 and all thou canst268
And269 all thou art.
All’s thine.
I speak and hear,
And know not what I say nor what thou meanst.
The deepest things are those thought seizes not;
Our spirits live their hidden meaning out.
Vasavadutta (after a troubled silence in which she tries to recover herself)
I know not how we passed into this strain.
Such words are troubling to the mind and heart;
Leave them.
They have been spoken.
Let them rest.
Vuthsa, my slave, who promisest me much,
Great things thou offerest, small things I’ll demand
From thee, yet hard. Since he’s my prisoner,
Munjoolica and Umba, guard this boy;
You are his jailors. When I have need of him,270
Then bring271 him to me. Go, Vuthsa, to thy room.
Vuthsa makes an obeisance and touches her feet.272
What dost thou? It is not permitted thee.
Vuthsa (letting his touch linger)273
Not this? ’Tis274 hard.
Vasavadutta (troubled275)
Thou art too bold a slave.
Let me be earth beneath thy tread at least.
Oh276, take him from me; I have enough of him!
Thou, Umba, see he bribes thee not or worse.
I will be bribed to make thee smart for that.
Where shall we put him? In the tower-room277
Closing278 the terrace where thou walkst when moonlight
Sleeps on the sward?
There; ’tis the279 nearest.
Come.
They go out with Vuthsa280.
Will he charm me from my purpose with a smile?
How beautiful he is, how beautiful!
There is a fear, there is a happy fear.
But he is mine, his eyes confessed my sway281;
Surely I shall do all my will with him.
I sent him from me, for his282 words troubled me
And still283 delighted. They have a witchery, —
No, not his words, but voice. ’Tis not his voice,
Nor yet his smile, his face284, his flower-soft eyes
And yet it is all these and something more.
I fear it will be difficult after all.
The tower-room beside the terrace.
Vuthsa on a couch.
All that I dreamed or heard of her, her charm
Exceeds. She’s mine! she has shuddered at my touch;
Thrice her eyes faltered as they gazed in mine.
He lies back with closed eyes;
Munjoolica enters and contemplates him.
O golden Love! thou art not of this earth.
He too is Vasavadutta’s! All is hers,
As I am now and one day all the earth.
Vuthsa, thou sleep’st285 not, then.
Sleep jealous waits
Finding another image in my eyes.
Thou art disobedient. Wast thou not commanded
To sleep at once?
Sleep disobeys, not I.
But thou too wakest, yet no thoughts should have
To keep thy lids apart.
How knowst thou that?
I am thy jailor and I walk my rounds.
Bright jailor, thou art jealous without cause.
Who would escape from heaven’s golden bars?
Thy name is286 Munjoolica? so is thy form
A bower of the graceful things of earth.
I had another name but it has ceased,
Forgotten.
Thou wast then Sourashtra’s child?
I am still that royalty clouded, even as thou art287
Captive Cowsambie. Me Gopalaca
In battle seized, brought a disdainful gift
To Vasavadutta.
Since our fates are one,
Should we not be allies?
For what bold purpose?
How knowest thou I have one?
Were I a man!
Wouldst thou have freedom? wilt thou give me help?
In nothing against her I love and serve.
No, but conspire to serve and love her best
And make her queen of all the Aryan earth.
My payment?
Name it thyself, when all is ours.
Content; it will be large.
However large.
Now shall I be avenged upon my fate.
I know what thy heart asks;288 too openly
Thou carriest the yearning in thy eyes.
Vuthsa, she loves thee as the half-closed bud
Thrills to the advent of a wonderful dawn
And like a dreamer half-awake perceives
The faint beginnings of a sunlit world.
Doubt not success more than that dawn must break;
For she is thine.
Take my heart’s gratitude
For the sweet assurance.
Thy gratitude?
What wouldst thou have?
The ring
Upon thy finger, Vuthsa, for my own.
Vuthsa (putting it on her finger)
It shall live happier on a fairer hand.
Since thou hast paid me instantly and well,
I will be zealous, Vuthsa, in thy cause.
But my great bribe is in the future still.
Claim it in our Cowsambie.
There indeed.
By thy good help I now shall sleep.
Music is sweet; to rule the heart’s rich chords
Of human lyres much sweeter. Art’s sublime
But to combine great ends more sovereign still,
Accepting danger and difficulty to break
Through proud and violent opposites to our will.
Song is divine, but more divine is love.
A room in Vasavadutta’s apartments.
I govern no longer what I speak and do.
Is this the fire my mother spoke of? Oh,
It is sweet, it is289 sweet. But I will not be mastered
By any equal creature. Let him serve
Obediently and I will load his lovely head
With costliest favours. He’s my own, my own,
My slave, my toy to play with as I choose,
And shall not dare to play with me. I think he dares;
I do not know, I think he would presume.
He’s gentle, brilliant, bold and beautiful.
I’ll send for him and chide and put him down,
I’ll chide him harshly; he must not presume.
O, I have forgotten almost my father’s will,
Yet it was mine. Before I lose it quite,
I will compel a promise from the boy.
Will it be hard when he is all my own?
Umba! Bring Vuthsa to me from his tower.
His music is a voice that cries to me,
His songs are chains he hangs around my heart.
I must not hear them often; I forget
That I am Vasavadutta, that he is
My house’s foe, and only Vuthsa feel,
Think Vuthsa only, while my captive heart
Beats in world-Vuthsa and on Vuthsa throbs.
Umba brings in Vuthsa and retires.
Before me.
It is my sovereign’s voice that speaks.
Be silent! Lower thy eyes; they are too bold
To gaze on me, my slave.
Blame not my eyes,
They follow the dumb motion of a heart
Uplifted to adore thee.
Vasavadutta (with a shaken voice)
Dost thou really
Adore me, Vuthsa?
Earth’s one goddess, yes.
But, Vuthsa, men adore with humble eyes
Upon their deity’s feet.
Oh, let me so
Adore thee then, thus humble at thy feet,
Their sleeping moonbeams in my eyes, and place
My hands in Paradise beneath these flowers
That bless too oft the chill unheeding earth.
Let this not be forbidden to thy slave.
So let me worship, and the carolling of thy speech
So listen.
Vuthsa, thou must not presume.
O even when faint thy voice, thy every word
Reaches my soul.
Wilt thou not let me free?
Yes, if thou bid; but do not.
Vasavadutta (bending down to caress his hair)
If really
And as my slave thou adorest, nothing more,
I will not bid.
What more, when this means all.
But if thou serve me290, is not all thou hast
Mine, mine? Why dost thou, Vuthsa, keep from me
My own?
Take all; claim all.
Vasavadutta (collecting herself)
Cowsambie first.
It shall be thine, a jewel for thy feet.
Thy kingdom, Vuthsa, for my will to rule.
It shall be thine, the garden of thy pomp.
Shall?
Is it not far? We must go there, my queen,
Thou to receive and I to give.
I wish
To be there. But, Udayan, thou must vow,
And the word bind thee, that none else shall be
Cowsambie’s queen and thou my servant live
Vowed to obedience underneath my throne.
Thou only shalt be over my heart a queen,
Yes, if thou wilt, the despot of my thoughts,
My hopes, my aims, but I will not obey
If thou command disloyalty to thee,
My sweet, sole sovereign.
This reserve I yield.
But Vuthsa, if as subject of my sire,
High Chunda Mahasegn, I bid thee rule?
My queen, it will be void.
Would it not be disloyalty in me
To serve another sovereign?
Vasavadutta (vexed, yet pleased)
O, thou play’st with me.
No, queen. What’s wholly mine, that wholly take.
But this belongs to many other souls.
To whom?
Their names are endless. Bharuth first
Who ruled the Aryan earth that bears his name,
And great Dushyanta and Pururavus’
Famed warlike son and all their peerless line,
Urjoona and Parikshit291 and his sons
Whom God descended to enthrone, and all
Who shall come after us, my heirs and thine
Who choosest me, and a great nation’s multitudes,
And the Kuru ancestors and long posterity
Who all must give consent.
Thy thoughts are high.
But if thy life must find292 a prison293 here?
My father is inflexible and stern.
Dost thou desire this really in thy heart?
Vuthsa diminished294, art thou not diminished295 too?
My rule thou hast vowed?
To obey thee in all things
Throned in Cowsambie, not as here I must,
Thy father’s captive.
There I shall be thine.
Leave, Vuthsa, leave me. Take him, Umba, from me.
Umba (entering, in Vasavadutta’s ear)
Who now is bribed? We are all traitors now.
O joy, if he and all were only mine.
O greatness to be queen of him and earth.
I grow a rebel to my father’s house.
A room in the royal apartments.
Ungarica, Vasavadutta.
Thou singest well; a cry of Vuthsa’s art
Has stolen into thy song.
She takes Vasavadutta on her lap.
My daughter, let me gaze into thy eyes
And from their silence learn thy treasured thoughts.
Thou knowest I can read ’twixt human lids
The secrets of the throbbing heart? I search
In Vasavadutta’s eyes by what strange skill
Vuthsa has crept into my daughter’s voice.
Thou keepst thy lashes lowered? thou wilt not let me look?
O mother, mother mine,
Plague me not; thou know’st all things; comfort me.
Thou needest comfort?
Yes, against myself
Who trouble my own heart.
Why? though I know.
Thou wilt not speak? I’ll speak then for thee.
Vasavadutta alarmed puts her hand
over Ungarica’s mouth.
It is because thou canst not here control
What thy immortal part with rapture wills
And the mortal longingly desires; for yet
Thy proud heart cannot find the way to yield.
If thou knew’st, mother.
No, thou hast the will
But not the art, Love’s learner. O my proud
Sweet ignorance, ’tis he shall find the way
And thou shalt know the joy of being forced
To what thy heart desires. Is it enough?296
O mother!
She hides her face in Ungarica’s bosom.
Thou hast done thy father’s will?
Thy husband shall be vassal to thy sire?
Have I a father or a house? O none,
O none, O none exists but only he.
Let none exist for thee but the dear all thou lov’st.
I charge thee, Vasavadutta, when thou rul’st
In far Cowsambie, let this be thy reign
To heap on him delight and seek his good.
Raise his high fortunes, shelter from grief his heart,
Even with thy own tears buy his joy and peace,
Nor let one clamorous thought of self revolt
Against him.
Mother, thou canst see my heart;
Is this not there? Can it do otherwise,
Being thus conquered, even if it willed?
Child, ’tis my care to give thy heart a voice
And bind it to its nobler loving self.
It is, it is.
But, mother, it is very sweet to rule,
And if I rule him for his good, not mine?
Thou canst not be corrected! Queenling, rule.
Vasavadutta escapes towards her own apartments;
Vicurna enters from the outer door.
A darkness?
Wherefore was King Vuthsa brought
Into Ujjayinie297? why is captive kept?
Thy father’s will, who knows?
But I would know.
Him ask.
Vicurna (taking her face between his hands)
I ask thee; thou must answer.
To wed
Thy sister.
Let him wed and be released.
Our fame is smirched; the city murmurs. War
Threatens from Vuthsa’s nation and our cause
Is evil.
Wedding her he must consent
To be our vassal.
Thus are vassals made?
Thus empires built? This is a shameful thing.
Release him first, then with proud war subdue.
Thou knowest thy father’s stern, unbending will
Whom we must all obey.
Not I, or not
In evil things.
Will not, unsatisfied, release his foe.
I will release him then.
Him by what right who is thy house’s peril?
He is a hero and he is my friend.
Didst thou not help to bring him captive here?
For Vasavadutta. I will bear them both
Out from the city in my chariot far
Into the freedom of the hills. I will hew down
All who oppose me.
Rash and violent boy,
So wilt thou make bad worse. Await the hour
When Vuthsa shall himself demand thy aid.
The hour will come?
He will be free.
Then soon,
Or I myself will act.
This too is well
And most that the proud chivalries of old
Are not yet dead in all men’s hearts. O God
Shiva, thou mak’st me fortunate in my sons.
Vasavadutta’s chamber.
Vuthsa, Vasavadutta.
Thy hands have yet no cunning with the strings.
’Tis not the touch alone but manner of the touch
That calls the murmuring spirit forth, — as thus.
I cannot manage it; my hand rebels.
I will compel it then.
I am weary of chiding; and how rule a boy
Who takes delight in being chidden? And then
’Twas only my hand. What dost thou?
Vuthsa takes her by the arms and
draws her towards him.
What thy eyes
Commanded me and what for many days
My heart has clamoured for in hungry pain.
Presumptuous! wilt thou not immediately
Release me?
Not till thy heart’s will is done.
He draws her down on his knees, resisting.
What will? I did not bid. What will? Vuthsa!
Vuthsa! I did not bid. This is not well.
He masters her and holds her on his bosom.
Her head falls on his shoulder.
O my desire, why should we still deny
Delight that calls to us? Strive not with joy,
But yield me the sweet mortal privilege
That makes me equal with the happiest god
In all the heavens of fulfilled desire.
O on thy sweet averted cheek! My queen,
My wilful empress, all in vain thou striv’st
To keep from me the treasure of thy lips
I have deserved so long.
He forces her lips up to his and kisses her.
O honey of thy mouth! The joy, the joy
Was sweeter. I have drunk in heaven at last,
Let what will happen.
Vasavadutta escapes and stands
quivering at a distance.
Stand there! approach me not.
I thought ’twould be enough for many ages;
But ’tis not so.
Go from me, seek thy room.
Have I so much offended? I will go.
Vuthsa, I am not angry; do not go.
Sit; I must chide thee. Was this well to abuse
My kindness, to mistake indulgence? — No,
I am not angry; thou art only a boy.
I have permitted thee to love because
Thou saidst thou couldst not help it. This again
Thou must not do, — not thus.
Then teach me how.
Vasavadutta (with a troubled smile)
I never had so importunate a slave.
I must think out some punishment for thee.
She comes to him suddenly, takes him to her
bosom and kisses him with passion.
O if ’tis this, I will again offend.
She clings to him, kisses him again,
then puts him away from her.
Go from me, go. Wilt thou not go? Munjoolica!
She is not here to help thee against thy heart.
But I will go; thou willst it.
Wilt thou leave me?
Never! thus, thus into my bosom grow,
O Vasavadutta.
O my happiness!
O Vuthsa, only name that’s sweet on earth
I have murmured to the silence of the hours,
Give me delight, let me endure thy clasp
For ever. O loveliest head on all the earth!
If we could thus remain through many ages,
Nor Time grow weary ever of such bliss,
O Vasavadutta!
I have loved thee always
Even when I knew it not. Was’t not the love
Secret between us, drew thee here by force,
Vuthsa?
Thou wilt not now refuse thy lips?
Nothing to thee.
Yes, thou shalt be my queen
Surrendered henceforth, I thy slave enthroned.
Give me the largess of thyself that I may be
The constant vassal of thy tyrant eyes
And captive of thy beauty all my days
And homage pay to thy sweet sovereign soul.
I accept, my king,
Thy service and thy homage and thy love.
If in return the bounty of myself
I lavish on thee, will it be enough?
Can it hold thy life as thou wilt fill all mine?
Weave thyself into morn and noon and eve.
We will not be as man and woman are
Who are with partial oneness satisfied,
Divided in our works, but one large soul
Parted in two dear bodies for more bliss.
For all my occupations thou shalt rule,
And those that take me from thy blissful shadow
Still with thy sweet remembrance shall inspired
Be done by thee.
If thy heart strays from me, —
Never my heart...
If thy eyes stray from me,
O Vuthsa, —
If I view all beautiful things
With natural delight, thou wilt pardon that,
Because thou wilt share the joy.
Then must I find
Thy beauty there.
Tonight, my love, my love,
Shall we not linger heart on heart tonight?
Ah, Vuthsa, no.
Does not thy heart cry, yes?
Are we not wedded? Shall we dally, love,
Upon heaven’s outskirts, nor all Paradise
This hour compel?
Munjoolica!
Beloved, thy eyes
Beseech me to overcome thee with my will.
Munjoolica entering Vuthsa releases Vasavadutta.
Princess!
Calledst298 thou not?
’Tis forgotten. Oh, I remember.
’Twas to lead Vuthsa to his prison. (low) Smile,
And I will beat thee! It was all thy fault.
Oh, very little.
Come, the hour is late;
The Princess’ maidens will come trooping in.
Turn not reluctant eyes behind but come.
She takes Vuthsa by both wrists
and leads him out.
There is a fire within me and a cry.
My longings have all broken in a flood
And I am the tossed spray! O my desire
That criest for the beauty of his limbs
And to feel all his body with thyself
And lose thy soul in his sweet answering soul,
Wilt thou not all this night be silent? I
Will walk upon the terrace in moonlight;
Perhaps the large, silent night will give me peace
For now ’twere vain to sleep. O in his arms!
His arms about me and the world expunged!
The tower-room by the terrace.
Vuthsa asleep on a couch; Munjoolica.
He sleeps and now to lure my victim here.
Vasavadutta (approaching299 at the doorway)
Didst thou call?
Yes, to come in from moonlight to the moon.
Thou hast never seen him yet asleep.
He sleeps!
His curls are pillowed on one golden arm
Like clouds upon the moon. Wilt thou not see?
I dare not. I will stand here and will see.
Thou shalt not. Either pass or enter in.
Thou playst the tyrant? I will stand and see.
Munjoolica (pushing her suddenly in)
In with thee.
Munjoolica!
Hush, wake him not!
She drags her to the couch-side.
a moment goes quietly out and
closes the door.
Oh, now I feel
My mother’s heart when over me she bowed
Wakeful at midnight! He has never had
Since his strange birth a mother’s, sister’s love.
O sleeping soul of my beloved, hear
My vow that while thy Vasavadutta lives,
Thou shalt not lack again one heart’s desire,
One tender bodily want. All things at once,
Wife, mother, sister, lover, playmate, friend,
Queen, comrade, counsellor I will be to thee.
Self shall not chill my heart with wedded strife,
Nor age nor custom pale my fire of love.
I have that strength in me, the strength to love of gods.
A tress of her hair falls on his
face and awakens300 him.
O Vasavadutta, thou hast come to me!
It was not I! Munjoolica dragged me in.
She hastens to the door and finds
it bolted from outside.
What is this jest?
I shall be angry.
Open.
Munjoolica (outside, solemnly)
Bolted.
For pity, sweet Munjoolica!
I settle my accounts. Be happy. I
Am gone.
Go not, go not, Munjoolica.
She’s gone, the thrice-blessed mischief, and tonight
This happy prison thou gav’st me is thine too.
Goddess! thou art shut in with thy delight.
Why wouldst thou flee then through the doors of heaven?
O not tonight! Be patient! I will ask
My father; he will give me as thy wife.
Thou thinkst I’ll take thee from thy father’s hands
Like a poor Brahmin begging for a dole?
Not so do heroes’ children wed, nor they
Who from the loins of puissant princes sprang.
With the free interchange of looks and hearts
Nobly self-given, heaven for the priest
And the heart’s answers for the holy verse,
They are wedded or by wished-for violence torn
Consenting, yet resisting from the midst
Of many armèd men. So will I wed thee,
O Vasavadutta, so wilt301 bear by force
Out of the house and city of my foes
Breaking through hostile gates. By a long kiss
I’ll seal thy lips that vainly would forbid.
Let thy heart speak instead the word of joy,
O Vasavadutta.
Do with me what thou wilt, for I am thine.
A room in Vasavadutta’s apartments.
Vasavadutta, Munjoolica.
So thou hast dared to come.
To look me in the eyes! Thou canst not. Then?
Hast thou no fear of punishment at all?
For shutting thee in with heaven? none, none at all.
How didst thou dare?
How didst thou dare, proud girl,
To make of kings and princesses thy slaves?
How dare to drag Sourashtra’s daughter here,
To keep her as thy servant and to load
With gifts, caresses, chidings and commands,
The puppet of thy sweet imperious will?
Thinkest302 thou my heart within me was not hot?
But now I am avenged on thee and all.
Vindictive traitress, I will beat thee.
Do
And I will laugh and ask thee of the night.
Then take thy chastisement.
She seizes and beats her with the
tassels of her girdle.
Art not ashamed to spend thy heart in play
Knowing what thou hast done and what may come?
Think rather of what thou wilt do against
Thy dangerous morrow.
See what thou hast done!
How shall I look my father in the eyes?
What speak? What do? my Vuthsa how protect?
Thy father must not know of this.
Thou thinkst
My joy can be shut in from every eye?
Besides thee I have other serving girls.
None who’ld betray thee. This thing known, his wrath
Would strike thy husband.
My heart and body, twice his shield, between.
You will be torn apart and Vuthsa penned
In some deep pit or fiercer vengeance taken
To soothe the stern man’s outraged heart.
Alas!
Thou hast a brain; give me thy counsel. The ill
Thyself hast done, must thou not remedy?
If thou entreat me much, I will and can.
I shall entreat thee!
Help thyself, proud child.
O, if I have thee at advantage ever!
Stay! I beseech thee, my Munjoolica, —
More humbly!
Oh!
In painful earnest I beseech thee now
To think, plan, spend for my sake all thy thought.
Remember how I soothed thy fallen life
Which might have been so hard. O thou my playmate,
Joy, servant, sister who hast always been,
Help me, save him, deceive my father’s wrath,
Then ask from me what huge reward thou wilt.
Nothing at all. Vengeance is sweet enough
Upon thy father and Gopalaca.
I’m satisfied now. First give me a promise;
Obey me absolutely in all things
Till Vuthsa’s free.
And I will walk religiously thy path.
Then think it done.
Vasavadutta (smiling on Vuthsa who enters)
Vuthsa, I asked not for thee.
Thou didst. I heard thy heart demand me.
Hark!
What is this noise and laughter in the court?
See, see, the hunchbacked laughable old man!
Surely I know well those eyes.
Munjoolica, this is a friend. He must
Be brought here to me.
Princess, let us call him.
Fie on thee!
Is this an hour for jest303 and antics?
Munjoolica (looking significantly at her)
Yes.
Call him.
And thou go in.
How, in!
This girl!
Hast thou not promised to obey me?
Yes.
She goes in. Munjoolica descends.
Yougundharayan sends him. O, he strikes
The hour as if a god had planned all out.
This world’s the puppet of a silent Will
Which moves unguessed behind our acts and thoughts;
Events bewildered follow its dim guidance
And flock where they are needed. Is’t not thus,
O Thou, our divine Master, that Thou rulest,
Nor car’st at all because Thy joy and power
Are seated in Thyself beyond the ages?
Munjoolica returns bringing in
Vasuntha disguised.
Who is this ancient shape thou bringest?
I’ld know
If he has a tongue as famous as his hump
And as preposterous; that to learn I bring him.
Where is the only lady of the age?
Something, sir, of both.
O masters then of princes, think not that I scorn
Your prouder royalty; but now if any
Will introduce my hungry old hunchback
To Avunthie’s far-famed paragon of girls,
He shall have tithe of all my golden gains.
Why not to Avunthie’s governor and a prison,
Yougundharayan’s spy?
Strong tonic for a young old man.
Speak freely
Thy message; there are only friends who hear.
Vasuntha (to Vuthsa, with a humorous glance at Munjoolica)
Thy hours were not ill-spent. But thou hast nearly
Frightened304 these poor young hairs to real grey,
My sportive lady. Hear now why I crouch
Beneath the hoary burden of this beard
And the insignia of a royal hump, —
And an end to jesting. Vuthsa, in thy city
The people clamour; they besiege thy ministers,
Railing at treason and demanding thee,
Nor can their rage be stilled. Do swiftly then
Whatever thou must do yet, swiftly break forth
Or war will seek thee clamouring round these doors.
To bear thy message back to him I come,
Upon Avunthie’s mountain verge who lurks,
Or else to aid thee if our help thou needest.
Let him restrain my army forest-screened
Where the thick woodlands weave a border large
To the ochre garment round Avunthie’s loins
Nearest Ujjayinie305. Under the cavern-hill
Of Lokanatha let him lie, but never
Transgress that margin till my chariot comes.
’Tis all?
In my own strength all else I’ll do.
Good, then I go?
Yes, but with gold, thy fee,
To colour thy going. Bring him gold, dear friend,
Or take from Vasavadutta gem or trinket
That shall bear out his mask to jealous eyes.
Munjoolica goes into the inner chamber.
Leave that to me.
Thou hast adventured much
For my sake.
Poor Alurca cried to come,
But this thing asked for brains and he had only
Blunt courage and a harp. The danger’s nothing,
But oh, this hump! I shall not soon walk straight,
Nor rid myself of all the loyal aches
I bear for thee.
Pangs fiercer would have chased them,
Hadst thou been caught, my friend. I shall remember.
Munjoolica returns with gold and a trinket.
Take now these gauds; haste, make thy swiftest way,
For I come close behind thee.
Tell me thy plan.
These chambers are too strongly kept.
But there’s
The pleasure-ground.
Let Vasavadutta call
Her brothers on an evening to the park
And wine flow fast. The nights are moonlit now.
Three, but the southern portal
Nearest the ramparts.
There, how many guard?
Three armed Kiratha women keep the gate.
I cannot hurt them. Thou must find a way.
They shall be drowned in wine. The streets outside?
A chariot, — find one for me. I cannot fight
With Vasavadutta on my breast.
I think
That I shall find one.
To break the keepers of the city-gate
In one fierce moment and be out and far.
There are arms enough in the palace.
The armoury
I use sometimes.
Conceal them in the grounds.
No, in the chariot let them wait for me.
Thou wilt need both thy hands in such a fight.
Vuthsa, I’ll be thy charioteer.
Thou canst?
Hope not to find a better in thy realms.
My battle-comrade then! Words are not needed
Between us.
More than that before all’s done
I will be to thee. Good fortune makes hard things
Most easy; for the god comes with laden hands.
If the strange word the queen half spoke to me
Means anything, Vicurna’s car shall bear
His sister to her joy and sovereign throne.
The pleasure-groves of the palace in
Ujjayinie306.
Gopalaca, Vuthsa, Vicurna; at a distance under the trees Ungarica, Vasavadutta and Umba.
Vuthsa, the wine is singing in my brain,
The moonlight floods my soul. These are the hours
When the veil for eye and ear is almost rent
And we can hear wind-haired Gundharvas307 sing
In a strange luminous ether. Thou art one,
Vuthsa, who has escaped the bars and walks
Smiling and harping to enchanted men.
It was your earthly moonlight drew me here
And thou, Gopalaca, and Vindhya’s hills
And Vasavadutta. Thou shalt drink with me
In moonlight in Cowsambie.
Vuthsa, when?
What wild and restless spirit keeps thy feet
Tonight, Vicurna?
For what?
Why, for the wine to do its work.
Where’s Vasavadutta? Call her to us here.
We are not happy if she walks apart.
There with the mother underneath the trees.
Call them. Thou, Vuthsa, she and I will drink
One cup of love and pledge our hearts in wine
Never to be parted. Thou deceiv’st the days,
O lax and laggard lover.
’Tis the last.
Tomorrow lights another scene.
’Tis good
That thou inclin’st thy heart. My father grows
Stern and impatient. This done, all is well.
All in this poor world cannot have their will;
Its joys are bounded. I submit, it seems.
Wilt thou incline thy heart, Gopalaca?
To what?
To this fair moonlight308 night’s result
And all that follows after.
Easily
I promise that.
All surely will be well.
Munjoolica arrives from the gates; Vicurna
returning from the trees with Ungarica, Vasavadutta
and Umba, goes forward to meet her.
Is’t done?
They sprawl half senseless near the gate.
Whole bound and gagged were best. Give Vuthsa word.
Munjoolica, is it tonight?
What, madam?
Ungarica (striking her lightly on the cheek)
Vicurna rides tonight?
He rides tonight.
Let him not learn, nor any, that I knew.
Come, all you wanderers. Mother, here’s a cup
That thou must bless with thy fair magic hands
Before we drink it.
May those who drink be one
In heart and great and loving all their days
Favoured by Shiva and by Luxmie blest
Until the end and far beyond.
Drink, Vuthsa.
Three hearts meet in this cup.
Who drinks this first,
He shall be first and he shall be the bond.
Drink, sister Vasavadutta, queen of all.
Queen thou shalt be, my daughter, as in thy heart,
So in thy love and fortunes.
Mine the last.
Thou sayest, my son, yet first mid many men.
Whatever place, so in this knot ’tis found.
Ungarica (embracing Vasavadutta closely)
Forget not thy dear mother in thy bliss.
Gopalaca, attend me to the house,
I have a word for thee, my son.
I come.
Is it the moment?
Yonder lies the gate.
What has been quivering in the air this night?
Thy rapt and rapture far away, O love.
Look farewell to thy father’s halls.
Alas!
What is this rashness? Thou art unarmed; the guards
Will slay thee.
Our fates a double shield, thou hast no fear,
Nor anything this night to think or do
Save in the chariot lie between my knees
And listen to the breezes in thy locks
Whistling to thee of far Cowsambie’s groves.
He bears her towards the gate, Vicurna
crossing him in his return.
Haste, haste! all’s ready.
Oh, what is this?
Should not this girl be bound?
Give rather thy commands.
Thou’lt face the wrath?
O, all for my dear mistress. If the King
Slays me, I shall have lived and died for her
For whom I was born.
Hide in the groves until
Thou hearst a rumour growing from the walls,
Then seek the house and save thyself. Till then
Let no man find thee.
I will lose myself
In the far bushes. O come safely through.
Could you not have trusted me in this?
Weep not!
I’ll have thee to Cowsambie if thou live.
Come, follow, follow. He is near the gates.
I to my freedom, she her royal crown!
Vasavadutta’s apartment309.
Mahasegn, Ungarica, Umba bound, armed women.
She is not here. O treachery! If thou
Wert privy to this, thou shalt die impaled
Or cloven in many pieces.
I am resigned.
Thou’lt stain thy soul with a woman’s murder, King?
’Tis truth; she is too slight a thing to crush.
Are not the gardens searched? Who are these slaves
Who dare to loiter? If he’s seized, he dies.
Wilt thou make ill much worse, — if this be ill?
How say’st thou? ’Tis not ill? My house is shamed,
My pride downtrodden; all the country laughs
Already at the baffled Mahasegn
Whose daughter was plucked out by one frail boy
From midst his golden city and his hosts
Unnumbered. Who shall honour me henceforth?
Who worship? Who obey? Who fear my sword?
Cowsambie’s king has kept the Aryan law,
Nor is thy daughter shamed at all in this,
But taken with noblest honour.
’Tis a law
I spurn. My will is trodden underfoot,
My pride which to preserve or to avenge
Is the warrior’s righteousness. Udayan dies.
Or if he reach his capital, my hosts
Shall thunder on and blot it into flame,
A pyre for his torn dishonoured corpse.
Hast thou forgotten thy daughter’s heart? Her good,
Her happiness are nothing then to thee?
Is she my daughter? She’ll not wish to live
Her sire’s dishonour.
Thinkest thou he seized her,
Her heart consenting not?
If it be so
And she thus rebel to my will and blood,
Let her eyes gaze upon their sensuous cause
Of treason mocked with many marring spears.
Art thou an Aryan king and threatenest thus?
Thy daughter only for thyself was loved?
Silence, my queen! Chafe not the lion wroth.
The tiger rather, if this mood thou nurse.
Thou com’st, slow slave!
King, all the grounds are searched.
The guards lie gagged below the southern gate;
All’s empty.
Has leisures!
There’s a captain from the walls.
Ha! bring him.
The Kirathie brings in the Avunthian captain.
Vuthsa has broken forth.
The wardens of the gate are maimed or dead;
Triumphant, bearing Vasavadutta, far
Exults his chariot o’er the moonlit plains.
O bitter messenger! Pursue, pursue!
Rebha with his armed men and stern-lipped speed
Is hot behind.
Let all my force that keeps
Ujjayinie310, be hurled after them, one speed.
Call, call Vicurna; let the boy bring back
First fame of arms today in Vuthsa slain,
His sister’s ravisher.
Let not my words
Offend my king. ’Twas Prince Vicurna’s car
Bore forth his sister and Vicurna’s self
Rode as her guard.
Mahasegn (after an astonished pause)
Do all my house, my blood
Revolt against me?
The princess Bundhumathie,
Thy daughter’s serving maiden, at Vuthsa’s side
Controlled his coursers.
Her I do not blame,
Yet will most fiercely punish. Captain, go;
Gather my chariots; let them gallop fast
Crushing these fugitives’ new-made tracks.
As the captain departs, Gopalaca enters.
Head, son, my armies; bear thy sister back
Before irrevocable shame is done,
Nor with thy father’s greatness unavenged return.
My father, hear me. Though quite contrary
To all our planned design this thing has fallen,
Yet no dishonour tarnishes the deed,
But as a hero with a hero’s child
Has Vuthsa seized the girl. We planned a snare,
He by a noble violence answers us.
We sought to bribe him to a vassal’s state
Dangling the jewel of our house in front;
He keeps his freedom and enjoys the gem.
Then since we chose the throw of dice and lost,
Let us be noble gamblers, like a friend
Receive God’s hostile chance, nor house blind wounded thoughts
As common natures might. Sanction this rapt;
Let there be love ’twixt Vuthsa’s house and us.
I see that in their hearts all have conspired
Against my greatness. Thou art Avunthie’s prince,
My second in my cares. Hear then! if ’twixt
Ujjayinie311 and my frontiers they are seized,
My fiercer will shall strike; but if they reach
Free Vindhya, thou thyself shalt make the peace.
Take Vasavadutta’s household and this girl,
Take all her wealth and gauds; lead her thyself
Or follow to Cowsambie, but leave not
Till she is solemnised as Vuthsa’s queen.
Sole let her reign throned by Udayan’s side;
Then only shall peace live betwixt our realms.
And I will fetch Vicurna back.
Son, never.
I exile the rebel to his name and house.
Let him with Vuthsa whom he chooses dwell,
My foeman’s servant.
He goes out, followed by the guards.
If we give his rage its hour,
’Twill sink. His pride will call Vicurna back,
If not the father’s heart.
Haste, gather quickly
Her wealth and household. I would make earliest speed,
Lest Vuthsa by ill hap be seized for ill.
Fear not, my son. The hosts are not on earth
That shall prevail against these two in arms.
The Avunthian forests; moonlight.
Vuthsa, Vasavadutta, Munjoolica.
Thou hast held the reins divinely. We approach
Our kingdom’s border.
But the foe surround.
We will break through as twice now we have done.
Vuthsa, yon Rebha asks
For parley; is it given? I’ld hold him here
While by a long masked woodland breach I know
Silent we pass their cordon.
Force is best.
Vuthsa, to my mind more; but I would spare
Our Vasavadutta’s heart these fierce alarms.
Though she breathes312 nothing, yet she suffers.
Good!
We’ll choose thy peaceful breach.
Vuthsa, if I
Stood forth and bade their leader cease pursuit,
Since of my will I go, he must desist.
It would diminish, love, my victory
And triumph which are thine.
Then let it go.
I would not stain thy fame in arms, though over
My house’s head its wheels go trampling.
Ough!
If we could parley a truce for sleep. This fighting
Makes very drowsy.
Well, captain, thy demand!
Vuthsa, thou art environed. Dost thou yield?
Thou mock’st! Return; we’ll break the third last time
Thy fragile chain. Are thy dead counted?
The living
Outnumber their first strength; more force comes on
Fast from Ujjayinie313. Therefore yield the princess.
Thyself depart a freeman to thy realms.
Know’st thou thy offer is an insolence?
Then, Prince, await the worst. Living and bound
Or else a corpse we’ll bring thee back to our city.
Three times around thee is my cordon passed,
Thy steeds are spent, nor hast thou Urjoona’s314 quiver.
The dawn prepares; think it thy last.
At noon
I give thee tryst within my borders.
Swift!
Before he reach his men and back ascend,
We must be far. Munjoolica, mount my horse,
Ride to Yougundharayan, bid him bring on
His numbers; for I see armies thundering towards us
With angry speed o’er the Avunthian plains.
The horse?
Bound in yon grove.
Rein lightly; he’s high-mettled.
Teach me not.
There is no horse yet foaled I cannot ride.
Which is my way through all this leafy tangle?
She goes towards the grove.315
Thou canst not miss it; for yon path leads only
To Lokanatha’s hill beyond our borders.
The moonlight and the glad night-winds
Have rustled luminously among the leaves
And sung me wordless paeans while I fought.
Now let them fall into a rapturous strain
Of silence, while I ride with thee safe clasped
Upon my bosom.
If I could hold thee safe at last!
On the Avunthian border.
Roomunwath, Yougundharayan, Alurca, soldiers.
The dawn with rose and crimson crowned the hills,
There was no sign of Vuthsa’s promised wheels.
Two days only
Vasuntha’s here. Yet is Udayan swift
With the stroke he in a secret sloth prepares.
We learned that though too late. A secret rashness,
A boy’s wild venture with his life for stake
And a kingdom! Dangerously dawns this reign.
See, see, a horseman over Avunthie’s edge
Rides to us. He quests forward with his eyes.
Whoe’er he be, he has travelled far. His beast
Labours and stumbles on.
This is no horseman,
It is a woman rides though swift and armed.
She has seen us and dismounts.
A woman rides!
My mind misgives me. Is’t some evil chance?
Comes she a broken messenger of grief?
She’s young and fair.
Art thou king Vuthsa’s captain?
I am he.
Gather thy force; for Vuthsa drives here fast,
But hostile armies surge behind his wheels.
Fast, fast, into the woods your succour bring,
Lest over his wearied coursers and spent quiver
Numbers and speed prevail.
Roomunwath, swift.
But who art thou and316 where shall be my surety
That thou art no Avunthian sent to lure
Our force into an ambush?
This is surely
Yougundharayan of the prudent brain.
Thy question I reply; the rest resolve
But swiftly, lest Fate mock thy wary thoughts.
My name is Bundhumathie and my father
Sourashtra held; but I, his daughter, taken
Served in Avunthie Vasavadutta. Knowest thou
This ring?
’Tis Vuthsa’s.
Young Vicurna’s bay
I rode, who guards his sister’s ravisher
Against the angry rescuers. Will these riddles,
Wisest of statesmen, solve thy cautious doubt?
Thy tale is strange; but thou at least art true.
Thou art not prudent only!
Forward then.
Roomunwath’s camp already is astir.
Near the edge of the forest in Avunthie.
Roomunwath, Yougundharayan, Alurca, Munjoolica, forces.
Stay, stay our march; ’tis Vuthsa’s car arrives.
The tired horses stumble as they pause.
There is a noise of armies close behind
And out of woods the Avunthian wheels emerge.
There arrive Vuthsa, Vicurna, Vasavadutta.
My father, all things to their hour are true
And I bring back my venture. Am I pardoned
Its secrecy?
My pupil and son no more,
But hero and monarch! Thou hast set thy foot
Upon Avunthie’s head.
Yet still thy son.
Hail, Vasavadutta, great Cowsambie’s queen.
Vasavadutta (smiling happily on Vuthsa)
My crown was won by desperate alarms.
It was a perilous race and in the end
Fate won by a head. Were it not the difficult paths
Baffled their numbers, we were hardly here,
So oft we had to pause and rest our steeds.
But in less strength they dared not venture on.
They range their battle now.
Speak thou to them.
Demand a parley there.
If we must fight, it shall be for defence
Retreating while we war unless they urge
Too far their violent trespass.
Rebha comes.
Ye are suitors for a parley?
Rebha, with beaten men.
Because you had your sister in the car
Our shafts were hampered.
Nor could with swords prevail
Against two boys so many hundred men.
O Prince Vicurna, what thou hast done today
Against thy name and nation, I forbear
To value. ’Tis thy first essay of arms.
Well dost thou not to weigh thy better’s deeds.
Rebha, wilt thou urge vainly yet this strife?
What hitherto was done, was private act
And duel; now if thou insist on fight,
Two nations are embroiled; and to what end?
I will take Vuthsa and the Princess back.
The impossible
No man is bound to endeavour. While we fight,
King Vuthsa with the captive princess bounds
Unhindered to his high-walled capital.
It is my king’s command. I am his arm
And not his counsellor; nor to use my brain
Have any right, save for the swift way to fulfil
His proud and absolute mandate.
If there came
Word from Ujjayinie317, then pursuit must cease?
Then truly.
Send a horseman, Rebha, ask,
All meanwhile shall remain as now it stands.
I’ll send no horseman; I will fight.
Then war!
We fear it not. This is strange insolence
To stand in arms upon Avunthian ground
And issue mandates to the country’s lords.
Rebha, yet pause! No messenger thou needst.
Look where yon chariot furious bounding comes
And over it streams Avunthie’s royal flag.
It is the prince Gopalaca. Of this I am glad.
O if my brother comes, then all is well.
For thou art Luxmie. Thou beside me, Fate
And Fortune, peace and battle must obey
The vagrant lightest-winged of my desires.
Gopalaca arrives; with him Umba.
Hail, Vuthsa! peace and love between our lands!
I hold them here incarnate. Welcome thou
Their strong achiever.
As earnest and as proof
Receive this fair accomplice of thy flight
Unpunished. Sister, take her to thy arms.
O Umba, thou com’st safe to me!
And all
My sister’s household and her wealth comes fast
Behind me. Only one claim Avunthie keeps;
My sister shall sit throned thy only queen, —
Which, pardon me, my eyes must witness done
With honour to our name.
Cowsambie’s majesty
Will brook not even in this Gopalaca,
A foreign summons. Surely my will and love
Shall throne most high, not strong Avunthie’s child
But Vasavadutta; whether alone, her will
And mine, the nation and the kingdom’s good
Consenting shall decide. Therefore this claim
Urge not, my brother.
Let not this divide us.
The present’s gladness is enough; the future’s hers
And thine, Udayan, nor shall any man
Compel thee. Boy, thy revolt was rash and fierce
Wronging thy house and thy high father’s will.
Exiled must thou in far Cowsambie dwell
Until his wrath is dead.
I care not, brother.
I have done my will, I have observed the right.
Near Vuthsa and my sister’s home enough
And I shall see new countries.
Follow behind,
Gopalaca; thy sister’s household bring
And all the force thou wilt. We speed in front.
Ride thou, Alurca, near us; let thy harp
Speak of love’s anthems and her golden life
To Vasavadutta. Love, the storm is past,
The peril o’er. Now we shall glide, my queen,
Through green-gold woods and between golden fields
To float for ever in a golden dream,
O earth’s gold Luxmie, till the shining gates
Eternal open to us thy heavenly home.
Later edition of this work: The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo: Set in 37 volumes.- Volumes 3-4.- Collected Plays and Stories.- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1998.- 1008 p.
1 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, sic passim: Cowsamby
2 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Magadha
3 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Pradyotha
4 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, sic passim: Avunthy
5 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Parikshith
6 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: [ ]
7 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, sic passim: Udaian
8 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, sic passim: Parenaca
9 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: A room in the palace in Ujjayiny
10 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: fortunes
11 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: As moonbeam
12 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, instead of this line and the next line there is one line:
If this portentous morning reach our gates,
13 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: My star is fallen
14 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Godavary
15 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: besprayed
16 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: My
17 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there are four lines after this one:
Is not thy spirit that uplifted spear?
Mahasegn
It has been turned by Vishnu’s careless hand!
Gopalaca
18 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thou soarst the eagle’s height,
19 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: closed
20 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Wilt thou sue
21 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: radiant
22 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Yet
23 In 1998 ed. this line and next line are absent
24 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: breathing
25 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: a
26 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: from
27 In 1998 ed. the line His hero hours... is placed before this line
28 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: and difficult
29 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Spy out, my son,
30 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: find a
31 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: than can
32 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: The
33 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: change
34 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: flower born by
35 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Parikshith
36 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Suthaneke
37 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Gundhurva’s
38 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: rhythmic
39 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: tak’st
40 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: ways
41 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: arrive
42 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I should know that at least from
43 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Vasuntha enters
44 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: but here all’s empty.
45 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of this line there are two lines:
The stake is thrown; it cannot be called in
Whatever happens.
46 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Armed men break in from all sides; Yougundharayan, Roomunwath, Alurca.
47 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: lonely
48 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: sword
49 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: cannot tell
50 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Not tell!
51 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: but you were here,
Were with him!
52 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I was sent away like that.
53 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, all the line is: But for a guess he’s travelling far and fast
54 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Over her treasonous borders
Drive in your angry search.
55 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, the all fragment is:
Thy king commands thee
To leave all twixt him and the strength that seeks
Their quarrel; throw not armies in the balance.
War shall not sound her conch; but Vuthsa only
Shall rescue Vuthsa.
56 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, the all fragment is:
This is a boy’s madness.
What lies behind this message?
57 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, the all line is: Roomunwath, this. The lion’s cub breaks forth
58 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: from
59 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: strict
60 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: perilous
61 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, the all line is: His purpose and find it headlong, subtle, rash.
62 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: If he
63 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: We must
64 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, the all fragment is:
There’s time to arrest their flight
This side our frontier. Hastily pursue.
65 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: He goes with Alurca and the armed men, all in a tumult of haste.
66 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, the all fragment is:
It will be vain. A perilous leap and yet
Heroic with the bold and antique scorn
Of common deeds and the safe guarded paths.
This is the spirit that smiled hidden in him
Waiting for birth! At least my spies shall enter
Their secret chambers, even in his prison
My help be timely and near. Back to Cowsamby!
67 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: A road on a wooded
68 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Gopalaca, Vuthsa in a chariot, surrounded by armed men.
69 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: This with more that follows it.
70 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: town
71 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Beside
72 In 1998 ed. this line and next one are absent
73 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: cooped up in a golden cage
74 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: As I was guarded in Cowsamby’s walls.
75 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: You foes and friends think me your wealth inert,
76 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: And
77 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: hope
78 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: canst not.
79 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: forth
80 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Almost as
81 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: find it hard
82 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
83 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Was it
84 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: and
85 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: pure
86 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I go to in
87 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: overtaken us
88 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Passing our
89 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Our
90 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: unite with them; descend
91 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Avunthy
92 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Hasten in front
93 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Towards
94 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: fire-hooved
95 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line after this one:
Richer than booty of his twenty wars.
96 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Godheads, it is by strife that you grow one.
97 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: grasp
98 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: him
99 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: What thing desired has long escaped my hands
100 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: conquered
101 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: this
102 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thou hast
103 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: wert
104 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: never
105 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a sentence after this one: My own mind’s my seer.
106 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I do not counsel, but
107 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: That
108 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: in
109 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: seeing
110 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: world that to
111 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Is
112 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: delicate
113 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Softer than
114 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: like
115 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: insistent
116 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, the all fragment is:
Thou thinkst thy daughter thy proud fortune’s wave,
He its bright flower – a nursling reared by gods
Only to be thy servant?
117 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line after this one:
I kept my counsel hidden in my soul.
118 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: It is
119 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thy child
120 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: For I will teach her what her charm must weave.
121 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: heart’s her teacher
122 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Call here, Vullabha,
123 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: O
124 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: We are
125 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Be
126 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: ever loved
127 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: That
128 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: our
129 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: our
130 In 1998 ed. this sentence is absent
131 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Vasavadutta enters.
132 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of this line there are two lines:
Let now
Thy princely cunning teach a woman’s brain
133 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: by
134 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
135 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Is brought
136 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: mean he
137 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: become
138 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: my
139 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: shall
140 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: my subject king.
141 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
142 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: fate outleap all
143 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thy house and nation rule the prostrate world.
144 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: as it is
145 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: except
146 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: which
147 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thou, my child,
148 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
149 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: , who only canst, my living sceptre,
150 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: my desire;
151 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: proudest
152 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: feebler
153 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: lead
154 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I will
155 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: brain
156 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thou shalt
157 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: the
158 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
159 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I
160 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Breathe
161 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Fearst
162 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: taking
163 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line after this one:
To fill the air with fragrance and with bloom,
164 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: own
165 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: make
166 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Heaven’s fences;
167 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: throne
168 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Fear not, whatever threatens.
169 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thy
170 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: She goes out.
171 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of this line and next line there is one line:
King of Avunthy, see thy will performed.
172 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I bring a captive to thy house.
173 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: me to
174 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: boy
175 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: strov’st
176 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: heaven-chosen
177 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: is thy will with me
178 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: serve
179 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: earth’s sovereign and thy own
180 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: This is thy
181 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Suthaneka’s
182 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: my vacant throne
183 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: This
184 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Parikshith
185 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: this
186 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: this
187 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Suthaneke
188 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: This
189 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: This
190 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: her touches
191 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: with things sensible
I deal, for they are pertinent to our days,
192 unseen
193 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: and
194 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: a prisoner
195 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: shalt
196 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Were my desire
197 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: It is
198 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: not bars
199 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: and
200 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: can keep me
201 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: satisfied
202 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Grow humbler in thy bearing.
203 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Know thyself only for a captive and a slave.
204 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: my action to their mood and
205 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, the all fragment is:
Thou knowst the law of the high sacrifice,
Where many kings as menials serve the one,
And this compelled have many proud lords done
Whose high beginnings disappear in time.
Now I will make my throned triumphant days
A high continual solemn sacrifice
Of kingship. There shalt thou, great Bharuth’s heir,
Dwell in my house a royal servitor,
And as most fitting thy yet tender years,
My daughter’s serf. She with her handmaidens
Shall be thy jailors whose firm gracious cordon
Thy strength disarmed stands helpless to transgress. To this
Thy pride must, forced, consent.
206 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: only consent
207 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: now
208 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thy
209 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: her servant
210 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: the gods desire
211 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: His
212 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: leaves
213 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: wondering and his
214 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of this line and next line there is one line:
All this is hers to please her. Boy, thou smilest?
215 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: merely
216 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Think
217 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Gopalaca goes out with Vuthsa towards Vasavadutta’s apartments.
218 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: This is a
219 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: He goes out.
220 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Ungarica
221 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: and her thou hast
222 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: are served
223 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: apartments
224 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: But hast thou
225 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Speak,
226 Since thou first moved with thy soft feet on our earth,
227 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Becomes
228 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Proud
229 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: dost
230 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: lord
231 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: yes, and more
232 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: spoken
233 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Not woven fictions
234 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: heart
235 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: more, tell tell, thou
236 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I care for these things
237 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Munjoolica
238 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: but gaze
239 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one:
Gopalaca comes, bringing in Vuthsa.
240 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thou wast
241 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: sake far
242 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: captive
243 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one:
The living flower and jewel of her race.
244 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: famous boy,
245 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: by my hands
246 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: in our house
247 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
248 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Vasavadutta (looking covertly at Vuthsa)
249 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Vasavadutta
250 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Dear then and prized although a slave.
251 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Vasavadutta (smiling, pleased)
252 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: fate inherited; our warrings
253 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Seek for
254 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: ruling with queenly eyes.
255 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: our
256 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: then
257 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: eyes
258 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: No
259 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: marvellous golden
260 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: tremblest
261 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: such lines and hues
262 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: As make
263 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Vidyadhur
264 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Gundhurva
265 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: lived
266 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: then
267 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: canst
268 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: hast
269 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one:
(hesitating a little)
270 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: need him near me
271 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Bring
272 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Vuthsa falls at her feet which he touches.
273 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Vuthsa
274 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: That’s
275 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: troubled and feigning anger
276 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: O
277 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: turret rooms
278 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Beside
279 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: it is
280 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: leaving Vasavadutta alone
281 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: yoke
282 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: his
283 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: yet
284 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: face, his smile
285 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: sleepst
286 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: name’s
287 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thou
288 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: What thy heart asks I know;
289 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: is
290 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: art such
291 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Parikshith
292 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: fade
293 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: prisoner
294 Degraded
295 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: degraded
296 In 1998 ed. this sentence is absent
297 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Ujjayiny
298 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Call’dst
299 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: appearing
300 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: awakes
301 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: will
302 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thinkst
303 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: jests
304 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Frighted
305 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Ujjayiny
306 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Ujjayiny
307 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Gundhurvas
308 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: moonlit
309 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: apartments
310 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Ujjayiny
311 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Ujjayiny
312 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: breathe
313 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Ujjayiny
314 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Urjoon’s
315 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
316 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: or
317 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Ujjayiny