SHAKUNTHALAM ACT 5

SHAKUNTHALAM ACT 5
( ENTER THE KING, SEATED ON THE THRONE, AND COURT JESTER)
Vidushaka: (listening) : Ah, my friend, turn your attention to inside the music hall. I hear melodious notes of some beautiful pure song coming from there. I think,madam Hamsapadika is practising.
King: Be quiet. Let me listen.
[(from outside)
O honey bee, always after fresh honey,
After kissing so the mango tree blossom,
How could you forget it, now finding
Pleasure inside the lotus flower only!
King: Ha! What a song, overflowing with melody!
Court jester: Do you get the meaning of the words?
King: (smiling) I made love to her once. Now, on account of lady Vasumathi, I have become the subject of her reproach. My friend, Madhavya, tell Hamsapadika from me that she has cleverly chided me.
Court jester: As you order. (standing up) Ha! My friend, if she gets me held and thrashed by somebody , there is no escape for me, Just like for a person devoid of all passions, in the hands of a heaven’s courtesan.
King: Go! Speak to her in a civil way.
Court Jester: What to do! (exit)
King: (to himself) How is it that I feel very uneasy hearing this song, though I am not separated from any loved one? Or,
If on hearing sweet sounds or seeing pretty things,
One in happy circumstances feels perturbed,
It surely is because he remembers in his unconscious mind
Friendships of bygone births, enduring in deep feelings of love.
( stands upset)
(enters chamberlain)
Chamberlain: See, what a state I have come to!
This staff of cane which I held, as a formal mark
Of duty in the ladies’ quarters of the king,
With the passage of days and days of time
Has become a prop for my stumbling gait.
Chamberlain: Sure, His Highness's’s duties cannot be postponed. Still I don’t feel like telling him of the arrival of Kanva’s disciples, which would further detain him when he has just risen from his official seat. Or the responsibility of governance gives no time for respite. For,
The Sun harnesses his horses to the chariot only once,
The wind blows day and night,
The Serpent God always carries the weight of Earth.
So is the case with kings whose wages are the tax the people pay.
Let me however perform my duty. (walks on, and looking) Here he is, His highness
After instructing his subjects as he would his own children,
Mentally exhausted, has retired to a secluded place,
Like an elephant chief, scorched by the sun’s hot rays
After leading his herds all day, a cool place seeks.
(approaching) Hail, hail, my lord! Here are some ascetics, accompanied by women, come from the woods of the Himalayan valley, carrying a message from sage Kanva. Your Highness might hear them and do the needful.
King (respectfully) What , messengers from Kanva?
Chamberlain: Yes , my lord.
King: In that case, request our spiritual guide, Somaratha, to himself receive these ashram people with vedic rites and bring them in. I will go to a proper place for receiving ascetics and wait for them.
Chamberlain: Your orders, my lord.
King (rising, and to attending maid) Vetravati, lead me to the hall of holy flame.
Vetravati: Here, here my lord.
King (walks on and showing the strain of responsibility) All creatures become happy on getting what they want. To kings, though, attainment leads to more strain!
Attainment puts an end only to the anxiety of striving,
The task of Keeping what’s got , further trouble gives.
The kingdom, like an umbrella held in one’s own hands,
Does not reduce strain, as much as it causes strain.
[ (in the greenroom)
Court poets: Hail, Your majesty.
First: Not caring for own comforts, you labour for people’s sake
Every day, or, it is your nature to be so.
Trees take the extreme heat on their heads
And reduce the troubles of those who seek their help.
Second: You restrain, with the Rod, those who stray into evil ways,
Settle disputes, and are there ready to help.
Let there be, at the time of plenty, relatives so-called,
For your subjects, a relative’s needs are fulfilled in you. ]
King: Exhausted in mind, we feel refreshed now! ( walks on)
Attendant: Here is the terrace at the entrance of the fire-sanctuary, freshly swept and clean, and the sacred cow present. Your Highness might go up.
King: ( going up and standing with a hand on the attendant’s shoulder) Vethravathi, What for could the sage Kanva have sent these ascetics!
Is the penance of the ascetics, under vow, hindered by problems,
Or is it that somebody harmed the creatures of the holy grove,
Or can it be ,by my misdeeds,the creepers do not flower any more;
My mind, with so many rising doubts , is without break distressed.
Attendant: My guess is that they, happy with all that you have done for them, are come to thank your Highness,
( enter the ascetics and Gauthami, leading Shakunthala,and the chamberlain and priest in front)
Chamberlain: Come in come in, gentlemen.
Sharngarava: Sharadvata,
This great king surely stands firm within the bounds of righteousness,
Nobody from his caste-enjoined duties, not even the lowliest, strays.
Still, to my mind, used always to a solitary life
This place full of people seems a house encircled with fire.
Sharadvatha: It is natural that you feel like this on entering the city. I too
Consider these pleasure-seeking people here,
Like the washed the oily, the clean the unclean,
The awake the sleeping,
Or the free the bound.
Shakunthala: (indicating an omen) Oh! Why is my right eye throbbing!
Gauthami: Away with all evil! Child, May your husband’s family gods give you happiness.
Family preceptor: (pointing at the king) There is he , the noble king, protector of all castes and stages of life, already up from his seat, waiting for you. Look at him.
Sharngarava: O venerable brahmin, it is certainly very commendable. But we are not surprised. For,
Trees bow down with the coming of fruits,
Clouds with fresh water lower themselves,
The good are not puffed up with their wealth,
This is but the nature of all those born others to serve.
Attendant: They look pleased with beaming faces. Think they are coming with some happy news.
King : then this lady here,
Who can it be, veiled and not showing fully her body’s charm,
Stands in hermits’ midst like a fresh among withered leaves!
Attendant: Full of curiosity as I am, I can not really figure it out. But then surely her figure is something to look at.
King: Let it be. It is wrong to examine some one else’s wife.
Shakunthala: (with hand on chest, to herself) Heart, why do you tremble so? . Be brave, you know well the feelings of my husband.
Family preceptor: (in front of the king) These ascetics have been duly received. They have got some message from their teacher.
King: I am full attention.
Ascetics: (raising hands) Hail, king.
King: I humbly salute you.
Ascetics: May you attain your wishes.
King: Are the ascetics able to do their penance without problems?
Ascetics: Whence trouble to spiritual rites,
When you the protector are there.
How can darkness ever appear
When the sun is blazing bright!
King: Now is my title of king meaningful. Is the venerable Kanva doing well, so that the world will continue to get his blessings.
Ascetics: Being well is under the control of the realized souls. He, enquiring after your health, has this to say.
King: What is his order!
Ascetics: “ That you by mutual agreement married my daughter, is approved by me with pleasure. For,
We consider you as the foremost of the deserving,
Shakunthala is the embodiment of all that is good.
Uniting bride and groom whose qualities match so well,
The creator, in a long while, has escaped all blame!
So now please take her, who is already pregnant, now as a companion in your duties.
Gauthami: Sir, I want to say something. It is not however the time to speak.
She didn't ask her elders for consent,
You too didn't either your relatives consult;
In this one-to one act of yours,
What shall I say to either of you.
Shkunthala: What, I wonder, will my husband say!
King: What is this strange thing you tell me!
Shakunthala: (to herself) This what he says burns me like fire.
Sharngarava: How has it come to this! You surely are expert in the affairs of the world!
A married girl with only her parents’ house to stay,
People will mistake otherwise, though she is chaste.
So her relatives will send her to the person who wed her,
Even when she is no more loved by him.
King: what, this lady had been married to me!
Shakunthala: (sorrowfully, to herself) Heart, your fear has been justified.
Sharngarava: what! Just because of not liking what was earlier done, is it right for a king to forget his duty?
King: Why this question, based on false premises!
Sharngarava: Such feelings swell up in those intoxicated with wealth and power.
King: This is a great insult!
Gauthami: For a moment overcome your shyness. I will just remove your veil. Then your husband would recognize you.(and she does so)
King: Observing Shakunthala, and to himself)
This beauty of natural charm brought thus before me,
Clouded in doubt whether once married to me or not,
As at dawn a bee is to a jasmine flower enclosed by snow,
I am able neither to enjoy, nor to leave.
(standing thinking thus)
Attendant: Wonderful is my Lord’s commitment to righteousness! Who else will think twice, seeing this beautiful creature brought easily before him!
Sharngarava: Oh, king,why this silence?
King: Hear you, good people, after long deliberation, I cant recall having married this lady.Then how can I accept her bearing clear signs of pregnancy, just because of a doubt whether I am its cause?
Shakunthala; (aside) My husband doubts even the marriage. Then where are my high hopes!
Shargarava: Oh No!
You think, this hermit who agrees to your outrage
On his daughter, does not deserve any respect!
You are like a thief treated as an honoured guest
By him who returned to you what you stole from him!
Sharadvata: Don’t talk any more. Shakunthala, we have said whatever is thereto say. This gentleman had his say. Please reply to convince him.
Shakunthala: (to herself)If that love has come to this stage, what is the use of reminding him. (aloud) My husband, (stopping in the middle of speech) When the marriage is now in doubt, it won’t be proper to address you thus. Scion of Pooru’s house, is it right to reject me with such words, after having, earlier in the ashram, with many promises deceived me, who opened her heart’s feelings to you.
King: May God save us from sins!
You want to sully the family name
And bring me down to hell,
As a wild uncontrolled river does
To clean pools and trees on its bank?
Shakunthala: If you are behaving like this out of real fear of taking another’s wife, I can remove that anxiety with this sign for recognition.
King : Grand idea!
Shakunthala : (feeling the place of ring) Alas, the ring is missing on my finger! (looks sorrowfully at Gauthami)
Gauthami: Surely then it must have fallen from your finger, while bathing in the waters of “SachiThirthha” on the way.
King : (smiling) This is why the womenfolk are said to be be good at invention!
Shakunthala: In this, fate has shown its power.I shall tell you something else.
King; Now it has come something to be heard.
Shakunthala: One day you know when we were standing near the jasmine creeper,you had in your hand water in a lotus-leaf cup
King : Let us hear!
Shakunthala: At that moment,turned up the baby deer called Dirghapanga, who is like a son to me. You offered the water to him, saying, “let him drink first” Then because of unfamiliarity, he shied away from you. After that when I held the same water, he liked it. Then you laughed at me thus: “ Everybody trusts his own kind. Both of you are after all wood-dwellers.”
King: By such honey-dripping lying words of the self-serving, are the worldly deceived!
Gauthami: Noble sir, you should never talk like this. This person brought up in the ashram is quite innocent of all fraud.
King: Old hermit- woman,
The untaught cleverness of the female species is well seen
In the non humans, what to say of those with intelligence.
Do not the cuckoos get their hoard of kids all fed
By other birds, till they themselves can fly?
Shakunthala: (angrily) Indecent man, you see others, reasoning from what you are at heart. Where can there be another like you!
King: (to himself) : Making me doubt my own mind, this anger of hers seems like uncontrived.
When I, my mind hardened with memory loss,
Do not admit the secret love which she says there was,
With eyes blood red, disjointing her curved brows, she looks
As if in anger she has broken Cupid’s bow in two.
King: (aloud) Good lady, Dushyantha’s life is known to all, but nowhere do I find this.
Shakunthala: Nicely I am made into a loose woman, because, trusting the house of Pooru, I fell into the hands of this honey-mouthed poison-in- heart man.
Sharngarava: This is how one’s own unrestrained folly scorches.
Therefore one must check before one acts,
Especially when meeting alone.
With no knowledge of each other’s heart,
Friendship soon to enmity turns.
King: Look, sir, why do you attack me,, believing only what this lady says?
Sharngarava: (scornfully) Have you all heard this up-side-down view!
One not taught any guile from birth—
What that person says is no proof!
And those who duplicity as an art do learn---
Their words are to be taken as gospel truth!
King: Look, truth-speaker, let it be admitted for now. But what can I get by deceiving her?
Sharngarava: Hell!
King: That Pooru’s family seek hell is silly!
Sharngarava: Why argue with him? We have given Master’s message. Let us return. (addressing the king)
That is your wife standing there,
You may either take or leave;
Husband’s power over wife
Is they say absolute.
Gauthami, go in front. (and starts leaving)
Shakunthala: How this crook has cheated me! Now you are also abandoning me! ( tries to follow )
Gauthami: (stopping) Sharngarava, my boy, See, she is coming after us, sobbing piteously. With her husband roughly rejecting her, what will my poor child do!
Sharngarava: (turning back in anger) What, self-willed woman, you presume to be independent!
(Shakunthala trembles in fear)
Sharngarava: Shakunthala,
If you are as this king says you are,
What use are you, a degenerate, to your dad!
And if you know your conduct has been chaste,
Even servitude is fine in the husband’s house!
Stay there. We are going.
King: Look, you good people, why are you deceiving this lady? Because
As the moon opens up only the blue water lily,
As the sun only the lotus plant.
So the mind of a disciplined man
Turns away from contact with another’s wife.
Sharngarava: When you have forgotten your earlier love in your love for another, how can you be afraid of wrong-doing?
King : Let me ask you which is right and which wrong?
When there is this doubt that I have forgot,
Or what this lady says is false,
Shall I be deserter of his wife,
Or be with adultery besmirched?
Priest: (thinking) If so, this can be done.
King: Please do instruct me.
Priest: Let the lady remain in my house till delivery. You have been told by seers that you will have a son destined to be a king of kings. If the sage’s grandson shows those signs, then you can take her into your home; otherwise it remains an option to send her to her father.
King : As it pleases my teacher.
Priest : My child, come with me.
Shakunthala: Qh! Mother Earth, take me into you! (starts sobbing, and leaves along with the priests and the ascetics)
[THE KING , MEMORY CLOUDED BY BY CURSE, STANDS THINKING ABOUT SHAKUNTHALA]
From green room: Wonder!!
King: (hearing it) what can it be!
Priest (entering) Your Highness, a great wonder has happened.
King: Like what?
Priest : After the disciples of Kanva had left,
Throwing her hands up, the girl began to cry,
Blaming her own fortunes for it all.
Then a light in the form of a woman flashed,
Lifted her up, and towards Apsaras-lake was gone.
(all show their surprise)
King: Sir, this matter has been already dismissed by me. So what use is it trying to reason out this. You may take rest now.
Priest : ( looking at the king) Wish you success! ( exit)
King : Vetravati, I am very much upset. Lead me to the bedroom.
Attendant: Here, here, my Lord. (and they start to go)
King: Really I don’t remember having married
This sage’s daughter, now rejected by me.
But my heart, in severe ache
Almost makes me believe in her.
(Exit all)
END ACT FIVE
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