SHkunthalam act 6

SHAKUNTHALAM ACT 6
(ENTER KING’S BROTHER-IN-LAW, THE POLICE CHIEF; AND TWO POLICEMEN, HOLDING A MAN, ARMS SHACKLED BEHIND)
Policemen : (beating) You thief, say, from where did you get this ring, with the king’s name engraved on the gem setting?
Man: (in fear) Please you masters, I am not such kind.
First Policeman: Was it presented to you by the king taking you for a wonderful Brahmin!
Man : Please just hear me. I am a fisherman, living in Shakravathara.
Second Policeman: Rascal, did we ask you your caste?
Chief: Soochaka, allow him to say all in their order. Don’t interrupt him in the middle.
Both: As you order, sir. (to the man) Speak.
Man: I maintain my family by making fishing implements like net, hook, etc.
Chief: (laughing) A clean profession!
Man: Action, suited to one’s nature,
However contemptible, should not be shunned.
The priest who kills animals for sacrifice
Is filled with pity and very soft at heart.
Chief: Go on, go on.
Man: One day when I cut a fish into pieces, I found in its inside this ring sparkling with a gem. Afterwards when I took it for sale, I was caught by these sirs. Kill me or leave me; this is how it came to me.
Chief: Januka, no doubt, This fishy smelling alligator- eater is surely a fisherman. How he got this ring is to be investigated. Let us go to the king’s palace.
Policemen: As you say. (turning to the man)Come, you cut-purse.
(all walk around)
Chief: Soochaka, wait at this city gate and look to this fellow carefully. I shall just show this ring to the king and tell him how it came to us. I will be back with his orders.
Both: Please do go in. His Highness would be pleased.
(exit Chief)
First policeman: Januka, Chief is taking a lot of time.
Second Policeman: Are not kings to be approached at their convenience!
First Policeman :Januka: My hands are itching to make a flower garland for his execution.
Man : Don’t you be a killer for no reason.
Second Policeman: Here is our Chief coming with a paper in his hand, after getting king’s orders. You will soon be an offering to vultures or fall into mouth of dogs.
Chief : (entering) Soochaka, free this fisherman. His story of how he got the ring seems possible.
Soochaka: Your order, sir.
Januka: This fellow has gone to Death’s realm and returned.
Man: (bowing low to the chief) Master, what do you think now about my profession?
Chief: And he has asked me to give him as a present this amount equal to the value of the ring.
Man: (accepting it humbly) Thanks, I am very much obliged to you
Soochaka: Of course he has to be obliged, for having been taken from the cross and seated on the back of an elephant.
Januka: Chief, This present shows that the king is mighty pleased with the ring.
Chief: I don’t think that it is the value of the gem that pleased him. He seems reminded of some loved person by its sight. For a second, though by nature strong and reserved, he seemed shaken.
Soochaka: Chief, you have done a great service to him.
Januka: rather say, to this master fisherman! (looks at the man, enviously)
Man: Sirs, let the half of this be the price of your flowers.
Januka: This much is proper.
Chief: Fisherman, now you have become my close friend. This our first friendship, we will celebrate with a toast of wine. Let us go to the wine shop.
(all exit)
(END OF PROLOGUE)
[Then comes a heavenly courtesan named Sanumati]
Sanumati: I have duly performed my duty of being present, as we should do by turns, at the holy lake, Apsaratheerthirthha, because it is the time of immersion in its waters by the pious. Now I will find out in person how that saintly king fares. Through Menaka, Shakunthala has become after all a part of myself. And on account of her daughter, she had asked it. (looking about) How is it that at this seasonal festival, the king’s palace is devoid of all festivities! Of course I am capable of knowing everything by my spiritual powers. But I have to respect my friend’s wishes. Well, I shall , hidden behind my magic veil, stand close to these two gardener girls and find out.
(enter a maid looking at a blossoming mango tree, and another behind.)
First: Flower bud, pink, green and white,
I have seen you, Spring-time’s all of life,
Harbinger of Season’s charms,
Be pleased and bless us all!
Second : Parabrithika, what are you muttering to yourself?
First: Madhukarika, Parabhrithika is just mad with joy at the sight of mango blossoms!
Second : (delighted, rushes) How! Spring is already come!
First: Madukarika, this is your time for singing and dancing madly.
Second: My friend, hold me while I stand on my toe and pluck the blossom, to offer to the God of love.
First: If only I could get half the fruit of your prayers!
Second: That goes without saying, since we are really one in spirit, just split in two bodies.(leaning on her friend, plucks the blossom) Ha! This flower though not fully blown, smells sweet , as it breaks from the stalk! (cups hands In offering)
Mango bud, I am giving you now
To Cupid who has drawn his bow.
Be you his extra sixth arrow
To aim at maids whose lovers are away.
(throws the flower buds)
Chamberlain: (enter s suddenly, pushing off the curtain, and angrily) Don’t do that. You thoughtless girl! When the king has banned spring festivities, you start plucking flower buds!
Both : (terrified) Please forgive us. We don’t understand.
Chamberlain: What! You haven't heard? Even the trees of Spring have obeyed the king’s orders, as also the birds nesting in them. See,
The mango trees,though long in bloom, do not yet their pollen bear,
The Kurabaka blossoms, though all set, continue in the state of buds,
Even when the winter’s gone, cuckoo's’s songs are stuck in throat,
Even Cupid, I do feel, retracts his arrow, from his quiver half-drawn.
Both: No doubt. Our saintly king has great powers.
First: Sir, it is only a few days since we have been brought here to serve at the feet of His Highness. And thus we came to be given this job of maintaining this pleasure garden. Since we are newly come, we did not hear this news.
Chamberlain: I see. Don’t do it again.
Both : Sir, excuse us, we feel curious. If it is something we can hear, please tell us why this Spring festival has been proscribed?
Sanumati: Human beings are are fond of festivals. There should be really some grave reason.
Chamberlain: It has spread all over. Why cant I tell you! Haven't you ladies come to hear the scandal about Shakunthala’s rejection?
Both: we have heard from the Prince, up to the finding of the ring.
Chamberlain: In that case there is little to tell. From the moment His Highness remembered, on seeing the ring, that he had really married her in secret, the king was overwhelmed by remorse. So much that
He hates all pretty things, does not meet ministers daily as before,
Spends sleepless nights by tossing from edge to edge of bed,
And when, out of courtesy, proper reply to his other wives gives,
Calls them by wrong names and becomes struck with shame.
Sanumati: I like this!
Chamberlain: Because of this depressed mood, he has given up all festivities,
(in the greenroom) : Come, come, Your Highness.
Chamberlain: (listening) : Look, His Highness is coming right towards us . You may attend to your work.
Both : Sure! (and exit)
[ENTER THE KING, ATTIRED AS SUITS HIS REMORSEFUL CONDITION, AS WELL AS COURT JESTER AND GATEKEEPER]
Chamberlain: (observing the king) Ha! The beauty of an out-of-the- ordinary body in all conditions! Though so upset, His Highness is so pleasing to the eyes. Even so,
Forgoing special embellishments, with only one gold bangle on forearm,
Lips pale and dried up with sighs, and eyes all red
Because of brooding sleepless nights, his body glow is such
That, though thinned, he hardly looks so, like a cut and polished diamond.
Sanumati: I am not surprised at all that even after the humiliation of rejection, she pines for him still.
King: (walking slowly, sunk in thought)
My heart, which slept when my doe-eyed beloved tried to wake me up,
Alas! now has woken up, only to suffer the sorrows of remorse.
Sanumathi: Such are the fortunes of the poor girl!
Court Jester: (to himself) Again he is seized of the Sakunthala fever. Don’t know how to cure him!
Chamberlain: (approaching) Hail, Your Highness. The pleasure-garden lands have been all checked. Your Highness may retire to any place You like.
King: Vethravati, Tell minister Mr. Pishuna this from me. Since I was long awake last night, I don’t want to take my official seat of duty. Let him note down on paper his findings about people’s problems, and send to me.
Gate keeper: As your Highness orders. (exit)
King: Vatayana, you too may attend to your duties.
Chamberlain: As your highness orders. (exit)
Court Jester : You have got rid of flies! Now you can please yourself in this part of the garden, charming with patches of winter sunshine.
King: Friend, the saying that calamities rush through all crevices, is not untrue. See.
My mind is just freed from the stupour that blocked
The memory of my love for the hermit girl;
Cupid, in order to strike at me, my friend,
Has his mango blossom dart readied on his bow.
Court Jester: Just wait, I will break Cupid’s bow with this wooden stick. (walks around and lifting the stick, tries to pull down the mango blossoms)
King: (smiling) Fine, I have seen your Brahmin prowess! ----Friend, where shall I sit and longingly roam my eyes over the vines that resemble to some extent my beloved?
Court Jester: Haven’t you told your personal attendant, Chathurika, that you would spend this time in the jasmine arbour, and you want her to bring the portrait you yourself drew on the drawing board?
King: Such is the place for relief of heart. Show the way there.
Court Jester: Here, here, my Lord.
( Both walk, and Sanumathi follows)
Court Jester: Certainly this jasmine bower, with a marble slab in it, is waiting to welcome us, displaying the splendour of its offerings. So please enter and take your seat, sir.
(Both enter and sit)
Sanumathi: Leaning on this creeper, I will have a peep at my friend’s picture. Then I will tell her about her husband’s all-round love for her. (so doing, stands)
King: Now I remember all about Shakunthala. And I did tell you . But you were not present at the time of my disavowal. And you never spoke about it even before that. Like me, did you also forget!
Court Jester: I didn’t forget. But after telling me all that, in the end you said it was merely a joke and there was no truth in it. Being a clod-head, I believed that. Or fate is all powerful.
Sanumathi: It is even so.
King: (after deep thought)Friend, help me!
Court Jester: My Lord, what is this! This doesn’t become you at all. Never will sensible people succumb to grief. Are not trees motionless even in strong wind?
King Recalling the condition of my beloved, as she stood stunned at my disavowal, I feel completely helpless. You see
When, as she, rejected by me, turned to follow her own folk,
Her father’s pupil, himself like to father, repeatedly shouted “STOP!”
Those looks, bleary with streaming tears, that she once more cast
On cruel me, like a poisoned arrow sharp, me for ever burn.
Sanumathi: Such is one’s selfishness! I revel at his unhappiness!
Court Jester: Friend, I have an idea. She must have been carried away by some celestial being.
King: Who will dare to touch a chaste woman! I have heard that Menaka gave birth to her. My heart tells me that your friend was removed from here by one of her companions.
Sanumathi: The wonder is that he forgot, not the awakening!
Court Jester. If that is so, surely you will meet her again.
King : How!
Court Jester: Parents will never stand their daughter being miserable, separated from husband.
King: Friend,
Is it dream, illusion, or derangement of mind,
Is it that the fruit of meritorious deeds is all lost?
What is gone is indeed for never to return gone,
Wishes are truly like a blind leap from the shore!
Court Jester: Don’t say so. Is not the finding of the ring itself a sure sign of unexpected reunion?
King: (looking at the ring) Look, is not this ring, fallen from a hard-to-reach place, to be pitied!
Surely, your good deeds appear , o ring,
As scanty as mine, seen from their outcome;
Haven't you fallen , after getting a place
Among her fingers, so pretty with pink nails!
Sanumathi: If it had fallen in other hands, then truly it would have been pitiable.
Court Jester: Sir, under what circumstances did this name -seal get into the lady’s hands
Sanumathi: He is moved by curiosity, same as i.
King: Listen. As I prepared to go to my city, my love asked me. “ How long would it be before I hear from you?”
Court Jester: Yes, then?
King: Then I put the seal ring on her finger and replied,
Count the letters of my name, one by one,
Daily, and before you come to the end,
My dear, my people will be at your side
To take you to my family household.
And that I, cruel hearted as I am, failed to do in my folly.
Sanumathi: Lovely way indeed of fixing lime limit, but negated by fate!
Court Jester: How did it come inside the fish cut by the fisherman?
King: It fell into the Ganges waters from your friend’s hand, as she was worshipping at the Shachithirtha.
Court Jester : That explains it.
Sanumati: That is why the good king, in his fear of doing wrong, had doubts about the marriage. Or such a love wants any sign to remember? How is it so!
King : I shall rebuke the ring for this.
Court Jester: (to himself) Now he is on the way to madness!
King:
How, leaving that soft and pretty hand,
Did you into the water take a dip?
Or,
An inanimate thing, plainly, cannot value judge;
How come that I too did my darling cast away!
Court Jester : (to himself) How! I am getting devoured by hunger!
King : My dear, I gave up without cause, please have pity on me, and show yourself once again to me, who burns in heart with remorse.
(Entering suddenly with the drawing board in hand)
Chaturika: This is the portrait of Her Ladyship. (shows the board)
Court Jester; Well done, my friend. A beautiful invocation of feelings by a sweet composition of colours. My eyes seem to stumble on the lows and highs in it.
Sanumathi : Ha! What skill of the great king! It seems that my friend is actually standing before me.
King: Whatever in the picture would not suit,
Has to something else been changed.
In spite of that her loveliness
Is hardly in its lines preserved.
Sanumathi: This becomes his love intensified by remorse, as well as his modesty.
Court Jester: Sir, now I see three ladies. And all equally beautiful. Which is Shakunthala here?
Sanumathi : This fellow has eyes in vain, if he cannot recognize such beauty.
King : Who do you guess is she?
Court Jester: She , who is depicted,standing apparently a little tired at the side of the mango tree, with flowers dropped from the loose hair-band clinging to the tips of tresses, perspiration drops bursting out on cheeks, and hands out-stretched, must be Shakunthala; others her friends.
King: You are smart! There is here some mark of my mental state.
The impression of my moist fingers is seen to smudge the edges of lines,
And a tear drop fallen from the cheek is seen to cause here the paint to swell .
Chathurika, This place where I find relief from my sorrow is only half drawn. Bring the paint brush.
Chathurika: MR. Madhavya, just hold this board while I bring the brush.
King: I myself will hold it. ( he does so and Chathurika leaves )
King: First casting away my love, when she in person came,
And now making much of her merely in a picture drawn,
I am like one who, passing a stream with abundant water flow,
Has become , my friend, to a mere mirage attached!
Court Jester: (to himself) This Highness has indeed gone past the the river and ended up in a mirage. (aloud) Sir, what else do you want to add?
Sanumati: He may want to draw the spots favoured by my friend.
King : Listen :
I have to draw the river Malini, with swan couples nestling in the sands,
At either side the sacred Himalayan dales with seated deer on them,
And I want to sketch the doe rubbing its left eye on the horn
Of the black deer beneath a tree, from boughs of which bark-clothes hang.
Court Jester: ( to himself) As I see it, he is going to fill the board with hordes of long- bearded hermits.
King: Friend, we have forgotten Shakunthala’s favourite ornament.
Court Jester : What is that?
Sanumathi: Which will befit forest life and her loveliness.
King: I have omitted the Sirisha flower, my friend,
With hanging filaments, tied on to her ears;
Nor have I drawn the string of lotus- stalk
Soft as moon’s rays, in between her breasts.
Court Jester: Sir, why is madam Shakunthala, standing with her face covered by her red-lotus -like forearm, as if she is terribly afraid? Ah! This bastard of a bee, on the look out to steal honey from flowers, is pestering her.
King: Stop this pest, please!
Court Jester: You alone, the tamer of the wild, is able to stop him.
King: Right. Look you, Mister, the dear guest of flower plants,why do you take this trouble of hovering around?
This lady bee, full of love for you, sitting on the flower,
Though thirsty, waits, and without you will not drink.
Sanumathi : Very dignified indeed, is his reproach of the bee.
King: What, you don’t obey me! Then hear now!
If you, o! bee,touch my love’s cherry red lips,
Alluring like a fresh sapling’s tender leaf,
Sipped ever so gently in love sport by me,
I will make you inside a lotus bud captive.
Court Jester : He is not afraid of such severe punishment! (laughing, to himself) He is gone quite mad. By association with him, I have also become of the same colour. (aloud) Sir, this is but a picture.
King : what! Picture!
Sanumathi : Even I did not realize it; then how can he, emotionally involved in the drawing as he is.
King: my friend, why did you do this nit-picking!
While I was enjoying with all my heart her sight as if she in person stood,
By reminding me, you have again my love into a mere picture turned.
(sheds tears)
Sanumathi : A strange kind of bereavement, contrary to all past and future.
King : My friend, why am I suffering this sorrow without pause?
Union with her in my dreams
Is by sleeplessness debarred,
And tears don’t let me see
Her at least in a picture drawn.
Sanumathi : In every way you have wiped out Shakunthala’s sorrow at rejection.
Chathurika (entering) Hail, hail ,Your Highness. With the paint-box in hand, I started for here.
King: And then?
Chathurika : Her highness the queen Vasumathi, along with Tharalika, took it by force from me, saying “ I’ll take it to my husband”.
Court Jester : Lucky, you escaped.
Chathurika: while Tharalika was freeing my Lady’s shawl caught in a bough, I made my escape.
King : Friend, the queen is coming, and she is very proud of her position. You please hide this picture.
Court Jester : Say “yourself”. When you get free of the deadly poison of your harem, call me, I will be in the Meghaprathichhanda palace. (exit at a fast pace)
Sanumathi : Though now his heart is elsewhere, he shows regard for his first love. His friendships are loose-bonded.
Gate keeper (entering with a paper in hand) Hail, hail, my Lord!
King: Vetravathi, did you meet the queen on the way?
Gate keeper : Yes, of course.Seeing me with a letter in hand, she returned.
King : Being sensible, she does not want to disturb me at work,
Gate keeper: The minister says, “because of a lot of accounting to do with the amount of cash received, only one man’s complaint could be attended to, and that, as noted down, I am submitting.”
King : Show me the letter.
(the gatekeeper hands over the paper)
King (going through it) What! One Dhanamitra, a trader in the seas died in a boat mishap. Poor fellow had no offspring. The minster writes, his property should go to the treasury. (sadly) Childlessness is indeed terrible. Since he is very rich, he must have many wives. Please find out whether there is any of his wives who is pregnant.
Gate keeper: Just we heard that the daughter of a merchant of Saketa, one of his wives, has had the rites for male delivery performed.
King : Is not a foetus also entitled to father’s property? Go and tell this to the minister.
Gate keeper.Your orders, my Lord. (starts to go)
King: Just come here.
Gate keeper: Here I am.
King : What if he has children or not!
Whichever whichever kinsman is to any of my subjects lost,
That will Dushyantha be to them, in virtuous way, be it proclaimed.
Gate keeper : Thus it is to proclaim? (exit and reenters) Your Highness’s orders are welcomed, like timely showers.
King : (taking a long hot breath) Property of families, on the death of the head, without offspring, falls into the hands of others . This is going to be the fate of Pooru’s line when I am no more!
Sanumathi: May this bad outcome never happen!
King: Fie on me, for casting away the good that came unsolicited to me!
Sanumathi : No doubt he is reproaching himself, keeping my friend in mind.
King : With my own Self in her planted,
I discarded my rightful wife.
Like Earth, with seed sown on time,
Getting ready to yield great fruit.
Sanumathi : Your progeny will be unbroken now.
Chathurika: (aside) After hearing the news about the merchant, His highness’s distress is doubled. Go and get Madhavya from the Meghaptatichanda in order to console him.
Gate keeper: Good idea! Exit)
King : Hah! Dushyantha’s ancestors are in peril of losing their sustenance.
In fear who, after him, in our house
Will offer the libations scripturally prescibed,
My Ancesters, after washing away their tears,
drink what’s left of the water poured by issue-less me.
(and faints)
Chathurika: (looking upset) My Lord, don’t grieve.
Sanumathi : When light is there, you cover it and suffer darkness. Now itself I will relieve him. Or I have heard from the mouth of Indra’s mother, when she consoled Shakunthala, that soon the Devas themselves , eager for their share of sacrifices, will so act that her husband would soon welcome her as his rightful wife. So it is better to wait till then.Meanwhile I will make my dear friend happy with this news. (leaves in a hurry)
Voice (in greenroom) : Sacrilege, sacrilege, Sacrilege!!!
King: (coming out of stupour, and hearing) Ah! It seems like Madhavya’s distressed voice. Hullo, who is there!
Gate Keeper: (entering) My Lord, save your friend, his life is in danger.
King : By whom is the boy over-powered?
Gate Keeper: An invisible Being caught and carried him on to the terrace of the Meghapraticchanda palace.
King: (rising) No, No. even my houses are infested by spirits!
When I am not able to know my own
Foolish mistakes done day by day,
How can I know fully who among
My people, goes and by which way
( from the greenroom) : Friend, alas, alas!
King: ( Walks at a fast pace) Don’t fear, don’t fear, my friend.
(from greenroom) : Alas, alas! How can I not fear! One fellow here is bending my neck backwards to break me into pieces.
King ( casting looks around) Bow, please!
A foreign help: ( with bow, entering) : Master, here is the bow along with the finger guard.
( THE King holds the bow with arrow)
( in the greenroom) : I thirsting for the blood oozing from your neck,
Will kill you as a tiger does a quivering beast.
Let Dushyantha now to your rescue come,
He who,to save the distressed, his bow carries!
King: ( angrily)What! He is pointing to me! Wait, corpse-eater, now you will be no more! (lifting the bow) Vetravati, show the way to the stairs.
Gate keeper: Here, here, Your Highness,
(all procced hurriedly)
King : (looking around) This place is empty!
(In the greenroom) :Alas, alas! I can see you. You don’t see me. Like a mouse caught by a cat, I have lost hope of life.
King: You, proud of your vanishing tricks, My weapon will see you. Look, I am readying the arrow,
Which will kill you who is to be killed,
And save this brahmin who is to be saved;
Like the swan which takes only milk
Leaving the water mixed with it.
( and he fixes the arrow )
Matali : (without the Court Jester, enters)
Gods have the Asuras your target made.
Draw this bow against them alone.
It is pleased gentle looks that good people cast
On their friends, not such terrible darts.
King: Ha! Matali! Wecome, Indra’s charioteer!
Court Jester: He who was killing me, like an animal for sacrifice is received with welcome!
Matali: May you live long, listen why I am sent to you.
King: I am all ears.
Matali : There is a set of Asuras called Durjaya, (invincible), offspring of Kalanemi.
King. There is. I have heard of them from Narada once.
Matali: Him Indra your friend can not defeat in war,
You are the one to kill him from the battle front, it’s thought;
The nocturnal darkness which the Sun can’t destroy
Is removed in the end by full Moon’s rays.
So please now take your weapons, get into Indra’s chariot, and start on your way to victory.
King: I feel indeed blessed by this honour from Indra. But why did you do it to Madhavya?
Matli: That also I will tell you. For some reason I found you were preoccupied with some unhappiness in your mind. Then I did this to provoke you. For
When firewood is stirred, fire blazes forth,
The serpent, when attacked, lifts up his hood;
It is generally when they are excited
That people show their mettle well.
King: (aside) Friend, the order of the king of Heaven is inviolable. So now tell the minister Pishuna this, after explaining the matter.
Let your brain alone
Protect the people now,
This stringed bow of mine
is in another work engaged.
Court Jester : As you order! (exit)
Matali : Please do get into the chariot, sir.
(the king climbs into the chariot)
[ALL EXIT]
END OF ACT SIX