MALINI।
What can I say to you? I do not know how to argue. I have not read your books.
SUPRIYA।
I am learned only among the fools of learning. I have left all arguments and books behind me. Lead me, princess, and I shall follow you, as the shadow follows the lamp.
MALINI।
But, Brahmin, when you question me, I lose all my power and do not know how to answer you. It is a wonder to me to see that even you, who know everything, come to me with your questions.
SUPRIYA।
Not for knowledge I come to you. Let me forget all that I have ever known. Roads there are, without number, but the light is missing.
MALINI।
Alas, sir, the more you ask me, the more I feel my poverty. Where is that voice in me, which came down from heaven, like an unseen flash of lightning, into my heart? Why did you not come that day, but keep away in doubt? Now that I have met the world face to face my heart has grown timid, and I do not know how to hold the helm of the great ship that I must guide. I feel I am alone, and the world is large, and ways are many, and the light from the sky comes of a sudden to vanish the next moment. You who are wise and learned, will you help me?
SUPRIYA।
I shall deem myself fortunate, if you ask my help.
MALINI।
There are times when despair comes to choke all the
life-currents; when suddenly, amidst crowds of men, my eyes turn upon myself and I am frightened. Will you befriend me in those moments of blankness, and utter me one word of hope that will bring me back to life.
SUPRIYA।
I shall keep myself ready. I shall make my heart simple and pure, and my mind peaceful, to be able truly to serve you.
(Enters ATTENDANT.)
(Enters ATTENDANT.)
ATTENDANT।
The citizens have come, asking to see you.
MALINI।
Not to-day. Ask their pardon for me. I must have time to fill my exhausted mind, and have rest to get rid of weariness.
[ATTENDANT goes.]
Tell me again about Kemankar, your friend. I long to know what your life has been and its trials.
SUPRIYA।
Kemankar is my friend, my brother, my master. His mind has been firm and strong, from early days, while my thoughts are always flickering with doubts. Yet he has ever kept me close to his heart, as the moon does its dark spots. But, however strong a ship may be, if it harbours a small hole in its bottom, it must sink. -That I would make you sink, Kemankar, was in the law of nature.
MALINI।
You made him sink?
SUPRIYA।
Yes, I did. The day when the rebellion slunk away in shame before the light in your face and the music in the air that touched you, Kemankar alone was unmoved. He left me behind him, and said that he must go to the foreign land to bring soldiers, and uproot the new creed from the sacred soil of Kashi. -You know what followed. You made me live again in a new land of birth. 'Love for all life' was a mere word, waiting from the old time to be made real, -and I saw that truth in you in flesh. My heart cried for my friend, but he was away, out of my reach; then came his letter, in which he wrote that he was coming with a foreign army at his back, to wash away the new faith in blood, and to punish you with death. -I could wait no longer. I showed the letter to the King.
MALINI।
Why did you forget yourself, Supriya? Why did fear overcome you? Have I not room enough in my house for him and his soldiers?
(Enters KING.)
(Enters KING.)
KING।
Come to my arms, Supriya, I went at a fit time to surprise Kemankar and to capture him. An hour later, and a thunder- bolt would have burst upon my house in my sleep. You are my friend, Supriya, come -
SUPRIYA।
God forgive me.
KING।
Do you not know, that a King's love is not unsubstantial? I give you leave to ask for any reward that comes to your mind. Tell me, what do you want?
SUPRIYA।
Nothing, Sire, nothing. I shall live, begging from door to door.
KING।
Only ask me, and you shall have provinces worthy to tempt a king.
SUPRIYA।
They do not tempt me.
KING।
I understand you. I know towards what moon you raise your hands. Mad youth, be brave to ask even that which seems so impossible. Why are you silent? Do you remember the day when you prayed for my Malini's banishment? Will you repeat that prayer to me, to lead my daughter to exile from her father's house? -My daughter, do you know that you owe your life to this noble youth? And is it hard for you to pay off that debt with your -?
SUPRIYA।
For pity's sake, Sire, no more of this. Worshippers there are many who by life-long devotion have gained the highest fulfilment of their desire. Could I be counted one of them I should be happy. But to accept it from the King's hands as the reward of treachery? Lady mine, you have the plenitude and peace of your greatness; you know not the secret cravings of a poverty-stricken soul. I dare not ask from you an atom more than that pity of love which you have for every creature in the world.
MALINI।
Father, what is your punishment for the captive?
KING।
He shall die.
MALINI।
On my knees I beg from you his pardon.
KING।
But he is a rebel, my child.
SUPRIYA।
Do you judge him, King? He also judged you, when he came to punish you, not to rob your kingdom.
MALINI।
Spare him his life, father. Then only will you have the right to bestow on him your friendship, who has saved you from a great peril.
KING।
What do you say, Supriya? Shall I restore a friend to his friend's arms?
SUPRIYA।
That will be king-like in its grace.
KING।
It will come in its time, and you will find back your friend. But a King's generosity must not stop there. I must give you something which exceeds your hope, -yet not as a mere reward. You have won my heart, and my heart is ready to offer you its best treasure. -My child, where was this shyness in you before now? Your dawn had no tint of rose, -its light was white and dazzling. But to-day a tearful mist of tenderness sweetly tempers it for mortal eyes. (To SUPRIYA) Leave my feet, rise up and come to my heart. Happiness is pressing it like pain. Leave me now for a while. I want to be alone with my Malini.
(SUPRIYA goes.)
I feel I have found back my child once again, -not the bright star of the sky, but the sweet flower that blossoms on earthly soil. She is my daughter, the darling of my heart.
(Enters ATTENDANT.)
(Enters ATTENDANT.)
ATTENDANT।
The captive, Kemankar, is at the door.
KING।
Bring him in. Here comes he, with his eyes fixed, his proud head held high, a brooding shadow on his forehead, like a thunder cloud motionless in a suspended storm.
MALINI।
The iron chain is shamed of itself upon those limbs. The insult to greatness is its own insult. He looks like a god defying his captivity.
(Enters KEMANKAR in chains.)
(Enters KEMANKAR in chains.)
KING।
What punishment do you expect from my hands?
KEMANKAR।
Death.
KING।
But if I pardon you?
KEMANKAR।
Then I shall have time again to complete the work I began.
KING।
You seem out of love with your life. Tell me your last wish, if you have any.
KEMANKAR।
I want to see my friend, Supriya, before I die.
KING।
[to the ATTENDANT]. Ask Supriya to come.
MALINI।
There is a power in that face that frightens me. Father, do not let Supriya come.
KING।
Your fear is baseless, child.
(SUPRIYA enters, and walks towards KEMANKAR, with arms extended.)
(SUPRIYA enters, and walks towards KEMANKAR, with arms extended.)
KEMANKAR।
No, no, not yet. First let us have our say, and then the greeting of love. -Come closer to me. You know I am poor in words, -and my time is short. My trial is over, but not yours. Tell me, why have you done this?
SUPRIYA।
Friend, you will not understand me. I had to keep nay faith, even at the cost of my love.
KEMANKAR।
I understand you, Supriya. I have seen that girl's face, glowing with an inner light, looking like a voice becoming visible. You offered, to the fire of those eyes, the faith in your fathers' creed, the faith in your country's good, and built up a new one on the foundation of a treason.
SUPRIYA।
Friend, you are right. My faith has come to me perfected in the form of that woman. Your sacred books were dumb to me. I have read, by the help of the light of those eyes, the ancient book of creation, and I have known that true faith is there, where there is man, where there is love. It comes from the mother in her devotion, and it goes back to her from her child.
It descends in the gift of a giver and it appears in the heart of him who takes it. I accepted the bond of this faith which reveals the infinite in man, when I set my eyes upon that face full of light and love and peace of hidden wisdom.
KEMANKAR।
I also once set my eyes on that face, and for a moment dreamt that religion had come at last, in the form of a woman, to lead man's heart to heaven. For a moment, music broke out from the very ribs of my breast and all my life's hopes blossomed in their fulness. Yet did not I break through these meshes of illusion to wander in foreign lands? Did not I suffer humiliation from unworthy hands in patience, and bear the pain of separation from you, who have been my friend from my infancy? And what have you been doing meanwhile? You sat in the shade of the King's garden, and spent your sweet leisure in idly weaving a lie to condone your infatuation and calling it a religion.
SUPRIYA।
My friend, is not this world wide enough to hold men whose natures are widely different? Those countless stars of the sky, do they fight for the mastery of the One? Cannot faiths hold their separate lights in peace for the separate worlds of minds that need them?
KEMANKAR।
Words, mere words. To let falsehood and truth live side by side in amity, the infinite world is not wide enough. That the corn ripening for the food of man should make room for thorny weeds, love is not so hatefully all-loving. That one should be allowed to sap the sure ground of friendship with betrayal of trust, could tolerance be so traitorously wide as that? That one should die like a thief to defend his faith and the other live in honour and wealth who betrayed it -no, no, the world is not so stony-hard as to bear without pain such hideous contradictions in its bosom.
SUPRIYA।
[to MALINI]. All these hurts and insults I accept in your name, my lady, Kemankar, you are paying your life for your faith, - I am paying more. It is your love, dearer than my life.
KEMANKAR।
No more of this prating. All truths must be tested in death's court. My friend, do you remember our student days when we used to wrangle the whole night through, to come at last to our teacher, in the morning, to know in a moment which of us was right? Let that morning break now. Let us go there to that land of the Final, and stand before death with all our questions, where the changing mist of doubts will vanish at a breath, and the mountain peaks of eternal truth will appear, and we two fools will look at each other and laugh. -Dear friend, bring before death that which you deem your best and immortal.
SUPRIYA।
Friend, let it be as you wish.
KEMANKAR।
Then come to my heart. You had wandered far from your comrade, in the infinite distance, -now, dear friend, come eternally close to me, and accept from one, who loves you, the gift of death.
{Strikes SUPRIYA with his chains, and SUPRIYA falls.}
KEMANKAR।
{embracing the dead body OF SUPRIYA}. Now call your executioner.
KING।
(rising up). Where is my sword?
MALINI।
Father, forgive Kemankar!
What can I say to you? I do not know how to argue. I have not read your books.
SUPRIYA।
I am learned only among the fools of learning. I have left all arguments and books behind me. Lead me, princess, and I shall follow you, as the shadow follows the lamp.
MALINI।
But, Brahmin, when you question me, I lose all my power and do not know how to answer you. It is a wonder to me to see that even you, who know everything, come to me with your questions.
SUPRIYA।
Not for knowledge I come to you. Let me forget all that I have ever known. Roads there are, without number, but the light is missing.
MALINI।
Alas, sir, the more you ask me, the more I feel my poverty. Where is that voice in me, which came down from heaven, like an unseen flash of lightning, into my heart? Why did you not come that day, but keep away in doubt? Now that I have met the world face to face my heart has grown timid, and I do not know how to hold the helm of the great ship that I must guide. I feel I am alone, and the world is large, and ways are many, and the light from the sky comes of a sudden to vanish the next moment. You who are wise and learned, will you help me?
SUPRIYA।
I shall deem myself fortunate, if you ask my help.
MALINI।
There are times when despair comes to choke all the
life-currents; when suddenly, amidst crowds of men, my eyes turn upon myself and I am frightened. Will you befriend me in those moments of blankness, and utter me one word of hope that will bring me back to life.
SUPRIYA।
I shall keep myself ready. I shall make my heart simple and pure, and my mind peaceful, to be able truly to serve you.
(Enters ATTENDANT.)
(Enters ATTENDANT.)
ATTENDANT।
The citizens have come, asking to see you.
MALINI।
Not to-day. Ask their pardon for me. I must have time to fill my exhausted mind, and have rest to get rid of weariness.
[ATTENDANT goes.]
Tell me again about Kemankar, your friend. I long to know what your life has been and its trials.
SUPRIYA।
Kemankar is my friend, my brother, my master. His mind has been firm and strong, from early days, while my thoughts are always flickering with doubts. Yet he has ever kept me close to his heart, as the moon does its dark spots. But, however strong a ship may be, if it harbours a small hole in its bottom, it must sink. -That I would make you sink, Kemankar, was in the law of nature.
MALINI।
You made him sink?
SUPRIYA।
Yes, I did. The day when the rebellion slunk away in shame before the light in your face and the music in the air that touched you, Kemankar alone was unmoved. He left me behind him, and said that he must go to the foreign land to bring soldiers, and uproot the new creed from the sacred soil of Kashi. -You know what followed. You made me live again in a new land of birth. 'Love for all life' was a mere word, waiting from the old time to be made real, -and I saw that truth in you in flesh. My heart cried for my friend, but he was away, out of my reach; then came his letter, in which he wrote that he was coming with a foreign army at his back, to wash away the new faith in blood, and to punish you with death. -I could wait no longer. I showed the letter to the King.
MALINI।
Why did you forget yourself, Supriya? Why did fear overcome you? Have I not room enough in my house for him and his soldiers?
(Enters KING.)
(Enters KING.)
KING।
Come to my arms, Supriya, I went at a fit time to surprise Kemankar and to capture him. An hour later, and a thunder- bolt would have burst upon my house in my sleep. You are my friend, Supriya, come -
SUPRIYA।
God forgive me.
KING।
Do you not know, that a King's love is not unsubstantial? I give you leave to ask for any reward that comes to your mind. Tell me, what do you want?
SUPRIYA।
Nothing, Sire, nothing. I shall live, begging from door to door.
KING।
Only ask me, and you shall have provinces worthy to tempt a king.
SUPRIYA।
They do not tempt me.
KING।
I understand you. I know towards what moon you raise your hands. Mad youth, be brave to ask even that which seems so impossible. Why are you silent? Do you remember the day when you prayed for my Malini's banishment? Will you repeat that prayer to me, to lead my daughter to exile from her father's house? -My daughter, do you know that you owe your life to this noble youth? And is it hard for you to pay off that debt with your -?
SUPRIYA।
For pity's sake, Sire, no more of this. Worshippers there are many who by life-long devotion have gained the highest fulfilment of their desire. Could I be counted one of them I should be happy. But to accept it from the King's hands as the reward of treachery? Lady mine, you have the plenitude and peace of your greatness; you know not the secret cravings of a poverty-stricken soul. I dare not ask from you an atom more than that pity of love which you have for every creature in the world.
MALINI।
Father, what is your punishment for the captive?
KING।
He shall die.
MALINI।
On my knees I beg from you his pardon.
KING।
But he is a rebel, my child.
SUPRIYA।
Do you judge him, King? He also judged you, when he came to punish you, not to rob your kingdom.
MALINI।
Spare him his life, father. Then only will you have the right to bestow on him your friendship, who has saved you from a great peril.
KING।
What do you say, Supriya? Shall I restore a friend to his friend's arms?
SUPRIYA।
That will be king-like in its grace.
KING।
It will come in its time, and you will find back your friend. But a King's generosity must not stop there. I must give you something which exceeds your hope, -yet not as a mere reward. You have won my heart, and my heart is ready to offer you its best treasure. -My child, where was this shyness in you before now? Your dawn had no tint of rose, -its light was white and dazzling. But to-day a tearful mist of tenderness sweetly tempers it for mortal eyes. (To SUPRIYA) Leave my feet, rise up and come to my heart. Happiness is pressing it like pain. Leave me now for a while. I want to be alone with my Malini.
(SUPRIYA goes.)
I feel I have found back my child once again, -not the bright star of the sky, but the sweet flower that blossoms on earthly soil. She is my daughter, the darling of my heart.
(Enters ATTENDANT.)
(Enters ATTENDANT.)
ATTENDANT।
The captive, Kemankar, is at the door.
KING।
Bring him in. Here comes he, with his eyes fixed, his proud head held high, a brooding shadow on his forehead, like a thunder cloud motionless in a suspended storm.
MALINI।
The iron chain is shamed of itself upon those limbs. The insult to greatness is its own insult. He looks like a god defying his captivity.
(Enters KEMANKAR in chains.)
(Enters KEMANKAR in chains.)
KING।
What punishment do you expect from my hands?
KEMANKAR।
Death.
KING।
But if I pardon you?
KEMANKAR।
Then I shall have time again to complete the work I began.
KING।
You seem out of love with your life. Tell me your last wish, if you have any.
KEMANKAR।
I want to see my friend, Supriya, before I die.
KING।
[to the ATTENDANT]. Ask Supriya to come.
MALINI।
There is a power in that face that frightens me. Father, do not let Supriya come.
KING।
Your fear is baseless, child.
(SUPRIYA enters, and walks towards KEMANKAR, with arms extended.)
(SUPRIYA enters, and walks towards KEMANKAR, with arms extended.)
KEMANKAR।
No, no, not yet. First let us have our say, and then the greeting of love. -Come closer to me. You know I am poor in words, -and my time is short. My trial is over, but not yours. Tell me, why have you done this?
SUPRIYA।
Friend, you will not understand me. I had to keep nay faith, even at the cost of my love.
KEMANKAR।
I understand you, Supriya. I have seen that girl's face, glowing with an inner light, looking like a voice becoming visible. You offered, to the fire of those eyes, the faith in your fathers' creed, the faith in your country's good, and built up a new one on the foundation of a treason.
SUPRIYA।
Friend, you are right. My faith has come to me perfected in the form of that woman. Your sacred books were dumb to me. I have read, by the help of the light of those eyes, the ancient book of creation, and I have known that true faith is there, where there is man, where there is love. It comes from the mother in her devotion, and it goes back to her from her child.
It descends in the gift of a giver and it appears in the heart of him who takes it. I accepted the bond of this faith which reveals the infinite in man, when I set my eyes upon that face full of light and love and peace of hidden wisdom.
KEMANKAR।
I also once set my eyes on that face, and for a moment dreamt that religion had come at last, in the form of a woman, to lead man's heart to heaven. For a moment, music broke out from the very ribs of my breast and all my life's hopes blossomed in their fulness. Yet did not I break through these meshes of illusion to wander in foreign lands? Did not I suffer humiliation from unworthy hands in patience, and bear the pain of separation from you, who have been my friend from my infancy? And what have you been doing meanwhile? You sat in the shade of the King's garden, and spent your sweet leisure in idly weaving a lie to condone your infatuation and calling it a religion.
SUPRIYA।
My friend, is not this world wide enough to hold men whose natures are widely different? Those countless stars of the sky, do they fight for the mastery of the One? Cannot faiths hold their separate lights in peace for the separate worlds of minds that need them?
KEMANKAR।
Words, mere words. To let falsehood and truth live side by side in amity, the infinite world is not wide enough. That the corn ripening for the food of man should make room for thorny weeds, love is not so hatefully all-loving. That one should be allowed to sap the sure ground of friendship with betrayal of trust, could tolerance be so traitorously wide as that? That one should die like a thief to defend his faith and the other live in honour and wealth who betrayed it -no, no, the world is not so stony-hard as to bear without pain such hideous contradictions in its bosom.
SUPRIYA।
[to MALINI]. All these hurts and insults I accept in your name, my lady, Kemankar, you are paying your life for your faith, - I am paying more. It is your love, dearer than my life.
KEMANKAR।
No more of this prating. All truths must be tested in death's court. My friend, do you remember our student days when we used to wrangle the whole night through, to come at last to our teacher, in the morning, to know in a moment which of us was right? Let that morning break now. Let us go there to that land of the Final, and stand before death with all our questions, where the changing mist of doubts will vanish at a breath, and the mountain peaks of eternal truth will appear, and we two fools will look at each other and laugh. -Dear friend, bring before death that which you deem your best and immortal.
SUPRIYA।
Friend, let it be as you wish.
KEMANKAR।
Then come to my heart. You had wandered far from your comrade, in the infinite distance, -now, dear friend, come eternally close to me, and accept from one, who loves you, the gift of death.
{Strikes SUPRIYA with his chains, and SUPRIYA falls.}
KEMANKAR।
{embracing the dead body OF SUPRIYA}. Now call your executioner.
KING।
(rising up). Where is my sword?
MALINI।
Father, forgive Kemankar!
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