Tent in Kashmir. VIKRAM and the GENERAL.

Tent in Kashmir. VIKRAM and the GENERAL.

GENERAL।

Pardon me, King, if I dare offer you advice in the interest of your kingdom.

VIKRAM।

Speak to me.

GENERAL।

The rebellion in our land has been quelled. The rebels themselves are fighting on your side. Why waste our strength and time in Kashmir, when your presence in your own capital is so urgently needed?

VIKRAM।

The fight here is not over yet.

GENERAL।

But Kumarsen, the Queen's brother, is already punished for his sister's temerity. His army is routed, he is hiding for his life. His uncle, Chandrasen, is only too eager to be seated upon the vacant throne. Make him the king, and leave this unfortunate country to peace.

VIKRAM।

It is not for punishment, that I stay here; it is for fight. The fight has become like a picture to a painter. I must add bold lines, blend strong colours, and perfect it every day. My mind grows more and more immersed in it, as it blossoms into forms; and I leave it with a sigh, when it is finished. The destruction is merely its materials, out of which it takes its shape. It is a creation. It is beautiful, as red bunches of palash, that break out like a drunken fury, yet every one of its flowers delicately perfect.

GENERAL।

But, Sire, this cannot go on for ever. You have other duties. The minister has been sending me message after message, entreating me to help you to see how this war is ruining your country.

VIKRAM।

I cannot see anything else in the world but what is growing under my masterly hands. Oh, the music of swords. Oh, the great battles that clasp your breast tight like hard embraces of love. Go, General, you have other works to do, -your advices flash out best on the points of your swords. (GENERAL goes) This is deliverance. The bondage has fled of itself, leaving the prisoner free. Revenge is stronger than the thin wine of love. Revenge is freedom, -freedom from the coils of cloying sweetness.

(Enters GENERAL)

(Enters GENERAL)

GENERAL।

I can espy a carriage coming towards our tent, perhaps bringing an envoy of peace. It has no escort of armed soldiers.

VIKRAM।

Peace must follow the war. The time for it has not yet come.

GENERAL।

Let us hear the messenger first, and then, -

VIKRAM।

And then continue the war.

(Enters a SOLDIER)

(Enters a SOLDIER)

SOLDIER।

The Queen has come asking for your audience.

VIKRAM।

What do you say?

SOLDIER।

The Queen has come.

VIKRAM।

Which Queen?

SOLDIER।

Our Queen, Sumitra.

VIKRAM।

Go, General, see who has come. (The GENERAL and the OLDIER go.) This is the third time that she has come, vainly attempting to coax me away, since I have carried war into Kashmir. But these are no dreams -these battles. To wake up suddenly, and then find again the same palace gardens, the flowers, the Queen, the long days made of sighs and small favours. No, a thousand times, no. She has come to make me captive, to take me as her trophy from the war-field into her palace hall. She may as well try to capture the thunderstorms.

(Enters GENERAL)

(Enters GENERAL)

GENERAL।

Yes, Sire, it is our own Queen, who wants to see you. It breaks my heart when I cannot allow her to come freely into your presence.

VIKRAM।

This is neither the time, nor the place, to see a woman.

GENERAL।

But, Sire.

VIKRAM।

No, no. Tell my guards to keep a strict watch at my tent door, -not for enemies, but for women.(GENERAL goes.)

(Enters SHANKAR.)

(Enters SHANKAR.)

SHANKAR।

I am Shankar, -King Kumarsen's servant. You have kept me captive in your tent.

VIKRAM।

Yes, I know you.

SHANKAR।

Your Queen waits outside your tent.

VIKRAM।

She will have to wait for me farther away.

SHANKAR।

It makes me blush to say, that she has come humbly to ask your pardon; or, if that is impossible, to accept her punishment from your hand. For she owns that she alone was to blame, -and she asks you, in the name of all that is sacred, to spare her brother's country and her brother.

VIKRAM।

But you must know, old man, it is war, -and this war is with her brother, and not herself. I have no time to discuss the rights and wrongs of the question with a woman. But, being a man, you ought to know that when once a war is started, rightly or wrongly, it is our man's pride that must carry it on to the end.

SHANKAR।

But do you know, Sire, you are carrying on this war with a woman, and she is your Queen. Our King is merely espousing her cause, being her brother. I ask you, is it king-like, or man- like, to magnify a domestic quarrel into a war, carrying it from country to country?

VIKRAM।

I warn you, old man, your tongue is becoming dangerous. You may tell the Queen, in my name, that when her brother, Kumarsen, owns his defeat and surrenders himself into our hands, the question of pardoning will then be discussed.

SHANKAR।

That is as impossible as for the morning sun to kiss the dust of the western horizon. My King will never surrender himself alive into your hands, and his sister will never suffer it.

VIKRAM।

Then the war must continue. But do you not think that bravery ceases to be bravery at a certain point, and becomes mere fool-hardiness? Your King can never escape me. I have surrounded him on all sides, and he knows it.

SHANKAR।

Yes, he knows it and also knows that there is a great gap.

VIKRAM।

What do you mean?

SHANKAR।

I mean death, -the triumphal gate through which he will escape you, if I know him right. And there waits his revenge.

(He goes.)

(He goes.)

(Enters ATTENDANT.)

(Enters ATTENDANT.)

ATTENDANT।

Sire, Chandrasen, and his wife Revati, Kumarsen's uncle and aunt, have come to see you.

VIKRAM।

Ask them in.

(Enter CHANDRASEN and REVATI.)

(Enter CHANDRASEN and REVATI.)

VIKRAM।

My obeisance to you both.

CHANDRASEN।

May you live long.

REVATI।

May you be victorious.

CHANDRASEN।

What punishment have you decided for him?

VIKRAM।

If he surrenders, I shall pardon him.

REVATI।

Only this, and nothing more? If tame pardon comes at the end, then why is there such preparation? Kings are not over-grown children, and war is no mere child's play.

VIKRAM।

To rob was not my purpose, but to restore my honour. The head that bears the crown cannot bear insult.

CHANDRASEN।

My son, forgive him. For he is neither mature in age, nor in wisdom. You may deprive him of his right to the throne, or banish him, but spare him his life.

VIKRAM।

I never wished to take his life.

REVATI।

Then why such an army and arms? You kill the soldiers, who have done you no harm, and spare him who is guilty?

VIKRAM।

I do not understand you.

CHANDRASEN।

It is nothing. She is angry with Kumarsen for having brought our country into trouble, and for giving you just cause for anger, who are so nearly related to us.

VIKRAM।

Justice will be meted out to him, when he is captured.

REVATI।

I have come to ask you never to suspect that we are hiding him. It is the people. Burn their crops and their villages, - drive them with hunger, and then they will bring him out.

CHANDRASEN।

Gently, wife, gently. Come to the palace, son, the reception of Kashmir awaits you there.

VIKRAM।

You go there now, and I shall follow you. [They go out.] Oh, the red flame of hell-fire. The greed and hatred in a woman's heart. Did I catch a glimpse of my own face in her face, I wonder? Are there lines like those on my forehead, the burnt tracks made by a hidden fire? Have my lips grown as thin and curved at both ends as hers, like some murderer's knife? No, my passion is for war, -it is neither for greed, nor for cruelty; its fire is like love's fire, that knows no restraint, that counts no cost, that burns itself, and all that it touches, either into a flame, or to ashes.

(Enters ATTENDANT.)

(Enters ATTENDANT.)

ATTENDANT।

The Brahmin, Devadatta, has come, awaiting your pleasure.

VIKRAM।

Devadatta has come? Bring him in, -No, no, stop. Let me think, -I know him. He has come to turn me back from the battle-field. Brahmin, you undermined the river banks, and now, when the water overflows, you piously pray that it may irrigate your fields, and then tamely go back. Will it not wash away your houses, and ruin the country? The joy of the terrible is blind, -its term of life is short, and it must gather its plunder in fearful haste, like a mad elephant uprooting the lotus from the pond. Wise councils will come, in their turn, when the great force is spent, -No, I must not see the Brahmin.

{Enters AMARU, the chieftain of Trichur hills.}

{Enters AMARU, the chieftain of Trichur hills.}

AMARU।

Sire, I have come at your bidding, and I own you as my King.

VIKRAM।

You are the chief of this place?

AMARU।

Yes. I am the chief of Trichur. You are the King of many kings, and I am your servant. I have a daughter, whose name is Ila. She is young and comely. Do not think roe vain, when I say that she is worthy to be your spouse. She is waiting outside. Permit me, King, and I shall send her to you as the best greeting of this land of flowers.

[He goes out.]

[He goes out.]

(Enters ILA with her ATTENDANT.)

(Enters ILA with her ATTENDANT.)

VIKRAM।

Ah! She comes, as a surprise of dawn, when the moment before it seemed like a dark night. Come, maiden, you have made the battle-field forget itself. Kashmir has shot her best arrow, at last, to pierce the heart of the war-god. You make me feel that my eyes had been wandering among the wilderness of things, to find at last their fulfilment. But why do you stand so silent, with your eyes on the ground? I can almost see a trembling of pain in your limbs, whose intensity makes it invisible.

ILA।

(kneeling) I-have heard that you are a great King. Be pleased to grant me my prayer.

VIKRAM।

Rise up, fair maiden. This earth is not worthy to be touched by your feet. Why do you kneel in the dust? There is nothing that I cannot grant you.

ILA।

My father has given me to you. I beg myself back from your hands. You have wealth untold, and territories unlimited, -go and leave me behind in the dust; there is nothing that you can want.

VIKRAM।

Is there, indeed, nothing that I can want? How shall I show you my heart? Where is its wealth? Where are its territories? It is empty. Had I no kingdom, but only you -

ILA।

Then first take my life, -as you take that of the wild deer of the forest, piercing her heart with your arrows, -

VIKRAM।

But why, child, -why such contempt for me? Am I so utterly unworthy of you? I have won kingdoms with the might of my arms. Can I not hope to beg your heart for me?

ILA।

But my heart is not mine. I have given it to one who left me months ago, promising to come back and meet me in the shade of our ancient forest. Days pass, and I wait, and the silence of the forest grows wistful. If he find me not, when he comes back! If he go away for ever, and the forest shadows keep their ancient watch for the love-meeting that remains eternally unfulfilled! King, do not take me away, -leave me for him, who has left me, to find me again.

VIKRAM।

What a fortunate man is he. But I warn you, girl, gods are jealous of our love. Listen to my secret. There was a time when I despised the whole world, and only loved. I woke up from my dream, and found that the world was there, -only my love burst as a bubble. What is his name, for whom you wait?

ILA।

He is Kashmir's King. His name is Kumarsen.

VIKRAM।

Kumarsen!

ILA।

Do you know him? He is known to all. Kashmir has given its heart to him.

VIKRAM।

Kumarsen? Kashmir's King?

ILA।

Yes. He must be your friend.

VIKRAM।

But do you not know, that the sun of his fortune has set? Give up all hope of him. He is like a hunted animal, running and hiding from one hole to another. The poorest beggar in these hills is happier than he.

ILA।

I hardly understand you. King.

VIKRAM।

You, women, sit in the seclusion of your hearts, and only love. You do not know how the roaring torrent of the world passes by, and we, men, are carried away in its waves in all directions. With your sad, big eyes, filled with tears, you sit and watch, clinging to flimsy hope. But learn to despair, my child.

ILA।

Tell me the truth. King. Do not deceive me. I am so very little and so trivial. But I am all his own. Where, -in what homeless wilds, -is my lover roaming? I will go to seek him, -I, who never have been out of my house. Show me the way, -

VIKRAM।

His enemy's soldiers are after him, -he is doomed.

ILA।

But are you not his friend? Will you not save him? A king is in danger, and will you suffer it as a King? Are you not honour bound to succour him? I know that all the world loved him. But where are they, in his time of misfortune? Sire, you are great in power, but what is your power for, if you do not help the great? Can you keep yourself aloof? Then show me the way, - I will offer my life for him, -the one, weak woman.

VIKRAM।

Love him, love him with all you have -Love him, who is the King of your precious heart. I have lost my love's heaven myself, -but let me have the happiness to make you happy. I will not covet your love. -The withered branch cannot hope to blossom with borrowed flowers. Trust me. I am your friend. I will bring him to you.

ILA।

Noble King. I owe you my life and my heaven of happiness.

VIKRAM।

Go, and be ready with your bridal dress. I will change the tune of my music. (ILA goes.) This war is growing tiresome. But peace is insipid. Homeless fugitive, you are more fortunate than I am. Woman's love, like heaven's watchful eyes, follows you wherever you go in this world, making your defeat a triumph and misfortune splendid, like sunset clouds.

(Enters DEVADATTA.)

(Enters DEVADATTA.)

DEVADATTA।

Save me from my pursuers.

KING।

Who are they?

DEVADATTA।

They are your guards, King. They kept me under strict watch for this ever-lasting half-hour. I talked to them of art and letters; they were amused. They thought I was playing the fool to please them. Then I began to recite to them the best lyrics of Kalidas, -and it soothed this pair of yokels to sleep. In perfect disgust, I left their tent to come to you.

KING।

These guards should be punished for their want of taste in going off to sleep when the prisoner recited Kalidas.

DEVADATTA।

We shall think 'of the punishment later on. In the meanwhile, we must leave this miserable war and go back home. Once I used to think that only they died of love's separation, who were the favoured of fortune, delicately nurtured. But since I left home to come here, I have discovered that even a poor Brahmin is not too small to fall a victim to angered love.

VIKRAM।

Love and death are not too careful in their choice of victims. They are impartial. Yes, friend, let us go back home. Only I have one thing to do, before I leave this place. Try to find out, from the chief of Trichur, Kumarsen's hiding-place. Tell him, when you find him, that I am no longer his enemy. And, friend, if somebody else is there with him, -if you meet her, - DEVADATTA. Yes, yes, I know. She is ever in our thoughts, yet she is beyond our words. She, who is noble, her sorrow has to be great.

VIKRAM।

Friend, you have come to me, like the first sudden breeze of spring. Now my flowers will follow, with all the memories of the past happy years.



[DEVADATTA goes.]

(Enters CHANDRASEN.)

VIKRAM।

I have glad tidings for you. I have pardoned Kumarsen.

CHANDRASEN।

You may have pardoned him, -but now that I represent Kashmir, he must await his country's judgment at my hands. He shall have his punishment from me.

VIKRAM।

What punishment?

CHANDRASEN।

He shall be deprived of his throne.

VIKRAM।

Impossible. His throne I will restore to him.

CHANDRASEN।

What right have you in Kashmir's throne?

VIKRAM।

The right of the victorious. This throne is now mine, and I will give it to him.

CHANDRASEN।

You give it to him! Do I not know proud Kumarsen, from his infancy? Do you think he will accept his father's throne as a gift from you. He can bear your vengeance, but not your generosity.

(Enters a MESSENGER.)

(Enters a MESSENGER.)

MESSENGER।

The news has reached us that Kumarsen is coming in a closed carriage to surrender himself. (Goes out.)

CHANDRASEN।

Incredible! The lion comes to beg his chains! Is life so precious?

VIKRAM।

But why does he come in a closed carriage?

CHANDRASEN।

How can he show himself? The eyes of the crowd in the streets will pierce him, like arrows, to the quick. King, put out the lamp, when he comes, receive him in darkness. Do not let him suffer the insult of the light.

(Enters DEVADATTA.)

(Enters DEVADATTA.)

DEVADATTA।

I hear that the King, Kumarsen, is coining to see you of his own will.

VIKRAM।

I will receive him with solemn rituals, -with you as our priest. Ask my general to employ his soldiers to make preparation for a wedding festival.

(Enter the BRAHMIN ELDERS.)

(Enter the BRAHMIN ELDERS.)

ALL।

Victory be to you.

FIRST ELDER।

We hear that you have invited our King, to restore him to his throne, -Therefore we have come to bless you for the joy that you have given to Kashmir.

[They bless him, and VIKRAM bows to them.

The BRAHMINS go out. Enters SHANKAR.]

[They bless him, and VIKRAM bows to them.

The BRAHMINS go out. Enters SHANKAR.]

SHANKAR।

(to CHANDRASEN). Sire, is it true that Kumarsen is coming to surrender himself to his enemies?

CHANDRASEN।

Yes, it is true.

SHANKAR।

Worse than a thousand lies. O my beloved King, I am your old servant, I have suffered pain that only God knows, yet never complained. But how can I bear this? That you should travel through all the roads of Kashmir, to enter your cage of prison? Why did not your servant die before this day?

(Enters a SOLDIER.)

SOLDIER।

The carriage is at the door.

VIKRAM।

Have they no instruments at hand, -flutes and drums? Let them strike a glad tune. {Coming near the door} I welcome you, my kingly friend, with all my heart.

{Enters SUMITRA, with a covered tray in her hands.}

{Enters SUMITRA, with a covered tray in her hands.}

VIKRAM।

Sumitra. My Queen!

SUMITRA।

King Vikram, day and night you sought him in hills and forests, spreading devastation, neglecting your people and your honour, and to-day he sends through me to you his coveted head, -the head upon which death sits even more majestic than his crown.

VIKRAM।

My Queen.

SUMITRA।

Sire, no longer your Queen; for merciful death has claimed me. {Falls and dies.}

SHANKAR।

My King, my Master, my darling boy, you have done well. You have come to your eternal throne. God has allowed me to live for so long to witness this glory. And now, my days are done, and your servant will follow you.

{Enters ILA, dressed in a bridal dress.}

{Enters ILA, dressed in a bridal dress.}

ILA।

King, I hear the bridal music. Where is my lover? I am ready.