SHAKUNTHALAM ACT SEVEN
(enter the king in a chariot moving through the sky, and Matali)
King: Matali, I feel as if I have not been of any help to Indra, when I consider the special reception accorded to me by him.
Matali: My dear sir, I think both of you are equally dissatisfied.
You think what you did for him is nothing,
Compared to the honours he bestowed.
In wonder at your valourous deeds,
He thinks the same of his reception’s worth.
King; Matali, don’t say so. The send off he gave me was beyond one’a fondest expectations. In front of all the Devas, he made me sit on his throne along with him and
Looking at Jayanta standing near
With an inward plea, he smiled,
And tied round my neck the celestial flower garland,
Bearing marks of sandal paste rubbed off his chest.
Matali : What is it you don’t deserve from the Lord of Heaven! See.
Two have rooted out the Asura thorns
From peace-loving Indra’s heavenly world:
Now, your smooth-jointed sharp arrows,
And the Man-Lion’s nails in the ancient past.
King: Even here it is Indra’s greatness that is praise-worthy.
That employees succeed in enterprises great,
You know, is the result of the respect the master gives.
Would Dawn be able to annihilate the darkness of night,
If the Sun had not placed him in fore front?
Matali : This becomes you. (after driving some distance) Dear sir, observe the glory of your fame, established on the Heaven’s surface.
With the colours left from the Heaven’s beauties’ make-up,
These Devas, on the cloth-like leaves of the Kalpaka vines,
Write, after deep thought for material fit for song,
The story of your life.
King: Matali, the other day, in my eagerness for the fight against Asuras, I did not pay attention to the way to Heaven. In which Wind-God’s sphere are we now?
Matali: This, they say, is the region called Parivaha, purified
By the second of the three steps Vishnu took.
It is what supports the Ganges flowing in the sky,
And what rotates the stars with their apportioned rays.
King, That is why my soul with its internal and external senses are freshened up. (looking at the chariot wheel) We seem now to have come down to the region of clouds.
Matali : How do you know?
King: Your chariot, with the wheel-rims wet from spray,
Indicates its passage over the rain-filled clouds,
And by the Chataka-birds darting through the spokes,
And by the horses with the lightning flashes lit.
Matali: Soon you would be in your own country.
King : AS we descend, the world of mortals looks wonderful!
The land seems to slide from top of mountains rising up,
Trees, with bared trunks, abandons the covering of their leaves,
Rivers, shrunk with no water seen, expand and come in full view,
Look, as if thrown up by somebody, Earth is being brought to me.
Matali: Well observed. (looking with admiration) Ha! how lovely and beautiful is the Earth!
King: Matali, which is this mountain, immersed in the seas, on the eastern as well as the western side, and oozing liquid gold, that comes to view like a bank of evening clouds?
Matali : Dear sir, it is the Hemakoota mountain, the abode of Kimpurushas, the holiest place for fruition of penance. See,
Kashyapa the progenitor of all creation,
Father of Devas as well as Asuras,
Born of Marici, the son of the self-born Brahma,
Performs penance here, along with his wife.
King : In that case, good fortune should not be passed by; I would like to go, after pay ing respect to him.
Matali : Very good decision.
(they descend)
King: (in admiration) The wheel rims do not make any noise,
No dust is seen to be raised by it,
Because you hold it from touching ground.
Your chariot, though landed, does not seems so.
Matali : This much alone is the difference between you and Indra, the performer of a hundred sacrifices.
King, Matali, in which place is Kashyapa’s ashram?
Matali: (indicating with his hand)
There, where like a fixed stump, stands an ascetic, facing the disc of the Sun,
His body half buried in anthill, with chest on which snake skins stick,
Neck, in a loop of dry creeper shoots, tightly bound,
And a shock of matted hair, filled with bird nests, over the shoulders spread.
King: Let me bow before this performer of terrible penances.
Matali : ( pulling the reins) Your Majesty, we have now entered Kashyapa’s ashram, where the Mandaara trees of Heaven are nursed by Aditi herself.
King : This is indeed a haven of peace, much more than Heaven. I feel as if immersed in a pool of nectar.
Matali; (bringing the chariot to a halt) : You may get down, sir.
King: (getting down): Matali, what about you now?
Matali: I have anchored the chariot. I shall also get down. (doing so) Here, my Lord. (after going around) See the the penance groves of the ascetics.
King: Am I not looking in wonder!
They live on air, in a forest of divine trees which provide all one wants, Perform their ablutions in water brown from the pollen of golden lotus plants,
Meditate on gem bearing rocks, abstain in the presence of damsels divine,
What others do penance for, there they their penances perform!
Matali : High soaring indeed are the aspirations of the great. (walking further, into the sky) Hullo, VriddhaShakalya, what is His Holiness Kashyapa doing now? What, “asked by Aditi about a devoted wife’s duties, he is expounding it to her and other wives of the sages.”
King: (listening) O! we must wait for proper time to visit the sages.
Matali :(looking at the king) : You may stand under this Ashoka tree: I shall just look for an opportunity to inform the saint.
King : AS you think proper.
Matali : Sir, let me go. (exit)
King: (indicating an omen) ; I have no hope at all of getting what I want,
Why in vain are you throbbing, my arm? A good fortune once spurned
Is hard indeed to get back again.
(in the green room) : I say, don’t be naughty. What to do, he is gone back to his nature!
King (listening): This is is no place for bad conduct. Who is it being reprimanded? (looking in the direction of sound, in wonder) : Aha! Who is this boy, with more than a boy’s strength, closely followed by two women ascetics?
He, in order to play with him,
Pulls, ruffling its mane,
By force a lion cub,
Which has only half finished sucking milk,
(then enters a boy, doing as described by the women ascetics)
Boy: Lion, open your mouth; Let me count your teeth.
First : Naughty boy, why do you trouble these animals which are no different to us from our own children? Haha! Daily grows yourfool-hardiness! No wonder, you are named Sarvadamana, the tamer of all, by the Rishis.
King: How is it, that my mind is attracted to this boy, as if he were my own son. Surely childlessness makes me sentimental.
Second: Look, this lioness will attack you, if you don’t leave alone its baby child.
Boy : (smiling) Aha! Mighty afraid I am! (thrusts lower lip)
King: This boy seems to me a seed of some mighty Power,
Like fire,in the state of spark, waiting for fuel, to blaze!
First: My dear, leave this baby lion. I’ll give another thing to play with.
Boy: Where? Give. (extends his arm)
King : How! He has the signs of an emperor of the world!
His hand, extended to receive the tempting thing,
Shines with web-connected fingers, like a single lotus,
Of which the petal gaps are unseen,
Blown open by reddening rays of early morning light.
Second: See, Suvrata, it is not possible to stop him by merely talking. You go . In my cottage there is a painted clay peacock, belonging to the boy Markandeya. Give it to him.
First : Right!
Boy: I want to play only with him.
King: How I yearn for this spoiled boy.!
Lucky are they who hold their sons as they nestle in their laps,
Watch them exposing their budding teeth as they without reason laugh,
Uttering words of indistinct sounds with a pretty charm its own,
And get dirty from the dust sticking on their limbs.
Woman : Yes, he does’t listen to me. (looking backwards) Hi! Is there any of the hermitage boys around? (seeing the king) Gracious sir, Just come here. Free this small lion from the clutches of this boy, who is troubling it with his child’s play.
King : (approaching with a smile) Look, you sage’s son,
Why do you behave in this unbecoming way for ashram life,
Setting at nought the restraint taught from birth,
And spoil the happiness one gets from animals’ love,
Like a cobra child does to the sandal tree?
Woman: Sir, he is not really a sage’s son.
King: His looks and actions show that. Because I saw him in these surroundings, I thought otherwise. (doing as requested, and feeling the boy’s touch, to kimself)
By the touch of a boy, scion of somebody else’s house,
A feeling of pleasure spreads through my limbs;
How much joy will that lucky man have in his heart,
From whose loins he is actually sprung!
Woman; (observing both) Wonder, wonder!
King : Madam, like what!
Woman: I am surprised because you look so much like him. And also that he did not resist you, though a stranger.
King: (fondling the boy) If he is not a hermit’s son, then which is his family?
Woman: The race of Pooru.
King : (to himself) How! He is of the same race as me! That is why this lady thinks he resembles me. There is of course this final duty for the members of Pooru’s race:
They after first enjoying stay in palaces of delights,
While protecting the earth,
Dwell later at the foot of trees,
Devoted to ascetic vows alone.
King: (aloud) But this is no place where mortals can come by themselves.
Woman: What you say, sir, is absolutely true. But his mother, being related to Apsaras, gave birth to him in this ashram of Kashyapa, the father of gods.
King (to kimself) Ha! This is another ground of hope for me. (aloud) Then which saintly king’s wife was the lady?
Woman: Who wants to mention the name of that person who abandoned his lawful wife?
King : ( to himself) This story seems to point to myself. Shall I ask the name of the boy’s mother? Or it is not decent to talk about other people’s wives.
First woman (entering with the clay peacock) Sarvadamana, see the beauty of the bird!
Boy : ( looking up)Where is my mother?
[ Here an explanation is called for. What the woman said was, “Shakunthalavanyam”. The word can be split to Shakuntha, meanig bird, and lavanya, meaning beauty, OR Shakunthalaa and vaNya (which is probably prakrit for varna). Anyhow the boy, catching the first few syllables, jumps to the conclusion that she was talking of Shakunthala, his mother.]
Both the women: The boy, so attached to his mother, is deceived by similarity to the name
Second woman: She told you, “ see the beauty of this clay peacock”.
King: What! Is his mother’s name also Shakunthala? Ofcourse there can be similarities of name. Wll this mere talk of a name, end in more misery for me, like a mirage!
Boy: Mummy, I like this pretty peacock! (takes the toy)
First: (seeing that and alarmed) I don’t see the amulet on his wrist.
King : Don’t , don’t worry. It is , I think, fallen while playing with the lion cub. (and tries to pick it up)
Both : Please don’t hold it. --He has already done it.
King: Why did you forbid me?
First : Hear, Your Majesty. This is a herb, called Aparajitha, given during his birth-time rites by His Holiness, Kashyapa. No one other than his parents is to take it up if it falls on the ground.
King: What if he takes?
First: It will turn into a serpent and bite.
King: Have you ladies seen this in person any time?
Both : Several times!
King: (joyfully, to himself) How is it, I can hardly congratulate myself even when my desire is fulfilled! (hugs the boy)
Second: Come, Suvrata. We will tell this news to Shakunthala.
(both exit)
Boy: Leave me. Let me go to mother.
King: My son, along with me, you can greet your mother.
Boy: My father is Dushyantha, not you!
King: (smiling) Even this denial convinces me.
(then enters Shakunthala,with a single braid of hair)
Shakunthala: Even when I heard that Sarvadamana’s amulet retained its form at the time it should have changed, I had no hope of good fortune. Or it is possible to happen as Sanumati said.
King: Oh! This is she, Shakunthala!
Clad in soiled clothes, with only a braid of hair,
Emaciated in face from observance of abstinent rites,
She, pure in heart, practises a dedicated life of vows
Because of separation, alas, from the very cruel me.
Shakunthala: (seeing the king pale with remorse) He does not look like my husband at all. Then who can it be who defiles my son, protected by the amulet, by touching him?
Boy: (approaching mother) :Mummy, this stranger calls me son and embraces me.
King: My dear, even the cruelty I did to you has ended happily now that I see you have recognized me.
Shakunthala: (to herself) Quiet, quiet, my heart. Fate has at last given up hostility and taken pity on me. This is surely my husband.
King: Dear, Luckily now you stand in front of me, who at last is freed
From mental stupour by remembrance of the past,
Like Rohini, at the eclipse end
Reunited with the Moon.
Shakunthala: Hail,my husband! (stops half-said, choked with tears)
King: Pretty one, Even though your wish for my success
Is blocked by tears, I have indeed won,
Since I could see your face once again,
lips without any make-up glowing red.
Boy : mummy, who is he?
Shakunthala: Child, ask your Fortunes!
King: (falling at the feet of Shakunthala)
Let all grief at my rejection disappear from your heart;
There was some great derangement in my mind at that time.
Such behaviour at the good is common when stupidity is very great,
A blind man shakes off even a garland, taking it for a snake.
Shakunthala: Get up , husband. Surely some past deeds of mine, which went against morality, came to fruition in those days; Otherwise why should a compassionate man like you turn agaist me!
( king gets up)
Shakunthala: How then did you remember this ill-fated person?
King: I will tell you, after pulling out this thorn of sadness in my heart.
The tear drop troubling your lower lip
Which in my folly I ignored once.
Let me now wipe it clinging on your curv’d eye-lash
And get over the sorrow of remorse, my dear.
(and does so)
Shakunthala: (seeing the ring with his name) This is that ring!
King: When I got the ring I got my memory back.
Shakunthala: It behaved badly, by not being available at the time for convicing you.
King: In that case, let the vine acquire the blossom, as a sign of the union with Spring.
Shakunthala: Still I don’t trust it. Better you wear it yourself.
Matali: (entering) Happily, Your Highness is united with your wife and able to meet your son.
King: All my wishes have borne the sweetest of fruits. Matali, is not Lord Indra aware of all this development?
Matali : (smiling) What is not known to the Gods! Please come, sir, the great sage Kashyapa is ready to meet you.
King: Hold the boy. I would like to meet the sage, along with you.
Shakunthala: I feel shy to go before these eders with you.
King: But it has be done at such happy times. Come, come.
(so they go around)
(And then enters Kashyapa, seated with Adithi)
Kashyapa: Adithi,
This is the lord of all earth, called Dushyanta,
Always in the front of your son’s battle field.
By his bow is accomplished all that is to be done,
Indra’s thunder-bolt is only an ornamental piece.
Adithi: One can guess his prowess from the appearance
Matali: Dear sir, these parents of Gods are looking at you, with eyes that betoken their love for you. Please approach.
King: Matali: These two form a couple,
Who sages say is the cause of the Power that is split in twelve,
Who gave birth to the Lord of all three worlds, chief sharer of sacrifice,
And in whom the supreme Person, above the Self-born, took birth,
And who, after Daksha and Marichi, are one remove from Creator himself.
Matali: Yes, of course.
King (approaching) Dushyantha, at the service of Indra, bows humbly before both of you
Kashyapa: Ckild, live long. Protect the earth.
Adithi: Child, be you unrivalled.
Shakunthala: Along with my boy, I worship at your feet.
Kashypa: Child, Your husbsnd is equal to Indra,
Son is like Jayantha, Indra’s son,
No other blessing is fit for you:
Be you like Shachi, Indra’s wife.
Adithi: My child, Be honoured by your husband. And may this boy live long and be the joy of both the families. Do sit.
(all sit facing the sage)
Kashyapa: (pointing at each of them)
Virtuous Shakunthala here,
This good child, and you,
Faith, Wealth and Good Fortune,
All three have happily come together.
King: Holy One, what is this: first fulfilment, then seeing? Unprecedented is your blessing. For
First comes flower, then the fruit,
First clouds form, then it rains,
This is the order of cause and effect,
But before your blessings prosperity comes!
Matali : This is how the primeval gods bless.
King: Great sage, I have done a great offence to reverend Kanva, your kinsman, by repudiating, from failure of memory, this your servant when she was brought by her relatives to me, some time after I had married her by Gandharva rites. Later, on seeing the ring, I recollected that I had married her. All this looks so strange to me.
Kashyapa : Don’t think you have done anything wrong. And forgetfulness is hardly possible in you. Listen.
King : I am all attention.
Kashyapa: When Menaka came to Adithi with Shakunthala, who was clearly in some confusion after her bath in the Apsarstheerttha, then itself I undrestood from contemplation that this innocent dutiful wife was repudiated by you, because of the curse of Durvasas, and not anything else, and that this curse will cease at the sight of the ring.
King : (showing relief) Then I am not guilty of this shameful conduct.
Shakunthala: (to herself) Luckily, my husband did not reject for no reason. But I don’t remember that I was cursed. Or in my absent-mindedness due to separation, I did not know that this curse was on me. That mstt be why my friends told me that I should show the ring to my husband.
Kashyapa: My child, you have got what you wished for. You should not bear any grudge against him who is your partner in the duties of life
You were affected by curse; you are now mistress over your husband,
Who, then cruel from memoryy loss, Is freed of that spell.
Beauty never shows in a mirror that is clouded by dust,
But when it is cleaned, is there for all to see.
King: It is as you say, holy sir.
Kashyapa: Won’t you be proud of your son from Shakunthala, whose birth rites have been duly performed by us?
King: Sir, my family’s continuance depends on him! (holds the child by hand)
Kashypa: That is true. You may be assured that he is the future emperor of the world. See,
Crossing the seas in his smooth and straight moving car,
He will conquer unopposed the seven continenents of the Earth.
Called here Sarvadamana, because he tamed all creatures with his strength,
He will later get the name Bharatha, the protector of the world.
[The name Bharat for India is supposed to come from this King Bharata]
King : All this wii come to him brought up and educated by you, there is no doubt.
Adithi : Holy One, let Kanva be informed in detail the fulfilment of his daughter’s wishes. Menaka, the fond mother, ia already here in attendaance.
Shakunthala: She is expressing my own wish.
Kashyapa; All this he will directly know because of the power of his penance.
King : That is why the sage is not too angry with me.
Kashyapa; Still I should enquire about his wishes, HI! Who is there?
Disciple : (entering) Here I am!
Kashyapa : Galava, Go through the sky to Sage Kanva, and tell from me the happy news. That Shakunthala and her son have been accepted by Dushyantha, who freed from the curse has recovered his memory.
Disciple: Your orders, sir. (exit)
Kashyapa : Dear boy, you, with your wife and son, may get in the chariot of your friend, Indra, and leave for your kingdom.
King : As you command, Sir.
Kashyapa : Also,
May Indra give plenty of rain to your subjects,
And may you with many sacrifices please him well.
Thus hundreds of aeons, may you both pass in mutual help,
Laudable in that it is a blessing for both the worlds.
King: Holy saint, I will try my utmost for the good of all.
Kashyapa : Son, what more shall I do for ypu?
King: What more can I wish! If you still want to do me favour, let it be this.
( now the final valedictory prayer)
May the king act for people’s good,
May the words of scholars have due respect.
And may the self-born Siva, with his all-pervading Power,
Put an end to my cycle of birth and rebirth.
(all exit)
[END OF SEVENTH ACT]
SO IS COMPLETE THE PLAY CALLED SHAKUNTHALAM.
(enter the king in a chariot moving through the sky, and Matali)
King: Matali, I feel as if I have not been of any help to Indra, when I consider the special reception accorded to me by him.
Matali: My dear sir, I think both of you are equally dissatisfied.
You think what you did for him is nothing,
Compared to the honours he bestowed.
In wonder at your valourous deeds,
He thinks the same of his reception’s worth.
King; Matali, don’t say so. The send off he gave me was beyond one’a fondest expectations. In front of all the Devas, he made me sit on his throne along with him and
Looking at Jayanta standing near
With an inward plea, he smiled,
And tied round my neck the celestial flower garland,
Bearing marks of sandal paste rubbed off his chest.
Matali : What is it you don’t deserve from the Lord of Heaven! See.
Two have rooted out the Asura thorns
From peace-loving Indra’s heavenly world:
Now, your smooth-jointed sharp arrows,
And the Man-Lion’s nails in the ancient past.
King: Even here it is Indra’s greatness that is praise-worthy.
That employees succeed in enterprises great,
You know, is the result of the respect the master gives.
Would Dawn be able to annihilate the darkness of night,
If the Sun had not placed him in fore front?
Matali : This becomes you. (after driving some distance) Dear sir, observe the glory of your fame, established on the Heaven’s surface.
With the colours left from the Heaven’s beauties’ make-up,
These Devas, on the cloth-like leaves of the Kalpaka vines,
Write, after deep thought for material fit for song,
The story of your life.
King: Matali, the other day, in my eagerness for the fight against Asuras, I did not pay attention to the way to Heaven. In which Wind-God’s sphere are we now?
Matali: This, they say, is the region called Parivaha, purified
By the second of the three steps Vishnu took.
It is what supports the Ganges flowing in the sky,
And what rotates the stars with their apportioned rays.
King, That is why my soul with its internal and external senses are freshened up. (looking at the chariot wheel) We seem now to have come down to the region of clouds.
Matali : How do you know?
King: Your chariot, with the wheel-rims wet from spray,
Indicates its passage over the rain-filled clouds,
And by the Chataka-birds darting through the spokes,
And by the horses with the lightning flashes lit.
Matali: Soon you would be in your own country.
King : AS we descend, the world of mortals looks wonderful!
The land seems to slide from top of mountains rising up,
Trees, with bared trunks, abandons the covering of their leaves,
Rivers, shrunk with no water seen, expand and come in full view,
Look, as if thrown up by somebody, Earth is being brought to me.
Matali: Well observed. (looking with admiration) Ha! how lovely and beautiful is the Earth!
King: Matali, which is this mountain, immersed in the seas, on the eastern as well as the western side, and oozing liquid gold, that comes to view like a bank of evening clouds?
Matali : Dear sir, it is the Hemakoota mountain, the abode of Kimpurushas, the holiest place for fruition of penance. See,
Kashyapa the progenitor of all creation,
Father of Devas as well as Asuras,
Born of Marici, the son of the self-born Brahma,
Performs penance here, along with his wife.
King : In that case, good fortune should not be passed by; I would like to go, after pay ing respect to him.
Matali : Very good decision.
(they descend)
King: (in admiration) The wheel rims do not make any noise,
No dust is seen to be raised by it,
Because you hold it from touching ground.
Your chariot, though landed, does not seems so.
Matali : This much alone is the difference between you and Indra, the performer of a hundred sacrifices.
King, Matali, in which place is Kashyapa’s ashram?
Matali: (indicating with his hand)
There, where like a fixed stump, stands an ascetic, facing the disc of the Sun,
His body half buried in anthill, with chest on which snake skins stick,
Neck, in a loop of dry creeper shoots, tightly bound,
And a shock of matted hair, filled with bird nests, over the shoulders spread.
King: Let me bow before this performer of terrible penances.
Matali : ( pulling the reins) Your Majesty, we have now entered Kashyapa’s ashram, where the Mandaara trees of Heaven are nursed by Aditi herself.
King : This is indeed a haven of peace, much more than Heaven. I feel as if immersed in a pool of nectar.
Matali; (bringing the chariot to a halt) : You may get down, sir.
King: (getting down): Matali, what about you now?
Matali: I have anchored the chariot. I shall also get down. (doing so) Here, my Lord. (after going around) See the the penance groves of the ascetics.
King: Am I not looking in wonder!
They live on air, in a forest of divine trees which provide all one wants, Perform their ablutions in water brown from the pollen of golden lotus plants,
Meditate on gem bearing rocks, abstain in the presence of damsels divine,
What others do penance for, there they their penances perform!
Matali : High soaring indeed are the aspirations of the great. (walking further, into the sky) Hullo, VriddhaShakalya, what is His Holiness Kashyapa doing now? What, “asked by Aditi about a devoted wife’s duties, he is expounding it to her and other wives of the sages.”
King: (listening) O! we must wait for proper time to visit the sages.
Matali :(looking at the king) : You may stand under this Ashoka tree: I shall just look for an opportunity to inform the saint.
King : AS you think proper.
Matali : Sir, let me go. (exit)
King: (indicating an omen) ; I have no hope at all of getting what I want,
Why in vain are you throbbing, my arm? A good fortune once spurned
Is hard indeed to get back again.
(in the green room) : I say, don’t be naughty. What to do, he is gone back to his nature!
King (listening): This is is no place for bad conduct. Who is it being reprimanded? (looking in the direction of sound, in wonder) : Aha! Who is this boy, with more than a boy’s strength, closely followed by two women ascetics?
He, in order to play with him,
Pulls, ruffling its mane,
By force a lion cub,
Which has only half finished sucking milk,
(then enters a boy, doing as described by the women ascetics)
Boy: Lion, open your mouth; Let me count your teeth.
First : Naughty boy, why do you trouble these animals which are no different to us from our own children? Haha! Daily grows yourfool-hardiness! No wonder, you are named Sarvadamana, the tamer of all, by the Rishis.
King: How is it, that my mind is attracted to this boy, as if he were my own son. Surely childlessness makes me sentimental.
Second: Look, this lioness will attack you, if you don’t leave alone its baby child.
Boy : (smiling) Aha! Mighty afraid I am! (thrusts lower lip)
King: This boy seems to me a seed of some mighty Power,
Like fire,in the state of spark, waiting for fuel, to blaze!
First: My dear, leave this baby lion. I’ll give another thing to play with.
Boy: Where? Give. (extends his arm)
King : How! He has the signs of an emperor of the world!
His hand, extended to receive the tempting thing,
Shines with web-connected fingers, like a single lotus,
Of which the petal gaps are unseen,
Blown open by reddening rays of early morning light.
Second: See, Suvrata, it is not possible to stop him by merely talking. You go . In my cottage there is a painted clay peacock, belonging to the boy Markandeya. Give it to him.
First : Right!
Boy: I want to play only with him.
King: How I yearn for this spoiled boy.!
Lucky are they who hold their sons as they nestle in their laps,
Watch them exposing their budding teeth as they without reason laugh,
Uttering words of indistinct sounds with a pretty charm its own,
And get dirty from the dust sticking on their limbs.
Woman : Yes, he does’t listen to me. (looking backwards) Hi! Is there any of the hermitage boys around? (seeing the king) Gracious sir, Just come here. Free this small lion from the clutches of this boy, who is troubling it with his child’s play.
King : (approaching with a smile) Look, you sage’s son,
Why do you behave in this unbecoming way for ashram life,
Setting at nought the restraint taught from birth,
And spoil the happiness one gets from animals’ love,
Like a cobra child does to the sandal tree?
Woman: Sir, he is not really a sage’s son.
King: His looks and actions show that. Because I saw him in these surroundings, I thought otherwise. (doing as requested, and feeling the boy’s touch, to kimself)
By the touch of a boy, scion of somebody else’s house,
A feeling of pleasure spreads through my limbs;
How much joy will that lucky man have in his heart,
From whose loins he is actually sprung!
Woman; (observing both) Wonder, wonder!
King : Madam, like what!
Woman: I am surprised because you look so much like him. And also that he did not resist you, though a stranger.
King: (fondling the boy) If he is not a hermit’s son, then which is his family?
Woman: The race of Pooru.
King : (to himself) How! He is of the same race as me! That is why this lady thinks he resembles me. There is of course this final duty for the members of Pooru’s race:
They after first enjoying stay in palaces of delights,
While protecting the earth,
Dwell later at the foot of trees,
Devoted to ascetic vows alone.
King: (aloud) But this is no place where mortals can come by themselves.
Woman: What you say, sir, is absolutely true. But his mother, being related to Apsaras, gave birth to him in this ashram of Kashyapa, the father of gods.
King (to kimself) Ha! This is another ground of hope for me. (aloud) Then which saintly king’s wife was the lady?
Woman: Who wants to mention the name of that person who abandoned his lawful wife?
King : ( to himself) This story seems to point to myself. Shall I ask the name of the boy’s mother? Or it is not decent to talk about other people’s wives.
First woman (entering with the clay peacock) Sarvadamana, see the beauty of the bird!
Boy : ( looking up)Where is my mother?
[ Here an explanation is called for. What the woman said was, “Shakunthalavanyam”. The word can be split to Shakuntha, meanig bird, and lavanya, meaning beauty, OR Shakunthalaa and vaNya (which is probably prakrit for varna). Anyhow the boy, catching the first few syllables, jumps to the conclusion that she was talking of Shakunthala, his mother.]
Both the women: The boy, so attached to his mother, is deceived by similarity to the name
Second woman: She told you, “ see the beauty of this clay peacock”.
King: What! Is his mother’s name also Shakunthala? Ofcourse there can be similarities of name. Wll this mere talk of a name, end in more misery for me, like a mirage!
Boy: Mummy, I like this pretty peacock! (takes the toy)
First: (seeing that and alarmed) I don’t see the amulet on his wrist.
King : Don’t , don’t worry. It is , I think, fallen while playing with the lion cub. (and tries to pick it up)
Both : Please don’t hold it. --He has already done it.
King: Why did you forbid me?
First : Hear, Your Majesty. This is a herb, called Aparajitha, given during his birth-time rites by His Holiness, Kashyapa. No one other than his parents is to take it up if it falls on the ground.
King: What if he takes?
First: It will turn into a serpent and bite.
King: Have you ladies seen this in person any time?
Both : Several times!
King: (joyfully, to himself) How is it, I can hardly congratulate myself even when my desire is fulfilled! (hugs the boy)
Second: Come, Suvrata. We will tell this news to Shakunthala.
(both exit)
Boy: Leave me. Let me go to mother.
King: My son, along with me, you can greet your mother.
Boy: My father is Dushyantha, not you!
King: (smiling) Even this denial convinces me.
(then enters Shakunthala,with a single braid of hair)
Shakunthala: Even when I heard that Sarvadamana’s amulet retained its form at the time it should have changed, I had no hope of good fortune. Or it is possible to happen as Sanumati said.
King: Oh! This is she, Shakunthala!
Clad in soiled clothes, with only a braid of hair,
Emaciated in face from observance of abstinent rites,
She, pure in heart, practises a dedicated life of vows
Because of separation, alas, from the very cruel me.
Shakunthala: (seeing the king pale with remorse) He does not look like my husband at all. Then who can it be who defiles my son, protected by the amulet, by touching him?
Boy: (approaching mother) :Mummy, this stranger calls me son and embraces me.
King: My dear, even the cruelty I did to you has ended happily now that I see you have recognized me.
Shakunthala: (to herself) Quiet, quiet, my heart. Fate has at last given up hostility and taken pity on me. This is surely my husband.
King: Dear, Luckily now you stand in front of me, who at last is freed
From mental stupour by remembrance of the past,
Like Rohini, at the eclipse end
Reunited with the Moon.
Shakunthala: Hail,my husband! (stops half-said, choked with tears)
King: Pretty one, Even though your wish for my success
Is blocked by tears, I have indeed won,
Since I could see your face once again,
lips without any make-up glowing red.
Boy : mummy, who is he?
Shakunthala: Child, ask your Fortunes!
King: (falling at the feet of Shakunthala)
Let all grief at my rejection disappear from your heart;
There was some great derangement in my mind at that time.
Such behaviour at the good is common when stupidity is very great,
A blind man shakes off even a garland, taking it for a snake.
Shakunthala: Get up , husband. Surely some past deeds of mine, which went against morality, came to fruition in those days; Otherwise why should a compassionate man like you turn agaist me!
( king gets up)
Shakunthala: How then did you remember this ill-fated person?
King: I will tell you, after pulling out this thorn of sadness in my heart.
The tear drop troubling your lower lip
Which in my folly I ignored once.
Let me now wipe it clinging on your curv’d eye-lash
And get over the sorrow of remorse, my dear.
(and does so)
Shakunthala: (seeing the ring with his name) This is that ring!
King: When I got the ring I got my memory back.
Shakunthala: It behaved badly, by not being available at the time for convicing you.
King: In that case, let the vine acquire the blossom, as a sign of the union with Spring.
Shakunthala: Still I don’t trust it. Better you wear it yourself.
Matali: (entering) Happily, Your Highness is united with your wife and able to meet your son.
King: All my wishes have borne the sweetest of fruits. Matali, is not Lord Indra aware of all this development?
Matali : (smiling) What is not known to the Gods! Please come, sir, the great sage Kashyapa is ready to meet you.
King: Hold the boy. I would like to meet the sage, along with you.
Shakunthala: I feel shy to go before these eders with you.
King: But it has be done at such happy times. Come, come.
(so they go around)
(And then enters Kashyapa, seated with Adithi)
Kashyapa: Adithi,
This is the lord of all earth, called Dushyanta,
Always in the front of your son’s battle field.
By his bow is accomplished all that is to be done,
Indra’s thunder-bolt is only an ornamental piece.
Adithi: One can guess his prowess from the appearance
Matali: Dear sir, these parents of Gods are looking at you, with eyes that betoken their love for you. Please approach.
King: Matali: These two form a couple,
Who sages say is the cause of the Power that is split in twelve,
Who gave birth to the Lord of all three worlds, chief sharer of sacrifice,
And in whom the supreme Person, above the Self-born, took birth,
And who, after Daksha and Marichi, are one remove from Creator himself.
Matali: Yes, of course.
King (approaching) Dushyantha, at the service of Indra, bows humbly before both of you
Kashyapa: Ckild, live long. Protect the earth.
Adithi: Child, be you unrivalled.
Shakunthala: Along with my boy, I worship at your feet.
Kashypa: Child, Your husbsnd is equal to Indra,
Son is like Jayantha, Indra’s son,
No other blessing is fit for you:
Be you like Shachi, Indra’s wife.
Adithi: My child, Be honoured by your husband. And may this boy live long and be the joy of both the families. Do sit.
(all sit facing the sage)
Kashyapa: (pointing at each of them)
Virtuous Shakunthala here,
This good child, and you,
Faith, Wealth and Good Fortune,
All three have happily come together.
King: Holy One, what is this: first fulfilment, then seeing? Unprecedented is your blessing. For
First comes flower, then the fruit,
First clouds form, then it rains,
This is the order of cause and effect,
But before your blessings prosperity comes!
Matali : This is how the primeval gods bless.
King: Great sage, I have done a great offence to reverend Kanva, your kinsman, by repudiating, from failure of memory, this your servant when she was brought by her relatives to me, some time after I had married her by Gandharva rites. Later, on seeing the ring, I recollected that I had married her. All this looks so strange to me.
Kashyapa : Don’t think you have done anything wrong. And forgetfulness is hardly possible in you. Listen.
King : I am all attention.
Kashyapa: When Menaka came to Adithi with Shakunthala, who was clearly in some confusion after her bath in the Apsarstheerttha, then itself I undrestood from contemplation that this innocent dutiful wife was repudiated by you, because of the curse of Durvasas, and not anything else, and that this curse will cease at the sight of the ring.
King : (showing relief) Then I am not guilty of this shameful conduct.
Shakunthala: (to herself) Luckily, my husband did not reject for no reason. But I don’t remember that I was cursed. Or in my absent-mindedness due to separation, I did not know that this curse was on me. That mstt be why my friends told me that I should show the ring to my husband.
Kashyapa: My child, you have got what you wished for. You should not bear any grudge against him who is your partner in the duties of life
You were affected by curse; you are now mistress over your husband,
Who, then cruel from memoryy loss, Is freed of that spell.
Beauty never shows in a mirror that is clouded by dust,
But when it is cleaned, is there for all to see.
King: It is as you say, holy sir.
Kashyapa: Won’t you be proud of your son from Shakunthala, whose birth rites have been duly performed by us?
King: Sir, my family’s continuance depends on him! (holds the child by hand)
Kashypa: That is true. You may be assured that he is the future emperor of the world. See,
Crossing the seas in his smooth and straight moving car,
He will conquer unopposed the seven continenents of the Earth.
Called here Sarvadamana, because he tamed all creatures with his strength,
He will later get the name Bharatha, the protector of the world.
[The name Bharat for India is supposed to come from this King Bharata]
King : All this wii come to him brought up and educated by you, there is no doubt.
Adithi : Holy One, let Kanva be informed in detail the fulfilment of his daughter’s wishes. Menaka, the fond mother, ia already here in attendaance.
Shakunthala: She is expressing my own wish.
Kashyapa; All this he will directly know because of the power of his penance.
King : That is why the sage is not too angry with me.
Kashyapa; Still I should enquire about his wishes, HI! Who is there?
Disciple : (entering) Here I am!
Kashyapa : Galava, Go through the sky to Sage Kanva, and tell from me the happy news. That Shakunthala and her son have been accepted by Dushyantha, who freed from the curse has recovered his memory.
Disciple: Your orders, sir. (exit)
Kashyapa : Dear boy, you, with your wife and son, may get in the chariot of your friend, Indra, and leave for your kingdom.
King : As you command, Sir.
Kashyapa : Also,
May Indra give plenty of rain to your subjects,
And may you with many sacrifices please him well.
Thus hundreds of aeons, may you both pass in mutual help,
Laudable in that it is a blessing for both the worlds.
King: Holy saint, I will try my utmost for the good of all.
Kashyapa : Son, what more shall I do for ypu?
King: What more can I wish! If you still want to do me favour, let it be this.
( now the final valedictory prayer)
May the king act for people’s good,
May the words of scholars have due respect.
And may the self-born Siva, with his all-pervading Power,
Put an end to my cycle of birth and rebirth.
(all exit)
[END OF SEVENTH ACT]
SO IS COMPLETE THE PLAY CALLED SHAKUNTHALAM.
No comments:
Post a Comment