Hindu literature Part 66

MaTHAVYA.--That's your business. Your royal prerogative gives you power over all offenders.

KING.--Very true. Listen to me, thou favorite guest of flowering plants; why give thyself the trouble of hovering here? See where thy partner sits on yonder flower, And waits for thee ere she will sip its dew.

SaNUMATi [_aside_].--A most polite way of warning him off!

MaTHAVYA.--You'll find the obstinate creature is not to be sent about his business so easily as you think.

KING.--Dost thou presume to disobey? Now hear me-- An thou but touch the lips of my beloved, Sweet as the opening blossom, whence I quaffed In happier days love's nectar, I will place thee Within the hollow of yon lotus cup, And there imprison thee for thy presumption.

MaTHAVYA.--He must be bold indeed not to show any fear when you threaten him with such an awful punishment. [_Smiling, aside_.] He is stark mad, that's clear; and I believe, by keeping him company, I am beginning to talk almost as wildly. [_Aloud_.] Look, it is only a painted bee.

KING.--Painted? impossible!

SaNUMATi [_aside_].--Even I did not perceive it; how much less should he?

KING.--Oh! my dear friend, why were you so ill-natured as to tell me the truth?

While, all entranced, I gazed upon her picture, My loved one seemed to live before my eyes, Till every fibre of my being thrilled With rapturous emotion. Oh! 'twas cruel To dissipate the day-dream, and transform The blissful vision to a lifeless image.

[_Sheds tears_.

SaNUMATi [_aside_].--Separated lovers are very difficult to please; but he seems more difficult than usual.

KING.--Alas! my dear Mathavya, why am I doomed to be the victim of perpetual disappointment?

Vain is the hope of meeting her in dreams, For slumber night by night forsakes my couch: And now that I would fain a.s.suage my grief By gazing on her portrait here before me, Tears of despairing love obscure my sight.

SaNUMATi [_aside_],--You have made ample amends for the wrong you did Sakoontala in disowning her.

CHATURIKa [_entering_].--Victory to the King! I was coming along with the box of colors in my hand------

KING.--What now?

CHATURIKa.--When I met the Queen Vasumati, attended by Taralika. She insisted on taking it from me, and declared she would herself deliver it into your Majesty's hands.

MaTHAVYA.--By what luck did you contrive to escape her?

CHATURIKa.--While her maid was disengaging her mantle, which had caught in the branch of a shrub, I ran away.

KING.--Here, my good friend, take the picture and conceal it. My attentions to the Queen have made her presumptuous. She will be here in a minute.

MaTHAVYA.--Conceal the picture! conceal myself, you mean. [_Getting up and taking the picture_.] The Queen has a bitter draught in store for you, which you will have to swallow as Siva did the poison at the Deluge. When you are well quit of her, you may send and call me from the Palace of Clouds,[42] where I shall take refuge.

[_Exit, running_.

SaNUMATi [_aside_].--Although the King's affections are transferred to another object, yet he respects his previous attachments. I fear his love must be somewhat fickle.

VETRAVATi [_entering with a despatch in her hand_].--Victory to the King!

KING.---Vetravati, did you observe the Queen Vasumati coming in this direction?

VETRAVATi.--I did; but when she saw that I had a despatch in my hand for your Majesty, she turned back.

KING.--The Queen has too much regard for propriety to interrupt me when I am engaged with state-affairs.

VETRAVATi.--So please your Majesty, your Prime Minister begs respectfully to inform you that he has devoted much time to the settlement of financial calculations, and only one case of importance has been submitted by the citizens for his consideration. He has made a written report of the facts, and requests your Majesty to cast your eyes over it.

KING.--Hand me the paper.

[_Vetravati delivers it_.

KING [_reading_].--What have we here? "A merchant named Dhanamitra, trading by sea, was lost in a late shipwreck. Though a wealthy trader, he was childless; and the whole of his immense property becomes by law forfeited to the King." So writes the minister. Alas! alas! for his childlessness. But surely, if he was wealthy, he must have had many wives. Let an inquiry be made whether any one of them is expecting to give birth to a child.

VETRAVATi.--They say that his wife, the daughter of the foreman of a guild belonging to Ayodhya, has just completed the ceremonies usual upon such expectations.

KING.--The unborn child has a t.i.tle to his father's property. Such is my decree. Go, bid my minister proclaim it so.

VETRAVATi.--I will, my liege. [_Going_.

KING.--Stay a moment.

VETRAVATi.--I am at your Majesty's service.

KING.--Let there be no question whether he may or may not have left offspring; Rather be it proclaimed that whosoe'er Of King Dushyanta's subjects be bereaved Of any loved relation, an it be not That his estates are forfeited for crimes, Dushyanta will himself to them supply That kinsman's place in tenderest affection.

VETRAVATi.--It shall be so proclaimed.

[_Exit Vetravati, and reenter after an interval_.

VETRAVATi.--Your Majesty's proclamation was received with acclamations of joy, like grateful rain at the right season.

KING [_drawing a deep sigh_].--So then, the property of rich men, who have no lineal descendants, pa.s.ses over to a stranger at their decease.

And such, alas! must be the fate of the fortunes of the race of Puru at my death; even as when fertile soil is sown with seed at the wrong season.

VETRAVATi.--Heaven forbid!

KING.--Fool that I was to reject such happiness when it offered itself for my acceptance!

SaNUMATi [_aside_].--He may well blame his own folly when he calls to mind his treatment of my beloved Sakoontala.

KING.--Ah! woe is me? when I forsook my wife-- My lawful wife--concealed within her breast There lay my second self, a child unborn, Hope of my race, e'en as the choicest fruit Lies hidden in the bosom of the earth.

SaNUMATi [_aside_].--There is no fear of your race being cut off for want of a son.

CHATURIKa [_aside to Vetravati_].--The affair of the merchant's death has quite upset our royal master, and caused him sad distress. Had you not better fetch the worthy Mathavya from the Palace of Clouds to comfort him?

VETRAVATi.--A very good idea. [_Exit_.

KING.--Alas! the shades of my forefathers are even now beginning to be alarmed, lest at my death they may be deprived of their funeral libations.

No son remains in King Dushyanta's place To offer sacred homage to the dead Of Puru's n.o.ble line: my ancestors Must drink these glistening tears, the last libation A childless man can ever hope to make them.

[_Falls down in an agony of grief_.

CHATURIKa [_looking at him in consternation_].--Great King, compose yourself.