SRI AUROBINDO
Collected Plays and Short Stories
Part One
A dramatic romance
A room in Vasavadutta's apartments.
Vasavadutta, Munjoolica.
So thou hast dared to come.
To look me in the eyes! Thou canst not. Then?
Hast thou no fear of punishment at all?
For shutting thee in with heaven? none, none at all.
How didst thou dare?
How didst thou dare, proud girl,
To make of kings and princesses thy slaves?
How dare to drag Sourashtra's daughter here,
To keep her as thy servant and to load
With gifts, caresses, chidings and commands,
The puppet of thy sweet imperious will?
Thinkest thou my heart within me was not hot?
But now I am avenged on thee and all.
Vindictive traitress, I will beat thee. 
Do
And I will laugh and ask thee of the night.
Then take thy chastisement.
She seizes and beats her with the
tassels of her girdle.
Art not ashamed to spend thy heart in play
Knowing what thou hast done and what may come?
Think rather of what thou wilt do against
Thy dangerous morrow.
See what thou hast done!
How shall I look my father in the eyes?
What speak? What do? my Vuthsa how protect?
Thy father must not know of this.
Thou thinkst
My joy can be shut in from every eye?
Besides thee I have other serving girls.
None who'ld betray thee. This thing known, his wrath
Would strike thy husband.
My heart and body, twice his shield, between. 
You will be torn apart and Vuthsa penned
In some deep pit or fiercer vengeance taken
To soothe the stern man's outraged heart.
Alas!
Thou hast a brain; give me thy counsel. The ill
Thyself hast done, must thou not remedy?
If thou entreat me much, I will and can.
I shall entreat thee!
Help thyself, proud child.
O, if I have thee at advantage ever!
Stay! I beseech thee, my Munjoolica, —
More humbly!
Oh!
In painful earnest I beseech thee now
To think, plan, spend for my sake all thy thought.
Remember how I soothed thy fallen life
Which might have been so hard. O thou my playmate,
Joy, servant, sister who hast always been,
Help me, save him, deceive my father's wrath,
Then ask from me what huge reward thou wilt. 
Nothing at all. Vengeance is sweet enough
Upon thy father and Gopalaca.
I'm satisfied now. First give me a promise;
Obey me absolutely in all things
Till Vuthsa's free.
And I will walk religiously thy path.
Then think it done.
Vasavadutta (smiling on Vuthsa who enters)
Thou didst. I heard thy heart demand me.
Hark!
What is this noise and laughter in the court?
See, see, the hunchbacked laughable old man!
Surely I know well those eyes.
Munjoolica, this is a friend. He must
Be brought here to me.
Princess, let us call him.
Fie on thee!
Is this an hour for jest and antics?
Munjoolica (looking significantly at her)
Call him.
And thou go in.
How, in!
This girl!
Hast thou not promised to obey me?
Yes.
She goes in. Munjoolica descends.
Yougundharayan sends him. O, he strikes
The hour as if a god had planned all out.
This world's the puppet of a silent Will
Which moves unguessed behind our acts and thoughts;
Events bewildered follow its dim guidance
And flock where they are needed. Is't not thus,
O Thou, our divine Master, that Thou rulest,
Nor car'st at all because Thy joy and power
Are seated in Thyself beyond the ages?
Munjoolica returns bringing in
Vasuntha disguised.
Who is this ancient shape thou bringest? 
I'ld know
If he has a tongue as famous as his hump
And as preposterous; that to learn I bring him.
Where is the only lady of the age?
Something, sir, of both.
O masters then of princes, think not that I scorn
Your prouder royalty; but now if any
Will introduce my hungry old hunchback
To Avunthie's far-famed paragon of girls,
He shall have tithe of all my golden gains.
Why not to Avunthie's governor and a prison,
Yougundharayan's spy?
Strong tonic for a young old man.
Speak freely
Thy message; there are only friends who hear.
Vasuntha (to Vuthsa, with a humorous glance at Munjoolica)
Thy hours were not ill-spent. But thou hast nearly
Frightened these poor young hairs to real grey, 
My sportive lady. Hear now why I crouch
Beneath the hoary burden of this beard
And the insignia of a royal hump, —
And an end to jesting. Vuthsa, in thy city
The people clamour; they besiege thy ministers,
Railing at treason and demanding thee,
Nor can their rage be stilled. Do swiftly then
Whatever thou must do yet, swiftly break forth
Or war will seek thee clamouring round these doors.
To bear thy message back to him I come,
Upon Avunthie's mountain verge who lurks,
Or else to aid thee if our help thou needest.
Let him restrain my army forest-screened
Where the thick woodlands weave a border large
To the ochre garment round Avunthie's loins
Nearest Ujjayinie. Under the cavern-hill
Of Lokanatha let him lie, but never
Transgress that margin till my chariot comes.
'Tis all?
In my own strength all else I'll do.
Good, then I go?
Yes, but with gold, thy fee,
To colour thy going. Bring him gold, dear friend,
Or take from Vasavadutta gem or trinket
That shall bear out his mask to jealous eyes.
Munjoolica goes into the inner chamber.
Leave that to me.
Thou hast adventured much
For my sake.
Poor Alurca cried to come,
But this thing asked for brains and he had only
Blunt courage and a harp. The danger's nothing,
But oh, this hump! I shall not soon walk straight,
Nor rid myself of all the loyal aches
I bear for thee.
Pangs fiercer would have chased them,
Hadst thou been caught, my friend. I shall remember.
Munjoolica returns with gold and a trinket.
Take now these gauds; haste, make thy swiftest way,
For I come close behind thee.
Tell me thy plan.
These chambers are too strongly kept.
But there's
The pleasure-ground.
Let Vasavadutta call
Her brothers on an evening to the park
And wine flow fast. The nights are moonlit now.
Three, but the southern portal
Nearest the ramparts.
There, how many guard?
Three armed Kiratha women keep the gate.
I cannot hurt them. Thou must find a way.
They shall be drowned in wine. The streets outside?
A chariot, — find one for me. I cannot fight
With Vasavadutta on my breast.
I think
That I shall find one.
To break the keepers of the city-gate
In one fierce moment and be out and far.
There are arms enough in the palace.
The armoury
I use sometimes. 
Conceal them in the grounds.
No, in the chariot let them wait for me.
Thou wilt need both thy hands in such a fight.
Vuthsa, I'll be thy charioteer.
Thou canst?
Hope not to find a better in thy realms.
My battle-comrade then! Words are not needed
Between us.
More than that before all's done
I will be to thee. Good fortune makes hard things
Most easy; for the god comes with laden hands.
If the strange word the queen half spoke to me
Means anything, Vicurna's car shall bear
His sister to her joy and sovereign throne.
The pleasure-groves of the palace in Ujjayinie.
Gopalaca, Vuthsa, Vicurna; at a distance under the trees Ungarica, Vasavadutta and Umba.
Vuthsa, the wine is singing in my brain,
The moonlight floods my soul. These are the hours
When the veil for eye and ear is almost rent
And we can hear wind-haired Gundharvas sing
In a strange luminous ether. Thou art one,
Vuthsa, who has escaped the bars and walks
Smiling and harping to enchanted men.
It was your earthly moonlight drew me here
And thou, Gopalaca, and Vindhya's hills
And Vasavadutta. Thou shalt drink with me
In moonlight in Cowsambie.
Vuthsa, when?
What wild and restless spirit keeps thy feet
Tonight, Vicurna?
For what?
Why, for the wine to do its work.
Where's Vasavadutta? Call her to us here.
We are not happy if she walks apart.
There with the mother underneath the trees.
Call them. Thou, Vuthsa, she and I will drink
One cup of love and pledge our hearts in wine
Never to be parted. Thou deceiv'st the days,
O lax and laggard lover.
'Tis the last.
Tomorrow lights another scene.
'Tis good
That thou inclin'st thy heart. My father grows
Stern and impatient. This done, all is well.
All in this poor world cannot have their will;
Its joys are bounded. I submit, it seems.
Wilt thou incline thy heart, Gopalaca?
To what?
To this fair moonlight night's result
And all that follows after.
Easily
I promise that.
All surely will be well.
Munjoolica arrives from the gates; Vicurna
returning from the trees with Ungarica, Vasavadutta
and Umba, goes forward to meet her.
Is't done?
They sprawl half senseless near the gate.
Whole bound and gagged were best. Give Vuthsa word.
Munjoolica, is it tonight?
What, madam?
Ungarica (striking her lightly on the cheek)
He rides tonight.
Let him not learn, nor any, that I knew.
Come, all you wanderers. Mother, here's a cup
That thou must bless with thy fair magic hands
Before we drink it.
May those who drink be one
In heart and great and loving all their days
Favoured by Shiva and by Luxmie blest
Until the end and far beyond.
Drink, Vuthsa.
Three hearts meet in this cup.
Who drinks this first,
He shall be first and he shall be the bond.
Drink, sister Vasavadutta, queen of all.
Queen thou shalt be, my daughter, as in thy heart,
So in thy love and fortunes.
Mine the last.
Thou sayest, my son, yet first mid many men.
Whatever place, so in this knot 'tis found.
Ungarica (embracing Vasavadutta closely)
Forget not thy dear mother in thy bliss.
Gopalaca, attend me to the house,
I have a word for thee, my son.
I come.
Is it the moment?
Yonder lies the gate.
What has been quivering in the air this night?
Thy rapt and rapture far away, O love.
Look farewell to thy father's halls.
Alas!
What is this rashness? Thou art unarmed; the guards
Will slay thee.
Our fates a double shield, thou hast no fear,
Nor anything this night to think or do
Save in the chariot lie between my knees
And listen to the breezes in thy locks
Whistling to thee of far Cowsambie's groves.
He bears her towards the gate, Vicurna
crossing him in his return.
Haste, haste! all's ready.
Should not this girl be bound?
Give rather thy commands.
Thou'lt face the wrath?
O, all for my dear mistress. If the King
Slays me, I shall have lived and died for her
For whom I was born.
Hide in the groves until
Thou hearst a rumour growing from the walls,
Then seek the house and save thyself. Till then
Let no man find thee.
I will lose myself
In the far bushes. O come safely through.
Could you not have trusted me in this?
Weep not!
I'll have thee to Cowsambie if thou live.
Come, follow, follow. He is near the gates.
I to my freedom, she her royal crown!
Vasavadutta's apartment.
Mahasegn, Ungarica, Umba bound, armed women.
She is not here. O treachery! If thou
Wert privy to this, thou shalt die impaled
Or cloven in many pieces.
I am resigned.
Thou'lt stain thy soul with a woman's murder, King?
'Tis truth; she is too slight a thing to crush.
Are not the gardens searched? Who are these slaves
Who dare to loiter? If he's seized, he dies.
Wilt thou make ill much worse, — if this be ill?
How say'st thou? 'Tis not ill? My house is shamed,
My pride downtrodden; all the country laughs
Already at the baffled Mahasegn
Whose daughter was plucked out by one frail boy
From midst his golden city and his hosts
Unnumbered. Who shall honour me henceforth?
Who worship? Who obey? Who fear my sword?
Cowsambie's king has kept the Aryan law,
Nor is thy daughter shamed at all in this,
But taken with noblest honour.
'Tis a law
I spurn. My will is trodden underfoot,
My pride which to preserve or to avenge
Is the warrior's righteousness. Udayan dies.
Or if he reach his capital, my hosts
Shall thunder on and blot it into flame,
A pyre for his torn dishonoured corpse.
Hast thou forgotten thy daughter's heart? Her good,
Her happiness are nothing then to thee?
Is she my daughter? She'll not wish to live
Her sire's dishonour.
Thinkest thou he seized her,
Her heart consenting not?
If it be so
And she thus rebel to my will and blood,
Let her eyes gaze upon their sensuous cause
Of treason mocked with many marring spears.
Art thou an Aryan king and threatenest thus?
Thy daughter only for thyself was loved?
Silence, my queen! Chafe not the lion wroth.
The tiger rather, if this mood thou nurse.
Thou com'st, slow slave!
King, all the grounds are searched.
The guards lie gagged below the southern gate;
All's empty.
Has leisures!
There's a captain from the walls.
Ha! bring him.
The Kirathie brings in the Avunthian captain.
Vuthsa has broken forth.
The wardens of the gate are maimed or dead;
Triumphant, bearing Vasavadutta, far
Exults his chariot o'er the moonlit plains.
O bitter messenger! Pursue, pursue!
Rebha with his armed men and stern-lipped speed
Is hot behind.
Let all my force that keeps
Ujjayinie, be hurled after them, one speed.
Call, call Vicurna; let the boy bring back
First fame of arms today in Vuthsa slain,
His sister's ravisher.
Let not my words
Offend my king. 'Twas Prince Vicurna's car
Bore forth his sister and Vicurna's self
Rode as her guard.
Mahasegn (after an astonished pause)
Revolt against me?
The princess Bundhumathie,
Thy daughter's serving maiden, at Vuthsa's side
Controlled his coursers.
Her I do not blame,
Yet will most fiercely punish. Captain, go;
Gather my chariots; let them gallop fast
Crushing these fugitives' new-made tracks.
As the captain departs, Gopalaca enters.
Head, son, my armies; bear thy sister back
Before irrevocable shame is done,
Nor with thy father's greatness unavenged return.
My father, hear me. Though quite contrary
To all our planned design this thing has fallen,
Yet no dishonour tarnishes the deed,
But as a hero with a hero's child
Has Vuthsa seized the girl. We planned a snare,
He by a noble violence answers us.
We sought to bribe him to a vassal's state
Dangling the jewel of our house in front;
He keeps his freedom and enjoys the gem.
Then since we chose the throw of dice and lost,
Let us be noble gamblers, like a friend
Receive God's hostile chance, nor house blind wounded thoughts
As common natures might. Sanction this rapt;
Let there be love 'twixt Vuthsa's house and us.
I see that in their hearts all have conspired
Against my greatness. Thou art Avunthie's prince,
My second in my cares. Hear then! if 'twixt
Ujjayinie and my frontiers they are seized,
My fiercer will shall strike; but if they reach
Free Vindhya, thou thyself shalt make the peace.
Take Vasavadutta's household and this girl,
Take all her wealth and gauds; lead her thyself
Or follow to Cowsambie, but leave not
Till she is solemnised as Vuthsa's queen.
Sole let her reign throned by Udayan's side;
Then only shall peace live betwixt our realms.
And I will fetch Vicurna back.
Son, never.
I exile the rebel to his name and house.
Let him with Vuthsa whom he chooses dwell,
My foeman's servant.
He goes out, followed by the guards.
If we give his rage its hour,
'Twill sink. His pride will call Vicurna back,
If not the father's heart.
Haste, gather quickly
Her wealth and household. I would make earliest speed,
Lest Vuthsa by ill hap be seized for ill.
Fear not, my son. The hosts are not on earth
That shall prevail against these two in arms.
The Avunthian forests; moonlight.
Vuthsa, Vasavadutta, Munjoolica.
Thou hast held the reins divinely. We approach
Our kingdom's border.
But the foe surround.
We will break through as twice now we have done.
Vuthsa, yon Rebha asks
For parley; is it given? I'ld hold him here
While by a long masked woodland breach I know
Silent we pass their cordon.
Force is best.
Vuthsa, to my mind more; but I would spare
Our Vasavadutta's heart these fierce alarms.
Though she breathes nothing, yet she suffers.
Good!
We'll choose thy peaceful breach.
Vuthsa, if I
Stood forth and bade their leader cease pursuit,
Since of my will I go, he must desist.
It would diminish, love, my victory
And triumph which are thine.
Then let it go.
I would not stain thy fame in arms, though over
My house's head its wheels go trampling.
If we could parley a truce for sleep. This fighting
Makes very drowsy.
Well, captain, thy demand!
Vuthsa, thou art environed. Dost thou yield?
Thou mock'st! Return; we'll break the third last time
Thy fragile chain. Are thy dead counted?
The living
Outnumber their first strength; more force comes on
Fast from Ujjayinie. Therefore yield the princess.
Thyself depart a freeman to thy realms.
Know'st thou thy offer is an insolence?
Then, Prince, await the worst. Living and bound
Or else a corpse we'll bring thee back to our city.
Three times around thee is my cordon passed,
Thy steeds are spent, nor hast thou Urjoona's quiver.
The dawn prepares; think it thy last.
At noon
I give thee tryst within my borders.
Swift!
Before he reach his men and back ascend,
We must be far. Munjoolica, mount my horse,
Ride to Yougundharayan, bid him bring on
His numbers; for I see armies thundering towards us
With angry speed o'er the Avunthian plains.
The horse?
Bound in yon grove.
Rein lightly; he's high-mettled.
Teach me not.
There is no horse yet foaled I cannot ride.
Which is my way through all this leafy tangle?
Thou canst not miss it; for yon path leads only
To Lokanatha's hill beyond our borders.
The moonlight and the glad night-winds
Have rustled luminously among the leaves
And sung me wordless paeans while I fought.
Now let them fall into a rapturous strain
Of silence, while I ride with thee safe clasped
Upon my bosom.
If I could hold thee safe at last!
On the Avunthian border.
Roomunwath, Yougundharayan, Alurca, soldiers.
The dawn with rose and crimson crowned the hills,
There was no sign of Vuthsa's promised wheels.
Two days only
Vasuntha's here. Yet is Udayan swift
With the stroke he in a secret sloth prepares.
We learned that though too late. A secret rashness,
A boy's wild venture with his life for stake
And a kingdom! Dangerously dawns this reign.
See, see, a horseman over Avunthie's edge
Rides to us. He quests forward with his eyes.
Whoe'er he be, he has travelled far. His beast
Labours and stumbles on.
This is no horseman,
It is a woman rides though swift and armed.
She has seen us and dismounts.
A woman rides!
My mind misgives me. Is't some evil chance?
Comes she a broken messenger of grief?
She's young and fair.
Art thou king Vuthsa's captain?
I am he.
Gather thy force; for Vuthsa drives here fast,
But hostile armies surge behind his wheels.
Fast, fast, into the woods your succour bring,
Lest over his wearied coursers and spent quiver
Numbers and speed prevail.
Roomunwath, swift.
But who art thou and where shall be my surety
That thou art no Avunthian sent to lure
Our force into an ambush?
This is surely
Yougundharayan of the prudent brain.
Thy question I reply; the rest resolve
But swiftly, lest Fate mock thy wary thoughts.
My name is Bundhumathie and my father
Sourashtra held; but I, his daughter, taken
Served in Avunthie Vasavadutta. Knowest thou
This ring?
'Tis Vuthsa's.
Young Vicurna's bay
I rode, who guards his sister's ravisher
Against the angry rescuers. Will these riddles,
Wisest of statesmen, solve thy cautious doubt?
Thy tale is strange; but thou at least art true.
Thou art not prudent only!
Forward then.
Roomunwath's camp already is astir.
Near the edge of the forest in Avunthie.
Roomunwath, Yougundharayan, Alurca, Munjoolica, forces.
Stay, stay our march; 'tis Vuthsa's car arrives.
The tired horses stumble as they pause.
There is a noise of armies close behind
And out of woods the Avunthian wheels emerge.
There arrive Vuthsa, Vicurna, Vasavadutta.
My father, all things to their hour are true
And I bring back my venture. Am I pardoned
Its secrecy?
My pupil and son no more,
But hero and monarch! Thou hast set thy foot
Upon Avunthie's head.
Yet still thy son.
Hail, Vasavadutta, great Cowsambie's queen.
Vasavadutta (smiling happily on Vuthsa)
My crown was won by desperate alarms.
It was a perilous race and in the end
Fate won by a head. Were it not the difficult paths
Baffled their numbers, we were hardly here,
So oft we had to pause and rest our steeds.
But in less strength they dared not venture on.
They range their battle now.
Speak thou to them.
Demand a parley there.
If we must fight, it shall be for defence
Retreating while we war unless they urge
Too far their violent trespass.
Rebha comes.
Ye are suitors for a parley?
Rebha, with beaten men.
Because you had your sister in the car
Our shafts were hampered.
Nor could with swords prevail
Against two boys so many hundred men.
O Prince Vicurna, what thou hast done today
Against thy name and nation, I forbear
To value. 'Tis thy first essay of arms.
Well dost thou not to weigh thy better's deeds.
Rebha, wilt thou urge vainly yet this strife?
What hitherto was done, was private act
And duel; now if thou insist on fight,
Two nations are embroiled; and to what end?
I will take Vuthsa and the Princess back.
The impossible
No man is bound to endeavour. While we fight,
King Vuthsa with the captive princess bounds
Unhindered to his high-walled capital.
It is my king's command. I am his arm
And not his counsellor; nor to use my brain
Have any right, save for the swift way to fulfil
His proud and absolute mandate.
If there came
Word from Ujjayinie, then pursuit must cease?
Then truly.
Send a horseman, Rebha, ask,
All meanwhile shall remain as now it stands.
I'll send no horseman; I will fight.
Then war!
We fear it not. This is strange insolence
To stand in arms upon Avunthian ground
And issue mandates to the country's lords.
Rebha, yet pause! No messenger thou needst.
Look where yon chariot furious bounding comes
And over it streams Avunthie's royal flag.
It is the prince Gopalaca. Of this I am glad.
O if my brother comes, then all is well.
For thou art Luxmie. Thou beside me, Fate
And Fortune, peace and battle must obey
The vagrant lightest-winged of my desires.
Gopalaca arrives; with him Umba.
Hail, Vuthsa! peace and love between our lands!
I hold them here incarnate. Welcome thou
Their strong achiever.
As earnest and as proof
Receive this fair accomplice of thy flight
Unpunished. Sister, take her to thy arms.
O Umba, thou com'st safe to me!
And all
My sister's household and her wealth comes fast
Behind me. Only one claim Avunthie keeps;
My sister shall sit throned thy only queen, —
Which, pardon me, my eyes must witness done
With honour to our name.
Cowsambie's majesty
Will brook not even in this Gopalaca,
A foreign summons. Surely my will and love
Shall throne most high, not strong Avunthie's child
But Vasavadutta; whether alone, her will
And mine, the nation and the kingdom's good
Consenting shall decide. Therefore this claim
Urge not, my brother.
Let not this divide us.
The present's gladness is enough; the future's hers
And thine, Udayan, nor shall any man
Compel thee. Boy, thy revolt was rash and fierce
Wronging thy house and thy high father's will.
Exiled must thou in far Cowsambie dwell
Until his wrath is dead.
I care not, brother.
I have done my will, I have observed the right.
Near Vuthsa and my sister's home enough
And I shall see new countries.
Follow behind,
Gopalaca; thy sister's household bring
And all the force thou wilt. We speed in front.
Ride thou, Alurca, near us; let thy harp
Speak of love's anthems and her golden life
To Vasavadutta. Love, the storm is past,
The peril o'er. Now we shall glide, my queen,
Through green-gold woods and between golden fields
To float for ever in a golden dream,
O earth's gold Luxmie, till the shining gates
Eternal open to us thy heavenly home.
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