The King of the Dark Chamber Part 12

SUDARSHANA. It is he, then. I thought, "I am lying here like waste refuse and offal, which no one cares even to touch." But my hero is coming now to release me. Did you know Suvarna?

SURANGAMA. When I was at my father's home, in the gambling den

SUDARSHANA. No, no, I won't hear anything of him from you. He is my own hero, my only salvation. I shall know him without your telling stories about him. But just see, a nice man your King is! He did not care to come to rescue me from even this degradation. You cannot blame me after this. I could not have waited for him all my life here, toiling ignominiously like a bondslave. I shall never have your meekness and submissiveness.

XI

[Encampment]

KANCHI. [To KANYA KUBJA'S MESSENGER.] Tell your King that he need not receive us exactly as his guests. We are on our way back to our kingdoms, but we are waiting to rescue Queen Sudarshana from the servitude and degradation to which she is condemned here.

MESSENGER. Your Highness, you will remember that the princess is in her father's house.

KANCHI. A daughter may stay in her father's home only so long as she remains unmarried.

MESSENGER. But her connections with her father's family remain intact still.

KANCHI. She has abjured all such relations now.

MESSENGER. Such relations.h.i.+p can never be abjured, Your Highness, on this side of death: it may remain in abeyance at times, but can never be wholly broken up.

KANCHI. If the King chooses not to give up his daughter to me on peaceful terms, our Kshatriya code of righteousness will oblige me to employ force. You may take this as my last word.

MESSENGER. Your Highness, do not forget that our King too is bound by the same code. It is idle to expect that he will deliver up his daughter by merely hearing your threats.

KANCHI. Tell your King that I have come prepared for such an answer. [MESSENGER goes out.]

SUVARNA. King of Kanchi, it seems to me that we are daring too much.

KANCHI. What pleasure would there be in this adventure if it were otherwise?

SUVARNA. It does not cost much courage to challenge Kanya Kubja--but ...

KANCHI. If you once begin to be afraid of "but," you will hardly find a place in this world safe enough for you.

[Enter a SOLDIER]

SOLDIER. Your Highness! I have just received the news that the Kings of Koshala, Avanti, and Kalinga are coming this way with their armies. [Exit.]

KANCHI. Just what I was afraid of! The report of Sudarshana's flight has spread abroad--now we are going to be in for a general scramble which is sure to end in smoke.

SUVARNA. It is useless now, Your Highness. These are not good tidings. I am perfectly certain that it is our Emperor himself who has secretly spread the report everywhere.

KANCHI. Why, what good will it bring him?

SUVARNA. The greedy ones will tear one another to pieces in the general rivalry and scramble--and he will take advantage of the situation to go back with the booty.

KANCHI. Now it becomes clear why your King never shows himself.

His trick is to multiply himself on every side--fear makes him visible everywhere. But I will still maintain that your King is but an empty fraud from top to bottom.

SUVARNA. But, please Your Highness, will you have the kindness to let me off?

KANCHI. I cannot let you go--I have some use for you in this affair.

[Enter a SOLDIER]

SOLDIER. Your Highness, Virat, Panchal, and Vidarbha too have come. They have encamped on the other side of the river.[Exit.]

KANCHI. In the beginning we must all fight together. Let the battle with Kanya Kubja first be over, then we shall find some way out of the difficulty.

SUVARNA. Please do not drag me into your plans--I shall be happy if you leave me alone--I am a poor, mean creature--nothing can--

KANCHI. Look here, king of hypocrites, ways and means are never of a very exalted order--roads and stairs and so forth are always to be trodden under our feet. The advantage of utilising men like you in our plans is that we have to make use of no mask or illusion. But if I were to consult my prime minister, it would be absurd for me to call theft by any name less dignified than public benefit. I will go now, and move the princes about like p.a.w.ns on the chessboard; the game cannot evidently go on if all the chessmen propose moving like kings!

XII

[Interior of the Palace]

SUDARSHANA. Is the fight still going on?

SURANGAMA. As fiercely as ever.

SUDARSHANA. Before going out to the battle my father came to me and said, "You have come away from one King, but you have drawn seven Kings after you: I have a mind to cut you up into seven pieces and distribute them among the princes. It would have been well if he did so. Surangama!

SURANGAMA. Yes?

SUDARSHANA. If your King had the power to save me, could my present state have left him unmoved?

SURANGAMA. My Queen, why do you ask me? Have I the power to answer for my King? I know my understanding is dark; that is why I never dare to judge him.

SUDARSHANA. Who have joined in this fight?

SURANGAMA. All the seven princes.

SUDARSHANA. No one else?

SURANGAMA. Suvarna attempted to escape--in secret before the fight began--but Kanchi has kept him a prisoner in his camps.

SUDARSHANA. Oh, I should have been dead long ago! But, O King, my King, if you had come and helped my father, your fame would have been none the less! It would have become brighter and higher. Are you quite sure, Surangama, that he has not come?