Part 33 (1/2)

In writing a play of this kind, the poet frankly accepts the conventions; his ingenuity is shown in the minor incidents, in stanzas of poetical description, and in giving abundant opportunity for graceful music and dancing. When the play is approached in this way, it is easy to see the _griffe du lion_ in this, the earliest work of the greatest poet who ever sang repeatedly of love between man and woman, troubled for a time but eventually happy. For though there is in Agnimitra, as in all heroes of his type, something contemptible, there is in Malavika a sweetness, a delicacy, a purity, that make her no unworthy precursor of Sita, of Indumati, of the Yaksha's bride, and of Shakuntala.

II.--”URVAs.h.i.+”

The second of the two inferior dramas may be conveniently called _Urvas.h.i.+_, though the full t.i.tle is _The Tale of Urvas.h.i.+ won by Valour_. When and where the play was first produced we do not know, for the prologue is silent as to these matters. It has been thought that it was the last work of Kalidasa, even that it was never produced in his lifetime. Some support is lent to this theory by the fact that the play is filled with reminiscences of Shakuntala, in small matters as well as in great; as if the poet's imagination had grown weary, and he were willing to repeat himself. Yet _Urvas.h.i.+_ is a much more ambitious effort than _Malavika_, and invites a fuller criticism, after an outline of the plot has been given.

In addition to the stage-director and his a.s.sistant, who appear in the prologue, the characters of the play are these:

PURURAVAS, _king in Pratishthana on the Ganges_.

AYUS, _his son_.

MANAVAKA, _a clown, his friend_.

URVAs.h.i.+, _a heavenly nymph_.

CHITRALEKHA, _another nymph, her friend_.

AUs.h.i.+NARI, _queen of Pururavas_.

NIPUNIKA, _her maid_.

_A charioteer, a chamberlain, a hermit-woman, various nymphs and other divine beings, and attendants_.

The scene s.h.i.+fts as indicated in the following a.n.a.lysis. The time of the first four acts is a few days. Between acts four and five several years elapse.

ACT I.--The prologue only tells us that we may expect a new play of Kalidasa. A company of heavenly nymphs then appear upon Mount Gold-peak wailing and calling for help. Their cries are answered by King Pururavas, who rides in a chariot that flies through the air. In response to his inquiries, the nymphs inform him that two of their number, Urvas.h.i.+ and Chitralekha, have been carried into captivity by a demon. The king darts in pursuit, and presently returns, victorious, with the two nymphs. As soon as Urvas.h.i.+ recovers consciousness, and has rejoined her joyful friends, it is made plain that she and the king have been deeply impressed with each other's attractions. The king is compelled to decline an invitation to visit Paradise, but he and Urvas.h.i.+ exchange loving glances before they part.

ACT II.--The act opens with a comic scene in the king's palace. The clown appears, bursting with the secret of the king's love for Urvas.h.i.+, which has been confided to him. He is joined by the maid Nipunika, commissioned by the queen to discover what it is that occupies the king's mind. She discovers the secret ingeniously, but without much difficulty, and gleefully departs.

The king and the clown then appear in the garden, and the king expresses at some length the depth and seeming hopelessness of his pa.s.sion. The latter part of his lament is overheard by Urvas.h.i.+ herself, who, impelled by love for the king, has come down to earth with her friend Chitralekha, and now stands near, listening but invisible. When she has heard enough to satisfy her of the king's pa.s.sion, she writes a love-stanza on a birch-leaf, and lets it fall before him. His reception of this token is such that Urvas.h.i.+ throws aside the magic veil that renders her invisible, but as soon as she has greeted the king, she and her friend are called away to take their parts in a play that is being presented in Paradise.

The king and the clown hunt for Urvas.h.i.+'s love-letter, which has been neglected during the past few minutes. But the leaf has blown away, only to be picked up and read by Nipunika, who at that moment enters with the queen. The queen can hardly be deceived by the lame excuses which the king makes, and after offering her ironical congratulations, jealously leaves him.

ACT III.--The act opens with a conversation between two minor personages in Paradise. It appears that Urvas.h.i.+ had taken the heroine's part in the drama just presented there, and when asked, ”On whom is your heart set?” had absentmindedly replied, ”On Pururavas.”

Heaven's stage-director had thereupon cursed her to fall from Paradise, but this curse had been thus modified: that she was to live on earth with Pururavas until he should see a child born of her, and was then to return.

The scene s.h.i.+fts to Pururavas' palace. In the early evening, the chamberlain brings the king a message, inviting him to meet the queen on a balcony bathed in the light of the rising moon. The king betakes himself thither with his friend, the clown. In the midst of a dialogue concerning moonlight and love, Urvas.h.i.+ and Chitralekha enter from Paradise, wearing as before veils of invisibility. Presently the queen appears and with humble dignity asks pardon of the king for her rudeness, adding that she will welcome any new queen whom he genuinely loves and who genuinely returns his love. When the queen departs, Urvas.h.i.+ creeps up behind the king and puts her hands over his eyes.

Chitralekha departs after begging the king to make her friend forget Paradise.

ACT IV.--From a short dialogue in Paradise between Chitralekha and another nymph, we learn that a misfortune has befallen Pururavas and Urvas.h.i.+. During their honeymoon in a delightful Himalayan forest, Urvas.h.i.+, in a fit of jealousy, had left her husband, and had inadvertently entered a grove forbidden by an austere G.o.d to women.

She was straightway transformed into a vine, while Pururavas is wandering through the forest in desolate anguish.