{"id":724,"date":"2013-07-13T01:29:59","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=724"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:29:59","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:59","slug":"28-vasavadutta-act-three-scene-3-vol-06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06\/28-vasavadutta-act-three-scene-3-vol-06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-28_Vasavadutta-Act Three-Scene-3.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\nSCENE III <\/b><\/font>
\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n <\/div>\n

\n

\n <\/div>\n

\nA room in Vasavadutta’s apartment.
\nVasavadutta, Munjoolica, Umba. <\/i><\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

Thou hast seen him?<\/p>\n

MUNJOOLICA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYes.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen speak, thou perverse silence,
\nThou canst chatter when thou wilt.<\/p>\n

MUNJOOLICA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat shall I say
\nExcept that thou art always fortunate
\nSince first thy soft feet moved upon our earth,\u00b9<\/font>
\nO living Luxmie, beauty, wealth and joy
\nRun overpacked into thy days, and grandeurs
\nUnmeasured. Now the greatest king on earth
\nIs given thy servant.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat’s the greatest king’s
\nHigh fortune and not mine. For nothing now
\nCan raise me higher than I am whose father
\nIs sovereign over greatest kings. Nothing are these
\nAnd what I long to know thou wilt not tell.
\nWhat is he like?<\/p>\n

MUNJOOLICA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI have seen the god of love
\nWearing a golden human body.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>Since thou first moved with thy soft feet on our earth,
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 261<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>(with a pleased smile<\/i>)<\/p>\n

So fair?<\/p>\n

MUNJOOLICA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs thou art and even more.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMore!<\/p>\n

MUNJOOLICA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCry not out.
\nHis eyes are proud and smiling like the gods’,
\nHis voice is like the sudden call of Spring.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO dear to me even as myself, wear this.<\/p>\n

\nShe puts her own chain round her neck. <\/i><\/p>\n

MUNJOOLICA<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThat is my happiness; keep thy gifts.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThink them
\nMy love around thy neck. Thou hast seen truly ?
\nIt was not spoken to beguile my mind ?
\nThen tell me all you saw there, dearest one;<\/p>\n

\nNot that these things I care for, but would know.<\/p>\n

MUNJOOLICA
\n\t<\/font>(showing Gopalaca and Vuthsa who enter<\/i>)<\/p>\n

Let thy eyes care not then, yet see.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

My brother,<\/p>\n

Long wast thou far from me.<\/p>\n

GOPALACA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFor thy sake I was far.<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 262<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nMuch have I flung, my sister, at thy feet
\nNor thought my gifts were worthy of thy smile,
\nNot even Sourashtra’s conquered daughter here,
\nBut now I give indeed. This is that famous
\nVuthsa Udayan, great Cowsambie’s king,
\nBrought here by m& to serve thee as thy slave,
\nThy royal serf, musician, singer, page.
\nLook on him, tell me if I have deserved.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMuch love, dear brother, not that any prize
\nI value as of worth for such as we,
\nBut thy love gives it price.<\/p>\n

GOPALACA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy love for both.
\nMy gift is precious to me, for my heart
\nPossessed him long before my hands have seized.
\nThen love him well, for so thou lov’st me twice.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>(looking covertly at Vuthsa<\/i>)<\/p>\n

\nAlthough my slave, dear then and prized.<\/p>\n

GOPALACA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAre we not all
\nThy servants ? The wide costly world is less,
\nMy sister, than thy noble charm and grace
\nAnd beauty and the sweetness of thy soul
\nDeserve, O Vasavadutta.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIs it so?<\/p>\n

GOPALACA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy sister, thou wast born from Luxmie’s heart.
\nAnd we thy brothers feel in thee, not us,
\nOur father’s lordly star inherited<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 263<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd in thy girdle all the conquered earth.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI know it, brother.<\/p>\n

GOPALACA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFrom thy childhood, yes,
\nThou seemdst to know, thou heldst rule carelessly;<\/p>\n

\nBut since thou knowest, queen, assume thy fiefs,
\nCowsambie and Ayodhya, for thy house!<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>(glancing at Vuthsa and avoiding his gaze<\/i>)<\/p>\n

\nSince he’s my slave, they are already mine.<\/p>\n

GOPALACA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNay, understand me, sister: make them thine.
\nThou, Vuthsa, serve thy mistress and obey.<\/p>\n

\nHe goes out. <\/i><\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe is a boy, a golden marvellous boy.
\nI am surely older! I can play with him.
\nThere is no fear, no difficulty at all.<\/p>\n

\n(to Vuthsa<\/i>)
\nWhat is thy name ? I’ll hear it from thy lips.<\/p>\n

VUTHSA<\/font><\/p>\n

\nVuthsa.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThou shudderest, Vuthsa; dost thou fear?<\/p>\n

VUTHSA<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPerhaps; there is a fear in too much joy.<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 264<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>(smiling<\/i>)\n<\/p>\n

\nI did not hear. My brother loves thee well.
\nTake comfort. If thou serve me faithfully,
\nThou hast no cause for any grief at all.
\nThou art Cowsambie’s king, \u2014<\/p>\n

VUTHSA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMen call me so.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd now my servant.<\/p>\n

VUTHSA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat my heart repeats.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>(smiling<\/i>)\n<\/p>\n

\nI did not hear. Cowsambie’s king, my slave,
\nWhat canst thou do to please me ?<\/p>\n

VUTHSA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDost thou choose
\nTo know the songs that shake the tranquil gods
\nOr hear on earth the harps of heaven ? dost thou
\nDesire the line and hue of living truth
\nThat makes earth’s shadows pale ? or wilt thou have
\nThe infinite abysmal silences<\/p>\n

\nMade vocal, clothed with form? These things at birth
\nThe Kinnarie, Vidyadhar and Gundharva
\nAround me crowding on Himaloy dumb
\nGave to the silent god that smiled in me
\nBefore my outer mind held thought. All these
\nI can make thine.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nVuthsa, I take all these,
\nAll thy life’s ornaments that thou wearst, for mine
\nAnd am not satisfied.<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 265<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

VUTHSA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDost thou desire
\nThe earth made thine by my victorious bow ?
\nSend me then forth to battle; earth is thine.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA<\/font><\/p>\n

I take the earth and am not satisfied.<\/p>\n

VUTHSA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSay thou what thing shall please thee in thy slave,
\nWhat thou desir’st from Vuthsa?<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDo I know?
\nNot less than all thou hast and all thou canst
\nAnd all thou art.<\/p>\n

VUTHSA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll’s thine.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI speak and hear,
\nAnd know not what I say nor what thou meanst.<\/p>\n

VUTHSA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe deepest things are those thought seizes not;<\/p>\n

\nOur spirits live their hidden meaning out.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>(after a troubled silence in
which she tries to recover herself<\/i>)\n<\/p>\n

\nI know not how we passed into this strain.
\nSuch words are troubling to the mind and heart;<\/p>\n

\nLeave them.<\/p>\n

VUTHSA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey have been spoken.<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 266<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLet them rest.
\nVuthsa, my slave, who promisest me much,
\nGreat things thou offerest, small things I’ll demand
\nFrom thee, yet hard. Since he’s my prisoner,
\nMunjoolica and Umba, guard this boy; ^
\nYou are his jailors. When I have need of him,
\nThen bring him to me. Go, Vuthsa, to thy room.<\/p>\n

\nVuthsa makes an obeisance and touches her feet.
\n<\/i>What dost thou ? It is not permitted thee.<\/p>\n

VUTHSA
\n\t<\/font>(letting his touch linger<\/i>)<\/p>\n

\nNot this? Tis hard.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>(troubled<\/i>)\n<\/p>\n

\nThou art too bold a slave.<\/p>\n

\nVUTHSA
\nLet me be earth beneath thy tread at least.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh, take him from me; I have enough of him!
\nThou, Umba, see he bribes thee not or worse.<\/p>\n

UMBA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI will be bribed to make thee smart for that.
\nWhere shall we put him ? In the tower-room
\nClosing the terrace where thou walkst when moonlight
\nSleeps on the sward ?<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThere; ’tis the nearest.<\/p>\n

UMBA
\n\t<\/font>(taking Vuthsa’s hand<\/i>)\n<\/p>\n

\nCome.
\nThey go out with Vuthsa.<\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 267<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nVASAVADUTTA <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWill he charm me from my purpose with a smile?<\/p>\n

\nHow beautiful he is, how beautiful!<\/p>\n

\nThere is a fear, there is a happy fear.<\/p>\n

\nBut he is mine, his eyes confessed my sway;<\/p>\n

\nSurely I shall do ‘all my will with him..
\nI sent him from me, for his words troubled me
\nAnd still delighted. They have a witchery, \u2014
\nNo, not his words, but voice. ‘Tis not his voice,
\nNor yet his smile, his face, his flower-soft eyes
\nAnd yet it is all these and something more.<\/p>\n

\n(shaking her head<\/i>)<\/p>\n

\nI fear it will be difficult after all.<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 268<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCENE III     A room in Vasavadutta’s apartment. Vasavadutta, Munjoolica, Umba. VASAVADUTTA Thou hast seen him? MUNJOOLICA Yes. VASAVADUTTA Then speak, thou perverse silence,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06","wpcat-15-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}