{"id":740,"date":"2013-07-13T01:30:06","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=740"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:30:06","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:06","slug":"30-vasavadutta-act-three-scene-5-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\/30-vasavadutta-act-three-scene-5-vol-06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-30_Vasavadutta-Act Three-Scene-5.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

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

\n

\n <\/div>\n

\n

\n <\/div>\n

\nA room in Vasavadutta’s apartments. <\/i><\/p>\n

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

\nI govern no longer what I speak and do..<\/p>\n

\nIs this the fire my mother spoke of? Oh,<\/p>\n

\nIt is sweet, it is sweet. But I will not be mastered<\/p>\n

\nBy any equal creature. Let him serve<\/p>\n

\nObediently and I will load his lovely head<\/p>\n

\nWith costliest favours. He’s my own, my own,<\/p>\n

\nMy slave, my toy to play with as I choose,<\/p>\n

\nAnd shall not dare to play with me. I think he dares;<\/p>\n

\nI do not know, I think he would presume.
\nHe’s gentle, brilliant, bold and beautiful.
\nI’ll send for him and chide and put him down,
\nI’ll chide him harshly; he must not presume.
\nO,1 have forgotten almost my father’s will,
\nYet it was mine. Before I lose it quite,
\nI will compel a promise from the boy.
\nWill it be hard when he is all my own?<\/p>\n

\n(she calls<\/i>)<\/p>\n

\nUmba! Bring Vuthsa to me from his tower.
\nHis music is a voice that cries to me,
\nHis songs are chains he hangs around my heart.
\nI must not hear them often; I forget
\nThat I am Vasavadutta, that he is
\nMy house’s foe, and only Vuthsa feel,
\nThink Vuthsa only, while my captive heart
\nBeats in world-Vuthsa and on Vuthsa throbs.
\nThis must not be.<\/p>\n

\nUmba brings in Vuthsa and retires.
\nGo, Umba. Vuthsa, stand<\/i><\/p>\n

\nBefore me.<\/p>\n

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

\nIt is my sovereign’s voice that speaks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 273<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nBe silent! Lower thy eyes; they are too bold
\nTo gaze on me, my slave.<\/p>\n

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

\nBlame not my eyes,
\nThey follow the dumb motion of a heart
\nUplifted to adore thee.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>(with a shaken voice<\/i>)\n<\/p>\n

\nDost thou really
\nAdore me, Vuthsa?<\/p>\n

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

\nEarth’s one goddess, yes.<\/p>\n

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

\nBut, Vuthsa, men adore with humble eyes
\nUpon their deity’s feet.<\/p>\n

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

\nOh, let me so
\nAdore thee then, thus humble at thy feet,
\nTheir sleeping moonbeams in my eyes, and place
\nMy hands in Paradise beneath these flowers
\nThat bless too oft the chill unheeding earth.
\nLet this not be forbidden to thy slave.
\nSo let me worship, and the carolling of thy speech
\nSo listen.<\/p>\n

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

\nVuthsa, thou must not presume.<\/p>\n

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

\nO even when faint thy voice, thy every word
\nReaches my soul.<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 274<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nWilt thou not let me free?<\/p>\n

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

\nYes, if thou bid; but do not.<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>(bending down to caress his hair<\/i>)\n<\/p>\n

\nIf really
\nAnd as my slave thou adorest, nothing more,
\nI will not bid.<\/p>\n

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

\nWhat more, when this means all.<\/p>\n

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

\nBut if thou serve me, is not all thou hast<\/p>\n

\nMine, mine ? Why dost thou, Vuthsa, keep from me<\/p>\n

\nMy own?<\/p>\n

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

\nTake all; claim all.<\/p>\n

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

\nCowsambie first.<\/p>\n

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

\nIt shall be thine, a jewel for thy feet.<\/p>\n

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

Thy kingdom, Vuthsa, for my will to rule.<\/p>\n

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

\nIt shall be thine, the garden of thy pomp.<\/p>\n

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

\nShall?<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 275<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nIs it not far ? We must go there, my queen,
\nThou to receive and I to give.<\/p>\n

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

\nI wish .
\nTo be there. But, Udayan, thou must vow,
\nAnd the word bind thee, that none else shall be
\nCowsambie’s queen and thou my servant live
\nVowed to obedience underneath my throne.<\/p>\n

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

\nThou only shalt be over my heart a queen,
\nYes, if thou wilt, the despot of my thoughts,
\nMy hopes, my aims, but I will not obey
\nIf thou command disloyalty to thee,
\nMy sweet, sole sovereign.<\/p>\n

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

\nThis reserve I yield.<\/p>\n

\n(hesitatingly<\/i>)<\/p>\n

\nBut Vuthsa, if as subject of my sire,
\nHigh Chunda Mahasegn, I bid thee rule ?<\/p>\n

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

\nMy queen, it will be void.<\/p>\n

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

\nVoid? And thy vow?<\/p>\n

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

\nWould it not be disloyalty in me
\nTo serve another sovereign?<\/p>\n

VASAVADUTTA
\n\t<\/font>(vexed, yet pleased<\/i>)\n<\/p>\n

\nO, thou play’st with me.<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 276<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nNo, queen. What’s wholly mine, that wholly take.
\nBut this belongs to many other souls.<\/p>\n

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

\nTo whom?<\/p>\n

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

\nTheir names are endless. Bharuth first
\nWho ruled the Aryan earth that bears his name,
\nAnd great Dushyanta and Pururavus’
\nFamed warlike son and all their peerless line,
\nUrjoona and Parikshit and his sons
\nWhom God descended to enthrone, and all
\nWho shall come after us, my heirs and thine
\nWho choosest me, and a great nation’s multitudes,
\nAnd the Kuru ancestors and long posterity
\nWho all must give consent.<\/p>\n

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

\nThy thoughts are high.
\nBut if thy life must find a prison here ?
\nMy father is inflexible and stern.<\/p>\n

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

\nDost thou desire this really in thy heart ?
\nVuthsa diminished,1 art thou not diminished\u00b9<\/font> too ?<\/p>\n

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

\nMy rule thou hast vowed ?<\/p>\n

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

\nTo obey thee in all things
\nThroned in Cowsambie, not as here I must,
\nThy father’s captive. There I shall be thine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>Degraded <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 277<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nLeave, Vuthsa, leave me. Take him, Umba, from me.<\/p>\n

UMBA
\n\t<\/font>(entering, in Vasavadutta’s ear<\/i>)\n<\/p>\n

\nWho now is bribed ? We are all traitors now.<\/p>\n

\nShe goes out with Vuthsa. <\/i><\/p>\n

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

\nO joy, if he and all were only mine.<\/p>\n

\nO greatness to be queen of him and earth.<\/p>\n

\nI grow a rebel to my father’s house.<\/p>\n

\nCurtain<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 278<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCENE V     A room in Vasavadutta’s apartments. VASAVADUTTA I govern no longer what I speak and do.. Is this the fire my mother…<\/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-740","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\/740","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=740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}