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TALES FROM THE HINDU DRAMATISTS - Awaken Video

TALES FROM THE HINDU DRAMATISTS - Awaken Video

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I cease to be myself or conscious of the thing I am."<br />

Malati thus addresses Lavangika:--<br />

"Love spreads through every vein like subtlest poison and, like fire<br />

that brightens in the breeze, consumes this feeble frame. Resistless<br />

fever preys on each fibre. Its fury is fatal. No one can help me.<br />

Neither father nor mother nor Lavangika can save me. Life is distasteful<br />

to me.<br />

Repeatedly recurring to the anguish of my heart, I lose all fortitude<br />

and in my grief become capricious and unjust. Forgive me. Let the full<br />

moon blaze in the mighty sky. Let love rage on. Death screens me from<br />

his fury."<br />

In the meantime, the king makes the long-expected demand and the<br />

minister Bhurivasu returns the following ambiguous answer:--<br />

"Your Majesty may dispose of your daughter as your Majesty pleases."<br />

[This answer is used in a double sense:--<br />

"Your minister's daughter is your own daughter and you can dispose of<br />

her as you please," and "You can dispose of your own daughter as you<br />

please, but not my daughter."<br />

The father's connivance at his daughter's stolen marriage would appear<br />

inconsistent if the reply is not understood in its double sense.]<br />

The intelligence reaches the lovers. They are thrown into despair.<br />

Requested by Lavangika, Kamandaki thus describes Madhava in the presence<br />

of Malati:--<br />

"The sovereign of Vidarbha boasts for minister the wise and<br />

long-experienced Devarata, who bears the burden of state and spreads<br />

throughout the world his piety and fame. Your father knows him well.<br />

For, in their youth, they were joined in study and trained to learning<br />

by the same preceptor.<br />

In this world we rarely behold such characters as theirs. Their lofty<br />

rank is the abode of wisdom and of piety, of valour and of virtue. Their<br />

fame spreads white and spotless through the universe. A son has sprung<br />

from Devarata whose opening virtues early give occasion of rejoicing to<br />

the world. Now, in his bloom, this youth has been sent to our city to<br />

collect ripe stores of knowledge. His name is Madhava."<br />

Kamandaki soliloquises thus:--<br />

"Malati is tutored to our wishes and inspired with hatred of the<br />

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