TALES FROM THE HINDU DRAMATISTS - Awaken Video
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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