The Daughter

(Rendered by the author from his Telugu play)

I

(The gossip of a small crowd at a street corner)

"Have you heard the news? The princess has been missing since the morning!"

"Who can trace her out, if she runs away from the palace."

"That is why she is almost imprisoned in the place."

"But she will escape from the prison one day. You don’t know her strength."

"Why? She has already escaped!"

"As rumor will have it?"

"What do you mean? The king himself has set out searching for her."

"I also hear that he has given her up for lost."

"Obviously she is under the spell of some supernatural powers. What do you say?"

"No, my dear friend, she is simply seeking refuge in human nature against the ground of nature. I know her."

"This is a painters vision."

"She used to say that her home is somewhere in those realms where life is just a dream, realms beyond time and space. Now she has flown away."

"This is a poets vision, isn’t it? This escape is nothing but a frantic attempt to fulfil the purpose of her youth and beauty. That seems to be the plain truth."

"Ah, there you are! Now I remember how weirdly she used to cry at the sight of young handsome Buddhist monks"

"Hush! Don’t lead us to the gallows"

II

(Twilight. Vihar garden. Bhikku Ananda is plucking flowers. Princess Maitreyi is playing with an antelope. The moon is peeping at the eastern horizon.)

Ananda: (To the flower) O Flower! Why do you quiver so?

Maitreyi: Oh! You speak to flowers!

Ananda: Why not? I know their language.

Maitreyi: Why don’t you understand me, then?

Ananda: O Flower! Where is the seat of your smile?

Maitreyi: In the greed of your eyes. (Looks up) O Star! Where is the source of your glow?

Ananda: In the ashes of your hopes. (To the flower) Let your petals droop to dust and teach my eyes just to see.

Maitreyi: O Streamlet! Where is the voice of your song? Is it in the throb of my heart? Let the sands of desert stifle you, my heart is tired. O Moon! Where are your kisses? Ah! They are in the vanity of my dreams.

Ananda: (Cries out all on a sudden): Sister! Sister!

Maitreyi: Don’t frighten my antelope with your cries.

Ananda: (Turning to the Princess) Why not go to your palace? Night is sharpening her claws.

Maitreyi: O Night! Come on and plunge this Vihar in darkness.

Ananda: (To the flower) Sister, we can’t live here any longer.

Maitreyi: Why not?

Ananda: (To the flower): Now this garden seems to be haunt of vultures.

Maitreyi: (Screams) Ah! Ah!

Ananda: Oh! (Runs to her) What is the matter?

Maitreyi: A bee has stung me! See how my lip bleeds! (Shows the lip)

Ananda: Kiss the flower and your bleeding will stop (Gives her a flower)

Maitreyi: No. There are thorns in it. You Bhikkus are completely devoid of all feeling, you breathing stones! Even if the sky falls or the earth quakes, you remain unperturbed.

Ananda: Like a rock against the flow of the tide, eh? And you?

Maitreyi: I die if the flower falls.

Ananda: No use pining for a flower that fades with the sun.

Maitreyi: I weep with it, I wither with it. Oh! what a wretched life!

Ananda: Wretched life! Whose?

Maitreyi: Human life. Oh! I refuse to live! How I wish to fly away!

Ananda: Whither?

Maitreyi: Into the jaws of Death.

Ananda: Does the process of life stop with death? You go out, just to enter again, don’t you?

Maitreyi: But my heaven is in the grave.

Ananda: No. It is on earth. Death is very easy. Life is almost impossible. How far have you fought out the battle of life, Princess?

Maitreyi: Battle! What do u mean? Where are my enemies? I see none.

Ananda: Anybody can kill a visible enemy.

Maitreyi: What about you? Have you not been scared away by the fact of life? Are you not living on dreams like a coward?

Ananda: Yes, I am a coward, so long as you fail to see the inner struggle in me. (Maitreyi closes her eyes). Don’t fear, my child! Who are you?

Maitreyi: (With eyes closed) A vulture. She has been chasing you all these days. And now you are caught. She will dance with you on the edge of the cloud. She will take you into the realms beyond the skies. She will teach you the meaning of your heart. (Opens her eyes). You see my gaze! Is it not as deep as the valley between the cloud and the lightning?

Ananda: My child!

Maitreyi: I who am determined to throw you into the abyss!

Ananda: Abyss! Where is it?

Maitreyi: Abyss of the world.

Ananda: You want me to fall into it once again?

Maitreyi: No. It will swallow you Ananda, how do you live in a desert?

Ananda: Is Nature a desert?

Maitreyi: There is Love in Nature everywhere, which seeks fulfillment in openess with her beloved. The lotus bathes in the Ganges, wears fresh petals, smiles through quiverings, and invokes dawn, just to melt away in the caress of sunshine. The wave swells to its crest, and through a wild wooing, seeks to kiss the cloud. The streamlet flows on, weaving her dreams into a song of lyric cadence, till it merges into the bosom of the ocean.

Ananda: So what?

Maitreyi: So the place you would like to live in is not Nature, but some unknown dreary desert. (Kissing the antelope) This is yours, isn't it?

Ananda: Yes, Let him have free breath. Do not smother him with kisses.

Maitreyi: It is the sigh of my love.

Ananda: It is the breath of my life.

Maitreyi: So your life is in my hands. Anand, is it so easy to part with a thing which you love most, when once you happen to possess it?

Ananda: He is my darling!

Maitreyi: And I too –(kisses the antelope). Anand, let me tell you the strange dream that I had last night.

I saw a mountain floating on the swinging surface of the ocean. There was none in that part of the world–absolutely none, not a trace of life, except the smile of the moon. The whole atmosphere was calm and serene, in spite of the wail of the wave and whisper of the breeze. I was alone on the peak. Suddenly appeared in the east, some silhouette that had the features of my Anand, and it was slowly moving towards me. I too ran up to embrace it. But with a clenched fist and a twisted brow, it shouted, "Who brought you here?" "Anand! Anand!!" My heart throbbed. "I! I! Your Death! With these words, it gave me a knock on my head. I tumbled into the sea. But I was not drowned at once. A lotus had already spread her peals as if to receive me. I lay on her breast for some time. I was safe, I thought. No. The silhouette began to throw stones at the lotus, till the poor flower was completely sunk. And with it, I too sank…..Oh! What a hideous dream!

(Ananda silent)

Don’t be silent.

Ananda: Who says that I am silent? Don’t you hear the cries of my soul?

Maitreyi: Cries! Why?

Ananda: I remember the words of my sister: "So long as there is woman in this world, no war can be won." This has been the burden of her song.

Maitreyi: And I say: Woman gropes in the abyss of life. Man alone shall save her. Anand, I am a petal dropped from your heart. Do you leave me to the worms?

(Ananda silent)

Oh! Speak on, Anand. What do you see in my heart? Don’t you find yourself enthroned there? Anand, let me love you. Don’t stem the tide. Let it flow on, till it breaks at the touch of the shore. Anand, am I not the ideal of your love? Let me tell you the whole story of my life.

Ananda: No. I know it. I have been your biographer.

Maitreyi: Oh! Yes, the bee plays hide-and-seek with the flower.

Ananda: Princess, it is getting dark, go to your palace.

Maitreyi: Oh! Palace! Where is it? Is it not in the inmost depths of your heart? Speak on, Anand.

Ananda: I wish you had been born dumb.

Maitreyi: Anand, just touch me, I will shrink into a breath, and dwell in your heart, as the source of the smile in your eyes. Anand, let me realise my nothingness in your arms. You are my body, and I, a mere soul. A soul without body is a ghost, and a body without soul is a corpse. So let me make you human by merging into you.

Ananda: Adieu.

(Moves away; the antelope follows him)

Maitreyi: (Dreamly) Anand, you see how my heart beats to the rhythm of your step.

III

(Dawn. Princess Maitreyi is lying unconscious).

(Enter Bhikkuni Gotami with a basket of fruits in her hand)

Gotami: Oh Princess! (Softly touches Maitreyi who wakes up as if from a dream) What has happened to you, Princess? Why do you look so abandoned? You are very tired. Take some fruits, won’t you?

Maitreyi: I cried for the moon, cried and cried, till I forgot what I was crying for. Tell me which way leads to that temple?

Gotami: Which temple? There is no temple nearby.

Maitreyi: The temple in which I found him enshrined. Tell me, sister, which way is it?

Gotami: How can I tell you about things that I don’t understand? I know only one temple and that is the one which we all live, and only one God and that is the one that we all are.

Maitreyi: When I cannot get a thing that I covet most, I simply deify it. You have never coveted such a thing?

Gotami: Nothing except my own life.

Maitreyi: You want to live long?

Gotami: Yes. At least long enough to understand the purpose of life.

Maitreyi: To live is the purpose of life, isn’t it? It is quite simple.

Gotami: To live? For one’s own sake, or for others? That is where the purpose of life seems to lie.

Maitreyi: I don’t understand you.

Gotami: How can a princess understand a nun?

Maitreyi: Sister, how can I possess one whom I love most in the world?

Gotami: By loving those whom your lover loves. That’s all, isn’t it?

Maitreyi: No, sister. Just tell me what sort of penance can make me acceptable to gods.

Gotami: Where are they? I know none. Do they live in air, or on earth? But gods or no gods, penance must be performed, if one should live in the memories of those whom one loves most. And perfect penance consists in self-effacement.

Maitreyi: How can I attain to self-effacement?

Gotami: Through service and sacrifice.

Maitreyi: Sister, don’t you take me with you? I am desolate here.

Gotami: Why not, Princess? But you may feel out of place in our Vihar. Let’s go.

(EXIT)

IV

(Dawn. A corner in the Vihar. Ananda is worshipping a broken idol of the Buddha.)

(Enter Bhikkuni, Gotami and Princess Maitreyi)

Ananda: (In an ecstasy) Sister! Sister! Victory is mine!

Gotami: So at last you have won.

Ananda: Yes, now there are no enemies in me.

Ananda: (Stares at Maitreyi) It is you! You have come here again.

Maitreyi: You are worshipping an idol that has no face.

Ananda: Yes, an ideal has no face.

Gotami: Ananda, spread that Krishnajin first.

(Ananda spreads the Krishnajin)

Take your seat, please.

(Maitreyi sits down; the to her, and lies on her lap).

Maitreyi: I am thirsty.

Gotami: Anand, is there any honey in the Vihar?

Ananda: Yes.

(EXIT)

Maitreyi: I can’t relish honey. Let me have only that which quenches one’s thirst.

Ananda: Water will do for us.

Maitreyi: For me too, that is enough.

Gotami: I wonder. You area princess, aren’t you? Plain water is of no use to you.

(Enter Ananda with honey)

Ananda: Take it. Quench your thirst first.

Maitreyi: Ananda, I am content now, I don’t want any honey.

Ananda: Did you go home or not?

Gotami: Oh! You seem to be good friends.

Ananda: (To Maitreyi) Are we? (To Gotami) Where did you meet her?

Gotami: In the garden. She was lying unconscious.

Ananda: She might have fallen into a trance.

Gotami: When I woke her up, she smiled and bowed to me.

Ananda: Maitreyi, you thought that you could go home alone, with that perturbed mind and palpitating heart?

Gotami: Let her take some rest. I will send word to her parents.

(Enter a Horseman)

What is the matter, sir?

Horseman: I am in search of our princess.

Gotami: (To the Princess) Maitreyi………..

Maitreyi: Oh! You are not tired of this vain pursuit!

Horseman: The Queen, your mother, is on her death-bed.

Maitreyi: I wish her all that I wish for myself.

Horseman: She seems to have almost wept away her life.

Maitreyi: Now you may go.

(The Horseman sheds tears)

Won’t you obey our princess?

Horseman: As it pleases you!

(EXIT)

Maitreyi: You are your mother’s last desire.

Maitreyi: Can’t you accommodate me here?

Gotami: Can you live here at all? This is not a palace and you are a princess.

Maitreyi: Let me live here, as the princess of flowers. Let me lie on the lap of nature. Let me leave the seen and love the unseen. The seen are my worst enemies. Let me enjoy the unheard melodies of life.

Gotami: What can you do here?

Maitreyi: Let me understand the message of peace hidden in the whisperings of the breeze, and the rhythm of life lilting on the ripples of the streamlet.

Ananda: (Rapturously) Ah! Ah!

Maitreyi: Ananda, don’t you love me even now?

(Ananda kisses her on the brow)

Ananda: Oh! Sister! Here is my daughter. I have created her.

Maitreyi: Yes, sister, I am his creature.

Ananda: No. You are my creation. I am proud of you.

Gotami: My child, you have spurned the life of a princess! What a noble heart!

Ananda: Bow to the Arhat, my darling.

(Maitreyi prostrates herself to the idol of the Buddha)

Ananda: Now you may love me.

Maitreyi: My father! (Bows to him)

Ananda: Love me and love those that I love, afflicted humanity! Love them alone, because my heart is lost to them. Love them in thought, word and deed.

(Enter the King)

Gotami: Welcome sir.

King: My child! (Embraces Maitreyi)

Maitreyi: Sir!

King: Call me father, kiss me.

Maitreyi: Do not capture me.

King: What do you mean? Your mother is dying. Let us go home.

Maitreyi: Where is home?

King: Our home, the palace.

Maitreyi: No. Here is my home, my heaven.

King: (Smiling) You naughty child!

Gotami: Maitreyi, why not save your mother’s life?

Maitreyi: (To the King) Are you not my foe?

King: I am your own father.

Maitreyi: But I am not your daughter. I cannot return to those that claim me all for themselves. I am daughter not to you alone, but to these mute poems of pity, the birds and the beasts, to these crystals of tears, the stones, to these love-iron lasses, the palm-trees in the desert! Let me love them all. Nature is my mother. God is my father.

King: Alas!

Maitreyi: Don’t weep. You are a king. Find your heaven among the souls entrusted to your care. Bring them up as your own children. Your daughter is their, not here.

King: Am I dreaming?

Maitreyi: No. Your eyes are open.

King: What is a dream, if not that which one cannot possess?

Maitreyi: Go home, and live like a king, father of your subjects. They are your children. Love them and you will love me.

King: (Shedding tears) Adieu!

(EXIT)

(Gotami, Ananda and Maitreyi chant in chorus – "Om Mani padme hum.")

V

(Same as the opening Scene)

"We are all beggars."

"Do you hear? We, are all beggars, he says."

"Sheer blasphemy, isn’t it? He always blames entire humanity for what he is."

"And we must be proud that we are beggars."

"Why, please?"

"This is another fool to take fools seriously."

"What, old man, are we really beggars?"

"I say, don’t bother him."

"None of us is poor. How can we called beggars?"

"But what has poverty to do with begging? There are beggars among the rich as well as the poor."

(Enter a little girl in rags)

"What do you want, my child?"

The little girl: Your faith that we are all of the same family, only this much. I claim from you.

"What did I tell you, my boys? Now listen to this wise little girl."

"She seems to be some princess in disguise. Beggars don’t walk with a straightened , do they?"

The little girl: I am a beggar, Don’t take me for anything else. Why do you feel ashamed of being a beggar? Your own princess is a beggar now."

"What! Princess turning beggar!"

The little girl: Yes, the princess is begging from door to door, just to feed the beggars. Now do you understand why we beggars walk with a straightened ?

CURTAIN.