Chitra, a Play in One Act | Page 4

first born in the heart of the Creator. I bind in
bonds of pain and bliss the lives of men and women!
Chitra
I know, I know what that pain is and those bonds.--And who art thou,

my lord?
Vasanta
I am his friend--Vasanta--the King of the Seasons. Death and
decrepitude would wear the world to the bone but that I follow them
and constantly attack them. I am Eternal Youth.
Chitra
I bow to thee, Lord Vasanta.
Madana
But what stern vow is thine, fair stranger? Why dost thou wither thy
fresh youth with penance and mortification? Such a sacrifice is not fit
for the worship of love. Who art thou and what is thy prayer?
Chitra
I am Chitra, the daughter of the kingly house of Manipur. With godlike
grace Lord Shiva promised to my royal grandsire an unbroken line of
male descent. Nevertheless, the divine word proved powerless to
change the spark of life in my mother's womb --so invincible was my
nature, woman though I be.
Madana
I know, that is why thy father brings thee up as his son. He has taught
thee the use of the bow and all the duties of a king.
Chitra
Yes, that is why I am dressed in man's attire and have left the seclusion
of a woman's chamber. I know no feminine wiles for winning hearts.
My hands are strong to bend the bow, but I have never learnt Cupid's
archery, the play of eyes.
Madana
That requires no schooling, fair one. The eye does its work untaught,
and he knows how well, who is struck in the heart.
Chitra
One day in search of game I roved alone to the forest on the bank of the
Purna river. Tying my horse to a tree trunk I entered a dense thicket on
the track of a deer. I found a narrow sinuous path meandering through
the dusk of the entangled boughs, the foliage vibrated with the chirping
of crickets, when of a sudden I came upon a man lying on a bed of
dried leaves, across my path. I asked him haughtily to move aside, but
he heeded not. Then with the sharp end of my bow I pricked him in
contempt. Instantly he leapt up with straight, tall limbs, like a sudden

tongue of fire from a heap of ashes. An amused smile flickered round
the corners of his mouth, perhaps at the sight of my boyish countenance.
Then for the first time in my life I felt myself a woman, and knew that
a man was before me.
Madana
At the auspicious hour I teach the man and the woman this supreme
lesson to know themselves. What happened after that?
Chitra
With fear and wonder I asked him "Who are you?" "I am Arjuna," he
said, "of the great Kuru clan." I stood petrified like a statue, and forgot
to do him obeisance. Was this indeed Arjuna, the one great idol of my
dreams! Yes, I had long ago heard how he had vowed a twelve-years'
celibacy. Many a day my young ambition had spurred me on to break
my lance with him, to challenge him in disguise to single combat, and
prove my skill in arms against him. Ah, foolish heart, whither fled thy
presumption? Could I but exchange my youth with all its aspirations
for the clod of earth under his feet, I should deem it a most precious
grace. I know not in what whirlpool of thought I was lost, when
suddenly I saw him vanish through the trees. O foolish woman, neither
didst thou greet him, nor speak a word, nor beg forgiveness, but
stoodest like a barbarian boor while he contemptuously walked
away! . . . Next morning I laid aside my man's clothing. I donned
bracelets, anklets, waist-chain, and a gown of purple red silk. The
unaccustomed dress clung about my shrinking shame; but I hastened on
my quest, and found Arjuna in the forest temple of Shiva.
Madana
Tell me the story to the end. I am the heart-born god, and I understand
the mystery of these impulses.
Chitra
Only vaguely can I remember what things I said, and what answer I got.
Do not ask me to tell you all. Shame fell on me like a thunderbolt, yet
could not break me to pieces, so utterly hard, so like a man am I. His
last words as I walked home pricked my ears like red hot needles. "I
have taken the vow of celibacy. I am not fit to be thy husband!" Oh, the
vow of a man! Surely thou knowest, thou god of love, that unnumbered
saints and sages have surrendered the merits of their life-long penance
at the feet of a woman. I broke my bow in two