Tales from the Hindu Dramatists | Page 4

Urvasi had first
disclosed her love, but it is lost, carried away by the wind. But worse
than this the leaf is picked up by the queen, who comes to look for the
king in the garden. The queen severely upbraids her husband, and, after
a while, goes off in a hurry, like a river in the rainy season.

When Urvasi was recalled to Indra's heaven, she had to act before Indra
the part of the goddess of beauty, who selects Vishnu for her husband.
One of the names of Vishnu is Purushottama.
Poor Urvasi, when called upon to confess on whom her heart was set,
forgetting the part she had to act, says "I love Pururavas," instead of "I
love Purushottama."
Her teacher Bharata, the author of the play, is so much exasperated by
this mistake, that he pronounces a curse upon Urvasi. "You must lose
your divine knowledge." After the close of the performance, Indra,
observing her as she stood apart, ashamed and disconsolate, calls her
and says:--
"The mortal, who engrosses your thoughts, has been my friend in the
days of adversity; he has helped me in the conflict with the enemies of
the gods, and is entitled to my acknowledgements. You must,
accordingly, repair to him and remain with him till he beholds the
offspring you shall bear him." The god thus permits her to marry the
mortal hero.
After transacting public business, the king retires to the garden of the
palace as the evening approaches. A messenger arrives from the queen,
apprising his Majesty that she desires to see him on the terrace of the
pavilion. The king obeys and ascends the crystal steps while the moon
is just about to rise, and the east is tinged with red.
As he is waiting for the queen, his desire for Urvasi is awakened again.
On a sudden, Urvasi enters on a heavenly car, accompanied by his
friend. They are invisible to the king as on the previous occasion. The
moment that Urvasi is about to withdraw her veil, the queen appears.
She is dressed in white, without any ornaments, and comes to propitiate
her husband, by taking a vow.
Then she, calling upon the god of the moon, performs her solemn vow
and retires.
Urvasi, who is present, though in an invisible state, during this scene of

matrimonial reconciliation, now advances behind the king and covers
his eyes with her hands. The king says:--
"It must be Urvasi; no other hand could shed such ecstasy through my
emaciated frame. The solar rays do not wake the night's fair blossom;
that alone expands when conscious of the moon's dear presence."
She takes the resignation of the queen in good earnest and claims the
king as granted her by right. Her friend takes leave and she now
remains with the king as his beloved wife in the groves of a forest.
Subsequently the lovers are wandering near Kailasa, the divine
mountain, when Urvasi, in a fit of jealousy, enters the grove of Kumara,
the god of war, which is forbidden to all females. In consequence of
Bharat's curse she is instantly metamorphosed into a creeper. The king
beside himself with grief at her loss, seeks her everywhere. The
nymphs in a chorus deplore her fate. Mournful strains are heard in the
air.
The king enters a wild forest, his features express insanity, his dress is
disordered. Clouds gather overhead. He rushes frantically after a cloud
which he mistakes for a demon that carried away his bride.
He addresses various birds and asks them whether they have seen his
love,--the peacock, 'the bird of the dark-blue throat and eyes of jet,'--the
cuckoo, 'whom lovers deem Love's messenger,'--the swans, 'who are
sailing northward, and whose elegant gait betrays that they have seen
her,'--the chakravaka, 'a bird who, during the night, is himself separated
from his mate,'--but none responds. He apostrophises various insects,
beasts and even a mountain peak to tell him where she is.
Neither the bees which murmur amidst the petals of the lotus, nor the
royal elephant, that reclines with his mate under the Kadamba tree, has
seen the lost one.
At last he thinks he sees her in the mountain stream:--
"The rippling wave is like her frown; the row of tossing birds her girdle;

streaks of foam, her fluttering garment as she speeds along; the current,
her devious and stumbling gait. It is she turned in her wrath into a
stream."
At last the king finds a gem of ruddy radiance. He holds it in his hands,
and embraces the vine which is now transformed into Urvasi. Thus is
she restored to her proper form, through the mighty spell of the magical
gem. The efficacious gem is placed on her forehead. The king recovers
his reason. They are thus