The Little Clay Cart by Sudraka (best classic romance novels TXT) 📕
But a spirit so powerful as that of King Shudraka could not be confined within the strait-jacket of the minute, and sometimes puerile, rules of the technical works. In the very title of the drama, he has disregarded the rule[11] that the name of a drama of invention should be formed by compounding the names of heroine and hero.[12] Again, the books prescribe[13] that the hero shall appear in every act; yet Charudatta does not appear in acts ii., iv., vi., and viii. And further, various characters, Vasantasena, Maitreya, the courtier, and others, have vastly gained because they do not conform too closely to the technical definitions.
The characters of The Little Clay Cart are living men and women. Even when the type makes no strong appeal to Western minds, as in the case of Charudatta, the character lives, in a sense in which Dushyanta[14] or even Rama[15] can
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Thy mirth-shored stream, that kind and healing river—
Alas! is perished, lost, and gone forever!38
[Tearfully.] Ah, woe is me!
Now thou hast done this deed of hate?
Like sin's foul self, hast thou laid low
The sinless goddess of our state.39
[Aside.] Ah! Perhaps the wretch means to lay this sin to my charge. I must go hence. [He walks about. Sansthānaka approaches and holds him back.] Scoundrel! Touch me not. I have done with you. I go.
Sansthānaka. Aha! Firsht you murder Vasantasenā, then you abuse me, and now where will you run to? And sho a man like me has n't anybody to protect him.
[131.8. S.
Courtier. You are an accursèd scoundrel!
Sansth.
A copper, and a cap, to have and hold.
And sho the fame of thish great deed shall be
A common property, and shan't touch me.40
Courtier. A curse upon you! Yours, and yours only, be the deed.
Sthāvaraka. Heaven avert the omen! [Sansthānaka bursts out laughing.]
Courtier.
Damned be a friendship that so shames my worth!
Never may I set eyes on one so low!
I fling you off, an unstrung, broken bow.41
Sansthānaka. Don't be angry. Come, let's go and play in the pond.
Courtier.
Your friendship stains, and mocks my sinlessness,
You woman-murderer! How could I be
A friend to one whom women ever see
With eyes half-closed in apprehension's stress?42
[Mournfully.] Vasantasenā,
Be not a courtezan reborn,
But in a house which sinless men,
And virtuous, and good, adorn.43
Sansthānaka. Firsht you murder Vasantasenā in my old garden Pushpakaranda, and now where will you run to? Come, defend yourshelf in court before my shishter's husband! [He holds him back.]
Courtier. Enough, you accursèd scoundrel! [He draws his sword.]
Sansthānaka. [Recoiling in terror.] Shcared, are you? Go along, then.
Courtier. [Aside.] It would be folly to remain here. Well, I will go and join myself to Sharvilaka, Chandanaka, and the rest.[Exit.
P. 219.5]
Sansthānaka. Go to hell. Well, my little shon Sthāvaraka, what kind of a thing is thish that I 've done?
Sthāvaraka. Master, you have committed a terrible crime.
Sansthānaka. Shlave! What do you mean by talking about a crime? Well, I 'll do it thish way. [He takes various ornaments from his person.] Take these gems. I give 'em to you. Whenever I want to wear them, I 'll take them back again, but the resht of the time they are yours.
Sthāvaraka. They should be worn only by my master. What have I to do with such things?
Sansthānaka. Go along! Take these bullocks, and wait in the tower of my palace until I come.
Sthāvaraka. Yes, master.[Exit.
Sansthānaka. The gentleman has made himshelf invisible. He wanted to save himshelf. And the shlave I 'll put in irons in the palace tower, and keep him there. And sho the shecret will be shafe. I 'll go along, but firsht I 'll take a look at her. Is she dead, or shall I murder her again? [He looks at Vasantasenā.] Dead as a doornail! Good! I 'll cover her with thish cloak. No, it has my name on it. Shome honesht man might recognize it. Well, here are shome dry leaves that the wind has blown into a heap. I 'll cover her with them. [He does so, then pauses to reflect.] Good! I 'll do it thish way. I 'll go to court at once, and there I 'll lodge a complaint. I 'll shay that the merchant Chārudatta enticed Vasantasenā into my old garden Pushpakaranda, and killed her for her money.
And I 'll invent the plan, forgetting pity;
The shacrificing of a sinless cow
Is cruel in the kindesht-hearted city.44
Now I 'm ready to go. [He starts to go away, but perceives something that frightens him.] Goodnessh gracioush me! Wherever I go, thish damned monk comes with his yellow robes. I bored a hole in his nose once and drove him around, and he hates me. Perhaps he'll shee me, and will tell people that I murdered her. How shall I eshcape? [He looks about.] Aha! I 'll jump over the wall where it is half fallen down, and eshcape that way.
[133.8. S.
In heaven, on earth below,
In hell, and in Ceylon,
Hanūmat's peaks upon—
Like Indra's self, I go.[Exit.] 45
[Enter hurriedly the Buddhist monk, ex-shampooer.]
Monk. I 've washed these rags of mine. Shall I let them dry on a branch? no, the monkeys would steal them. On the ground? the dust would make them dirty again. Well then, where shall I spread them out to dry? [He looks about.] Ah, here is a pile of dry leaves which the wind has blown into a heap. I 'll spread them out on that. [He does so.] Buddha be praised! [He sits down.] Now I will repeat a hymn of the faith.
By whom protection to the Town is given,
By whom the Outcaste impotent is slain,
He cannot fail to enter into heaven.(2)
After all, what have I to do with heaven, before I have paid my debt to Vasantasenā, my sister in Buddha? She bought my freedom for ten gold-pieces from the gamblers, and since that day I regard myself as her property. [He looks about.] What was that? a sigh that arose from the leaves? It cannot be.
The wetted garment wets the leaves,
And so, I guess, the scattered leaves
Curl up like any other leaves.46
[Vasantasenā begins to recover consciousness, and stretches out her hand.]
P. 222.12]
Monk. Ah, there appears a woman's hand, adorned with beautiful gems. What! a second hand? [He examines it with the greatest care.] It seems to me, I recognize this hand. Yes, there is no doubt about it. Surely, this is the hand that saved me. But I must see for myself. [He uncovers the body, looks at it, and recognizes it.] It is my sister in Buddha. [Vasantasenā pants for water.] Ah, she seeks water, and the pond is far away. What shall I do? An idea! I will hold this robe over her and let it drip upon her. [He does so. Vasantasenā recovers consciousness, and raises herself. The monk fans her with his garment.]
Vasantasenā. Who are you, sir?
Monk. Has my sister in Buddha forgotten him whose freedom she bought for ten gold-pieces?
Vasantasenā. I seem to remember, but not just as you say. It were better that I had slept never to waken.
Monk. What happened here, sister in Buddha?
Vasantasenā. [Despairingly.] Nothing but what is fitting—for a courtezan.
Monk. Sister in Buddha, support yourself by this creeper[82] that clings to the tree, and rise to your feet [He bends down the creeper. Vasantasenā takes it in her hand, and rises.]
Monk. In yonder monastery dwells one who is my sister in the faith. There shall my sister in Buddha be restored before she returns home. You must walk very slowly, sister. [He walks about and looks around him.] Make way, good people, make way! This is a young lady, and I am a monk, yet my conduct is above reproach.
Who curbs his senses, he is man indeed.
He little recks, if kingdoms fall or stand;
For heaven is in the hollow of his hand.47
[Exeunt.
[72] An allusion to the practice by which the Buddhists induced a state of religious ecstasy.
[73] The five senses.
[74] Ignorance.
[75] The body.
[76] The conceit of individuality.
[77] Used as an appetiser.
[78] The elaborate puns of this passage can hardly be reproduced in a translation.
[79] See page 13.
[80] The four cardinal points, the four intermediate points, the zenith, and the nadir.
[81] The region of Yama, god of death.
[82] A monk may not touch a woman.
ACT THE NINTH THE TRIAL[Enter a beadle.]
Beadle.
The magistrates said to me "Come, beadle, go to the court-room, and make ready the seats." So now I am on my way to set the court-room in order. [He walks about and looks around him.] Here is the court-room, I will enter. [He enters, sweeps, and puts a seat in its place.] There! I have tidied up the court-room and put the seats in readiness, and now I will go and tell the magistrates. [He walks about and looks around him.] But see! Here comes that arrant knave, the king's brother-in-law. I will go away without attracting his attention. [He stands apart. Enter Sansthānaka, in gorgeous raiment.]
Sansth.
I shat within a garden, park, and grove
With women, and with females, and with girls,
Whose lovely limbs with grace angelic move.1
In locks, or curls, it hangs my forehead o'er;
Shometimes 't is matted, shometimes hanging free;
And then again, I wear a pompadour.
I am a wonder, I'm a wondrous thing.
And the husband of my shishter is the king.2
And beshides, I 've found a big hole, like a worm that has crawled into the knot of a lotush-root, and is looking for a hole to creep out at. Now who was I going to accuse of thish wicked deed? [He recalls something.] Oh, yesh! I remember. I was going to accuse poor Chārudatta of thish wicked deed. Beshides, he's poor. They 'll believe anything about him. Good! I 'll go to the court-room and lodge a public complaint against Chārudatta, how he shtrangled Vasantasenā and murdered her. Sho now I 'm on my way to the court-room. [He walks about and looks around him.] Here is the court-room. I 'll go in. [He enters and looks about.] Well, here are the sheats, all arranged. While I 'm waiting for the magishtrates, I 'll jusht sit down a minute on the grass. [He does so.]
P. 226.10]
Beadle. [Walks about in another direction, and looks before him.] Here come the magistrates. I will go to them. [He does so.]
[Enter the judge, accompanied by a gild-warden, a clerk, and others.]
Judge. Gild-warden and clerk!
Gild-warden and Clerk. We await your bidding.
Judge. A trial depends to such an extent upon others that the task of the magistrates—the reading of another's thoughts—is most difficult.
Matters beyond the province of the law;
Passion so rules the parties that their lies,
Hide their offenses from judicial eyes;
This side and that exaggerate a thing,
Until at last it implicates the king;
To sum it up: false blame is easy won,
A true judge little praised, or praised by none.3
And again:
And in their anger scorn
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