ACT II

The Gambler Samvahaka

Scene 1

(The following morning. Vasantasena’s house. Cheti enters.)

CHETI: I carry a message to my mistress from her mother. Let me go look for her. (Walks about looking around) Here she is, lost in thought! Let me approach her.

(Vasantasena is seen sitting in a languorous mood in the company of Madanika)

VASANTASENA: (Abstractedly) Madanika, what then?

MADANIKA: Madam, you were not talking of anything! So what do you mean by ‘what then’?

VASANTASENA: What was it that I said?

MADANIKA: You said ‘what then’.

VASANTASENA: (Frowning) Oh, I see.

CHETI: (Drawing near) Madam, your mother wants you to have a bath and perform the daily worship of the deities.

VASANTASENA: Cheti, please tell my mother that I am not bathing just yet. Let the brahmana conduct the worship himself.

CHETI: As you wish, madam. (Exit)

MADANIKA: My lady, it is my affection for you and not impudence that prompts me to ask this question. What is the matter with you today?

VASANTASENA: Madanika, how do I seem to you today?

MADANIKA: As my lady appears preoccupied I gather that she has fallen in love with someone and desires him.

VASANTASENA: Bravo! You are absolutely right! Madanika, what an expert you are at reading other people’s minds!

MADANIKA: I am very pleased, really very pleased! This is indeed the doing of Lord Kama!¹ He always confers great felicity on the young. Now tell me, my lady, which king or king’s favourite do you wish to serve?

VASANTASENA: Madanika, I wish to enjoy, not serve!

MADANIKA: Ah! Do you then fancy a scholarly brahmana youth?

VASANTASENA: But I think that such brahmanas² are to be revered by us!

MADANIKA: Is it then a young prosperous merchant who has travelled far and gathered wealth from various cities that you desire?

VASANTASENA: Madanika, merchants only cause great grief in their women who are full of love for them, by constantly leaving them behind to go away to foreign lands.

MADANIKA: It is not a king nor is it a king’s favourite; it is not a brahmana scholar and it is not a wealthy merchant. Then who is it that my lady fancies?

VASANTASENA: Didn’t you go with me to the Kamadeva temple garden?

MADANIKA: Yes, madam, I did.

VASANTASENA: Yet you ask this question as though you never observed anything then?

MADANIKA: Yes, I know now. Is he the same one from whom my lady sought and obtained protection?

VASANTASENA: Tell me now, what is his name?

MADANIKA: He lives in the merchants’ square.

VASANTASENA: Hey! I asked you his name!

MADANIKA: He is, of course, the aptly named one, Arya Charudatta!³

VASANTASENA: (Happily) Well done, Madanika, well done! You know it all well indeed!

MADANIKA: (To herself) Let me say this anyway. (Aloud) But, madam, I hear he is very poor.

VASANTASENA: That is exactly why he is so right for me to love. By giving her heart to a man without means a courtesan becomes free from all censure in the world.

MADANIKA: Do bees ever go to the mango tree that has no blossoms?

VASANTASENA: That is the very reason why they are called ‘honey-makers’ and not ‘enjoyers of honey’!⁴

MADANIKA: Madam, if you desire him so much why don’t you approach him at once, of your own accord?

VASANTASENA: If I go to him right away he may, due to his inability to reward me in any way, well become unapproachable.

MADANIKA: Is that why you left the ornaments with him, my lady?

VASANTASENA: Madanika, now you have understood everything!

Scene 2

(A road in the city of Ujjayini. Shouting is heard from behind the stage.)

VOICE: The gambler held for a debt of ten gold coins is running away, running away! Catch him! Catch him! Hey you, wait! Wait! I can still see you there in the distance!

(Samvahaka enters in great agitation, pulling aside the back curtain violently)

SAMVAHAKA: Alas! It is wretched to be a gambler!

First it was Gardabhi⁵ that kicked me over the traces,

Like a female donkey for the first time unleashed

Yes, like a female donkey;

Then it was Shakti that finished me off

As Ghatotkacha was struck down, yes,

By the Shakti released by Angaraja.

I saw the Sabhika⁶ engrossed in writing, and slipped quickly away.

Now here I am on the road; whomever shall I go to for refuge?

Well, this is what I’ll do; while the Sabhika and the Dyutakara are looking for me elsewhere let me retrace my steps and enter this temple that has no statue in it and become the goddess! (Enters the temple, tries out many postures and then stands still)

(Enter the Sabhika named Mathura and the Dyutakara⁷)

MATHURA: Gentlemen! Gentlemen! The gambler owing ten sovereigns is running off, catch him, catch him! Hey you, stop now! I can still see you in the distance!

DYUTAKARA:

You may flee to the netherworld,

Or try taking refuge with Indra!

Only the Sabhika can save you,

No one else, not even Rudra.⁸

MATHURA:

Where are you running away to, I pray,

You, deceiver of the honest Sabhika?

Your limbs shake all over, with fear;

As you stumble over even and uneven terrain,

Your honour and lineage you utterly blacken.

DYUTAKARA: (Noticing the footprints) He has been this way! But the track ends here!

MATHURA: (Observing the prints thoughtfully) Hey, the footprints go backward! Here is the temple that has no idol in it . . . I think that rascal of a gambler has gone into the temple by walking backwards!

DYUTAKARA: Let us go after him.

MATHURA: All right! Let us do that.

(They enter the temple and look at each other. A wordless message passes between them.)

DYUTAKARA: How is it that this idol is made of wood?

MATHURA: No, no. It is not made of wood. It is a stone idol. (Shakes the idol in many ways and makes a sign to the Dyutakara) Come! Let us have a game of dice! (The two sit down and play at dice)

SAMVAHAKA: (To himself, trying in various ways to cover up his eagerness to join the game)

The sound of the falling dice

Captivates the heart of the penniless one

Like drumbeats lift the heart of the king

Who has lost his kingdom.

I know I ought never to play again;

Gambling is like hurtling down from the peaks of Sumeru!⁹

Yet, the sound of the falling dice enchants the heart,

Like the sweet call of the nightingale!

DYUTAKARA: This is my point! This point is mine!

MATHURA: Of course not! This is mine!

SAMVAHAKA: (Rushing out from his position on the platform) I would say it is my point!

DYUTAKARA: But I say the fellow is caught!

MATHURA: (Catches hold of him) You! Defaulter of the fine! You are now caught! Cough up the ten sovereigns!

SAMVAHAKA: I shall give you the money today.

MATHURA: Give the money right now.

SAMVAHAKA: I’ll give you the money, but please bear with me now.

MATHURA: I am telling you to give the money right now!

SAMVAHAKA: I feel giddy!

(He falls on the ground. The other two beat him up.)

MATHURA: You are now bound by the rules of the Gamblers’ Circle.¹⁰

SAMVAHAKA: (Rises with dejection) Ah! I am now bound by the rules of the association! These rules of conduct are never to be transgressed by us gamblers. But I’ve no money to give!

MATHURA: Give something as security!

SAMVAHAKA: (Places his hands on the Dyutakara and whispers to him) I shall do it this way. I shall give you half of what I owe; you release me from the other half.

DYUTAKARA: All right.

SAMVAHAKA: (Approaches Mathura and tells him quietly) I shall give you security for one half; the noble gentleman should release me from the other half.

MATHURA: Let it be so, there is no harm in that.

SAMVAHAKA: (Loudly) You have cancelled half my debt.

MATHURA: Yes, it has been cancelled.

SAMVAHAKA: (To the Dyutakara) You too have cancelled half my debt.

DYUTAKARA: Yes, it has been cancelled.

SAMVAHAKA: Fine, then I shall be on my way.¹¹

MATHURA: Hey! Hey! Where are you going? Hand over the ten gold sovereigns!

SAMVAHAKA: (Addressing the crowd that has gathered) Gentlemen, gentlemen, look at this! Wasn’t it just a moment ago that I gave a pledge to one for one half and I was released by the other from the other half? And now he is asking me, helpless as I am, to pay right away!

MATHURA: (Catches hold of Samvahaka) Am I not Mathura, the clever gamester? I shall not be taken in by fraud. Come on, out with all the money right now, you rogue!

SAMVAHAKA: How will I give the money?

MATHURA: Go sell your father and give the money!

SAMVAHAKA: Where shall I produce a father from now?

MATHURA: Then sell your mother!

SAMVAHAKA: Where shall I produce a mother from now?

MATHURA: Why don’t you sell yourself and settle the debt?

SAMVAHAKA: Then do me a favour, take me to the highway.

MATHURA: Get going then.

(They reach the highway)

SAMVAHAKA: All right! Let matters take their own course! (Walks around calling out) O masters! Buy me from the hands of this Sabhika for ten sovereigns! (Looks up at the sky) Do you ask what I can do?¹² I shall become a servant in your home . . . What do you say? . . . He has gone away without answering me! Let me ask this one here . . . Alas this one too has gone away, ignoring me totally! This is the state that I, the luckless one, have come to with the noble Charudatta’s decline in fortune!

MATHURA: Come on, give the money.

SAMVAHAKA: I have no money to give you!

(He falls down and Mathura drags him)

SAMVAHAKA: (Cries out) O my good sirs! Please save me! Please save me!

Scene 3

(The same street as in the previous scene. Enter Darduraka.)

DARDURAKA:

Gambling is virtually a throneless kingdom for the gambler!

There is much that is common between king and gambler;

The king takes defeat in his stride,

The gambler, his humiliation.

The king deals daily with much money,

Receiving and spending.

And the gambler too, winning and losing,

And both are attended by men of great fortune.

The gambler makes his money by gambling alone

Gets a wife and friends, enjoys himself and gives to others as well,

And it is by gambling alone

He loses it all too.

All my fortune taken away by Treta,

My body parched by the fall of Pavara,

Shown the way to quit by Nardita,

I go, completely felled by Kata!¹³

(He peers into the distance) This is our former Sabhika Mathura coming this way. It is not possible to slip away from here now. I shall try to veil myself. (He looks doubtfully at his ragged uttariya)

This cloth suffers from poverty of threads!

This cloth is decorated with a hundred holes!

This cloth that cannot cover

Looks good only when folded up!

But what can this miserable Mathura do to me now?

With one foot in the sky,

And the second on the earth,

I can hang stretched out,

As long as the sun shines!¹⁴

MATHURA: Get someone to pay up! Get someone to pay up!

SAMVAHAKA: I have no one to pay up for me.

(Mathura pulls him)

DARDURAKA: (Calls out) What goes on here? (Talking into the air) What do you say? That the Sabhika is ill-treating this gambler and no one is coming to his rescue?

Why, I Darduraka will rescue him! (Approaching the crowd) Make way, make way please! Ah! What do we have here? The rogue Mathura and in his clutches the poor fellow Samvahaka!

He who cannot remain motionless, suspended,¹⁵

With the head hanging down till the end of the day;

He whose back bears not the scars formed

Of clods of earth grating against it constantly,

And the inside of whose thighs

Have not been nibbled at by the dogs, day after day;

How can a man of such extreme softness

Meddle with dice, again and again?

Well, let me try to calm Mathura down. (Approaching) Mathura, I salute you. (Mathura salutes in return) What is the matter?

MATHURA: This one owes us ten gold sovereigns.

DARDURAKA: But that is a mere trifle!

MATHURA: (Pulls out the rolled-up uttariya from under Darduraka’s arm and waves it) My masters! Just look at this! To this man with the tattered angavastra¹⁶ ten gold sovereigns are a mere trifle!

DARDURAKA: Hey, you fool! I can give you the ten coins by a single throw of Kata! Do You think a man of wealth would walk around carrying it all on his chest?

You are a low-caste villain

And your soul is lost!

For you have hurt a man of five senses

Just for the sake of ten gold coins.

MATHURA: My master, to you ten sovereigns may be chicken feed, but to me it is great wealth.

DARDURAKA: In that case, listen to me. Give the man another ten gold coins and let him play dice again.

MATHURA: Then what happens?

DARDURAKA: If he wins he will give you back your ten sovereigns.

MATHURA: If he does not win . . .?

DARDURAKA: Then he’ll not give you the money!

MATHURA: It is not right to be flippant! You rogue! You talk so much, why don’t you pay up? I am Mathura, the well-known gambler; do you think I’ll show gambling in a false light? I am not afraid of you or anyone else. You are a dissolute character!

DARDURAKA: Hey! Hey! Who is a dissolute character?

MATHURA: You, you are a dissolute character!

DARDURAKA: Not just you, your father too is a dissolute character! (Gestures to Samvahaka to run away)

MATHURA: You son of a whore! Is this how you have been gambling?

DARDURAKA: Do you say I have been gambling dishonestly?

MATHURA: Hey, Samvahaka, pay up the ten sovereigns now!

SAMVAHAKA: I shall return the money today! I promise you, I will! (Mathura tries to pull him)

DARDURAKA: You villain, you can abuse him when I am not around, not when I am present!

(Mathura pulls Samvahaka and punches him on the nose. Samvahaka, with blood on his face, falls down as though in a faint. Darduraka goes and stands between the two, shielding Samvahaka. Mathura hits Darduraka and Darduraka hits back.)

MATHURA: You rascal, son of a bitch, you will suffer the consequences of this!

DARDURAKA: Hey, I am just a passer-by and yet you have hit me! Tomorrow you try hitting me in the court and then you will see!

MATHURA: I will see now, here!

DARDURAKA: How will you see?

MATHURA: Thus! (Mathura opens his eyes wide.) (Darduraka throws dust into Mathura’s eyes and signals to Samvahaka to run away. Mathura falls on the ground, rubbing his eyes. Samvahaka runs away.)

DARDURAKA: (To himself) I have made an enemy of the chief Sabhika Mathura. It is not wise to linger here. I have been told by my friend Sharvilaka that soothsayers have predicted that a cowherd boy named Aryaka¹⁷ is destined soon to become king. Aryaka’s following consists of people like me. So let me also go and join up with him. (Exit)

(Another street in the city)

SAMVAHAKA: (Looking around and walking in fear) Here’s someone’s house with the side door open. Let me enter. (Enters and sees Vasantasena inside) Madam, I seek your protection!

VASANTASENA: Refuge granted to the seeker! Cheti! Close the side door. (Cheti closes the door) Whom do you fear?

SAMVAHAKA: I fear a creditor, madam.

VASANTASENA: Cheti, now you can open the side door.

SAMVAHAKA: (To himself) How lightly has the threat from the creditor been dismissed! Rightly is it said:

He who knows his strength

And bears a burden equal to it

Never stumbles; nor would he perish

Even in the wilderness.¹⁸

I am a case in point!

Scene 4

(The same street where the scuffle between Mathura and Darduraka took place)

MATHURA: (Rubs his eyes and addresses the Dyutakara thinking it is Samvahaka) Hey! Pay up! Pay up!

DYUTAKARA: Master, while we were having our own little spat with Darduraka that man stole away.

MATHURA: I broke that gambler’s nose when I punched him on the face. Come, let us follow the blood trail.

DYUTAKARA: (Following) Sir, he has gone into Vasantasena’s house.

MATHURA: We might as well say goodbye to the sovereigns!

DYUTAKARA: Let us go to the court and file a case.

MATHURA: This scoundrel will soon leave here to go elsewhere. We shall just surround him then and capture him. (They lie in wait)

(Inside Vasantasena’s house. Vasantasena is saying something to Madanika by means of signs.)

MADANIKA: (Understanding that her lady wants her to question the man) Who are you and where have you come from, sir? Whom do you serve? What trade do you practise? Whom are you afraid of?

SAMVAHAKA: Respected ladies! Please listen to my story. I hail from Pataliputra;¹⁹ I am the son of a village headman. I am a masseur and shampooer by trade.

VASANTASENA: It is indeed a gentle and refined art that the noble sir has mastered.

SAMVAHAKA: I learned it as an art, but now it has become my livelihood.

MADANIKA: Sir, you say that with great sadness! What happened then?

SAMVAHAKA: At home, listening to the nomadic people talk of the wonders of other lands, my curiosity about countries that I had never visited was greatly roused and I came here to see for myself. I have worked with only one master here in Ujjayini, the likes of whom it is difficult to meet. Handsome and gently spoken, he gives and never talks about it; he readily forgives and forgets one’s mistakes. He is civil and courteous to such an extent that he considers himself as belonging to others. And he is ready to protect all those who seek refuge with him.

MADANIKA: Who could this be—he who seems to have stolen the virtues of the one who reigns in my lady’s heart in order to adorn Ujjayini himself?

VASANTASENA: Well put, Madanika! I too was struck with the very same thought.

MADANIKA: (To Samvahaka) Well, what happened then?

SAMVAHAKA: Well, due to his generosity born of compassion . . .

VASANTASENA: Is he now left with no wealth?

SAMVAHAKA: How did you know without my telling you?

VASANTASENA: There is no special knowledge needed here! Virtue and fortune are seldom seen together. It is only the pond whose waters are unfit to drink that remains always full.

MADANIKA: And what is this gentleman’s name?

SAMVAHAKA: Is there anyone who does not recognize the name of that person, a veritable Chandra come to earth? None indeed! He lives in the merchants’ square; he is the worthy Arya Charudatta.

VASANTASENA: (Rising from her seat with great joy) Please think of this house as your own! Madanika, give him a seat. Get a fan, the honourable gentleman is fatigued. (Madanika does her bidding)

SAMVAHAKA: (To himself) I get so much respect with the mere mention of Arya Charudatta’s name! Wonderful, wonderful! Arya Charudatta! In the whole world you alone live in the full sense of the word; the rest merely breathe! (Falls at Vasantasena’s feet and says out loud) Do not trouble yourself! Do not trouble yourself! Pray be seated, madam.

VASANTASENA: (Sits down again) Now, how about the creditor?

SAMVAHAKA:

He is a good man whose only wealth is courtesy;

Anyone can possess riches that come and go!

Would he who knows not how to give honour

Appreciate the honour done to him?

VASANTASENA: Yes, go on.

SAMVAHAKA: Well, I was in Arya Charudatta’s service for a salary. When that noble person had only his virtues left as wealth, I began to gamble to make both ends meet. Then, due to ill luck, I lost ten gold coins at dice.

MATHURA: (Standing close to the open door of Vasantasena’s house and shouting) I am ruined! I have been robbed!

SAMVAHAKA: Here they are, the Sabhika and the Dyutakara, at my heels. Having heard my story, it is up to the honourable lady to decide what is to become of me.

VASANTASENA: Madanika, when the tree on which they live becomes unsteady, birds need to fly around hither and thither looking for a safe perch! Take this bracelet of mine to the Sabhika and the Dyutakara and tell them that it has been offered to them by this gentleman in fulfilment of the debt. (She removes the bracelet from her hand and gives it to Madanika)

(Madanika takes the ornament and goes out)

MATHURA: I have been deceived, I have been robbed!

MADANIKA: (Approaches Mathura and the Dyutakara and says to herself) Here are two gentlemen who keep looking up and sighing deeply. They are talking to each other excitedly and their eyes are fixed on our door. These must be the Sabhika and the Dyutakara. (Aloud) I salute you, sir.

MATHURA: All good wishes to you.

MADANIKA: Which one of the two of you is the Sabhika?

MATHURA:

O slender-waisted one!

You lisp your words enticingly

With your well-bitten naughty lower lip!

You direct sidelong glances,

At whom I wonder!

I for one have no wealth; so please go elsewhere.

MADANIKA: Since you talk in this fashion you cannot be the Dyutakara! Is anyone in your debt?

MATHURA: Yes indeed! There is one who owes me ten gold coins. What about him?

MADANIKA: On his behalf my mistress sends this bracelet . . . No, no, he himself gives this ornament to you.

MATHURA: (Takes it with joy)Hey, tell that well-born youth that his pledge has been redeemed! He is now welcome to come and play dice again. (Mathura and the Dyutakara exit)

MADANIKA: (Returns to Vasantasena) They have both gone away well pleased.

VASANTASENA: Sir, you are now free to go. Do go and comfort your people.

SAMVAHAKA: Then do allow me to teach this art of mine to your attendants.

VASANTASENA: Sir, he for whose sake you mastered this art,²⁰ and whom you served earlier, he alone ought to be attended by you.

SAMVAHAKA: (To himself) My lady has very skilfully declined my offer. How shall I ever return the favour done to me? (Aloud) I shall become a Buddhist monk to wipe away the insult suffered at the hands of the Dyutakara! ‘Samvahaka the gambler has become a Buddhist monk’—madam should never forget these words.

VASANTASENA: Good sir, please do not do anything rash!

SAMVAHAKA: Madam, my mind is made up!

Gambling rendered me feckless

In the society of men;

But now with head held high

I shall take my air

On the royal highway!

(There is a commotion behind the stage)

SAMVAHAKA: What could this be? (Listens to the voices) Ah, I hear now . . . Vasantasena’s elephant is in rut and has broken loose! Shall I go and see the lady’s excited scented elephant? Or what is it to me? I shall get on with what I had decided. (Exit)

Scene 5

(Vasantasena’s house. Vasantasena and Madanika appear as they were when Samvahaka left the house. Karnapuraka enters flinging the back curtain aside, looking happy and excited and dressed in bright clothes.)

KARNAPURAKA: Where is my lady? Where is she?

MADANIKA: You rude fellow! Why are you in such a fluster that you do not see my lady sitting right here in front of you?

KARNAPURAKA: (Now noticing Vasantasena) Madam, I salute you.

VASANTASENA: Karnapuraka, you look very happy! What happened?

KARNAPURAKA: (In wonder) I should say that you have been cheated of a great spectacle because you did not see my act of valour!

VASANTASENA: What? What? What happened?

KARNAPURAKA: Madam this is what happened. That rogue elephant of yours, Khuntamodaka, broke the tying post, killed the chief mahout and charged down the royal highway causing great disturbance. The crowds yelled in panic:

‘Take the children out of harm’s way!

Hurry, climb up the trees or the mansions!

Hey, do you not see the rogue elephant

Right in front of you coming this way?’

Pairs of anklets slip off!

Girdles studded with gems and

Bracelets of surpassing beauty

Set with sparkling stones are

Split and scattered!

As the rogue elephant waded through the city of Ujjayini with his feet, trunk and tusks as though it were a lotus pond, he came upon a monk; and lo and behold, the poor man whose staff and bowl scattered away was quickly hoisted up and placed between the tusks and sprayed with water by the elephant! At once the people shouted again: ‘Ha, the monk is finished!’

VASANTASENA: (Greatly disturbed) What a dreadful calamity! What a dreadful calamity!

KARNAPURAKA: Please do not get agitated, madam. Pray listen to the full story. Seeing the elephant dragging a tangled mass of chains on his feet with the poor monk held aloft on his tusks, what did Karnapuraka, nay, the slave thriving on my lady’s generosity, do? Shouting encouragement to the Dyutalekhaka²¹ all the while, I moved sideways and quickly picked up an iron rod from a shop and challenged the elephant.

VASANTASENA: And then? And then?

KARNAPURAKA:

I struck at that raging elephant

That looked like a peak of the Vindhya;

The monk held between the tusks was freed,

And thus saved by me, Karnapuraka!

VASANTASENA: Well done, Karnapuraka! What happened then?

KARNAPURAKA: Immediately the entire crowd ran towards me shouting, ‘Well done, Karnapuraka.’ Like an unevenly loaded ship the city seemed to tilt to one side! And then I saw this nobleman who felt the various parts of his body for ornaments and not finding any, looked up, sighed deeply in dejection, and then removed this shawl from around his shoulders and threw it to me.

VASANTASENA: (Eagerly) Will you please find out if this shawl has the fragrance of jasmine?

KARNAPURAKA: I am so filled with the smell of the rut fluid that I would not be able to make out the fragrance of jasmine.

VASANTASENA: Then look for the name at least.

KARNAPURAKA: Here! Let my lady read the name herself. (He places the shawl near her)

VASANTASENA: (Reads the name) This is indeed Arya Charudatta’s shawl! (She eagerly takes the shawl and longingly wraps herself in it)

MADANIKA: Karnapuraka! The shawl looks lovely on our lady.

KARNAPURAKA: Yes, it looks lovely.

VASANTASENA: Karnapuraka, here is the reward for your valour. (She gives him a piece of jewellery)

KARNAPURAKA: (Accepts it with great respect) Now the shawl really becomes our lady.

VASANTASENA: Do you know where Arya Charudatta is at this time?

KARNAPURAKA: He was on his way home on this very road.

VASANTASENA: Madanika, let us go up to the terrace and look out for Arya Charudatta.

(Exit all)