ACT IX

The Trial

Scene 1

(The next morning. At the court of law. Enter Shodhanaka.¹)

SHODHANAKA: I have been ordered by the court authorities to get the court hall readied for work. So I am making my way there . . . Here I am, at the court; let me go in and do my work . . . There, I have thoroughly cleaned the court hall now and the seats have all been arranged. Let me now go and inform the authorities that everything is ready . . . Oh, oh! Look who is coming here! That rascal of a king’s brother-in-law! I should go away without his seeing me! (He stands in a corner out of sight of the king’s brother-in-law)

(Enter Shakara dressed in splendid clothes)

SHAKARA:

I have bathed in water, liquids and fluids,

Seated in a garden, a park, in the woods,

Surrounded by women, lassies and females

Of well-proportioned limbs;

Like a veritable gandharva! As for my hair, it is tied up one moment, a matted mass the next,

Long and straight one moment, all curly the next,

Now open, now pulled up in a topknot!

And that is I, the king’s brother-in-law

Of varied guise, wonderful, strange!

Like a worm trying to wriggle out from within a knotted poisonous herb, I too have tried and found a great way out of the situation. On whom shall I foist that terrible deed? Ah yes, I remember now!² I shall shift the criminal deed on that penniless merchant Charudatta. He is such a pauper that people will believe anything of him. I shall go to the court and be the first to lodge a complaint claiming that Charudatta killed Vasantasena by strangling her. Well, here is the court. What? The chairs are already all in place! I shall sit here on this quadrangle of durva³ and wait for the authorities to arrive. (He waits)

SHODHANAKA: (Moves in another direction) Here are the judges; let me meet them.

(Enter the judge accompanied by the Shreshti and Kayastha)

JUDGE: Ah! Shreshti⁴ and Kayastha!⁵

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: We are waiting for your orders.

JUDGE: Constrained by judicial procedure, it is difficult for the judges to grasp what is in the mind of others.⁶

Carried away by passion,

Men sneak in business

Forbidden by all norms of procedure.

None admits one’s own wrongs in the court.

Too often do the contending sides hurl against each other

Dire charges, exaggerated several fold

Besmirching at times the very justice of the king.⁷

To put it in a nutshell,

Is it any wonder,

In such a situation,

It is odium that the judge attracts easily

While praise for his virtues ever remains out of reach?

Angry men, devoid of all sense of justice do loudly proclaim

The most private weaknesses of their opponents;

But of their own misdeeds there is not even a whisper

Even on the part of good men who thus go to sure ruin,

Getting involved in the crimes of one side or the other.

In short, easy it is for the judge to win blame,

While his goodness is almost never recognized.

Therefore a judge must be:

Learned in law, shrewd in detecting fraud,

A good speaker and one never given to anger.

Impartial to friends and foes, who would pronounce a verdict

Only after careful scrutiny of the history of the case.

A protector of the weak, a chastiser of the villain,

A man of probity, a man devoid of greed,

One who sets his heart on finding the highest truth

By being open to all facts,

And allays as well the king’s wrath.

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: Can one speak of Your Excellency’s virtues as faults? In that case it is possible to speak of darkness being present in moonlight!

JUDGE: My good man Shodhanaka, take us to the court.

SHODHANAKA: This way, this way, my lord . . . (They move around) . . . Here we are, at the courthouse. Let Their Lordships enter.

(All enter the court)

JUDGE: My good Shodhanaka, please go and find out who the plaintiffs are for today.

SHODHANAKA: Yes, sir. (Goes out and speaks to the people gathered there) Gentlemen, the judges want to know the plaintiffs among you.

SHAKARA: (With joy) The judges have arrived! (Walks up in a conceited manner) Here I am, a great man, a human being, Vasudeva, the brother-in-law of the ruler, the brother-in-law of the king, come to court as plaintiff.

SHODHANAKA: (In some agitation, to himself) Right at the start we have the king’s brother-in-law as plaintiff! (To Shakara) Well, sir, do please wait while I go and inform the judges. (Approaches the judges) My lords, the king’s brother-in-law is here as plaintiff to lodge a complaint.

JUDGE: What? The first plaintiff is the king’s brother-in-law! It is said that an eclipse at dawn forebodes a great calamity, nothing less than the fall of a great man! It is bound to be a perplexing case too . . . Shodhanaka, just go and tell him that his complaint cannot be entertained today.

SHODHANAKA: (Goes out and speaks to Shakara) Sir, the judges tell you to go home as your case cannot be heard today.

SHAKARA: (Wrathfully) Ah! Why will my case not be heard today? If it is not taken up today I will inform Palaka, who is the king, my brother-in-law, my sister’s husband; I shall also inform my sister, and my mother and see to it that this judge is removed and another put in his place. (He tries to leave)

SHODHANAKA: Dear sir, king’s brother-in-law, just a minute. Let me convey your words to the judge. (Approaches the judge) Sir, the brother-in-law of the king is angry and threatens to complain to the king and to his own sister, as well as his mother, to remove you from your position and appoint another judge in your place.

JUDGE: Everything is possible for this fool. All right, go and call him in; his suit will be taken up today.

Scene 2

(Outside the courthouse. Shakara is waiting in anger. Enter Shodhanaka.)

SHODHANAKA: (To Shakara) Sir, the judges say that they will take up your case now; do please come in.

SHAKARA: First they say they will not take up my case! Now they say they will! A frightened lot are these judges! I shall make them believe whatever I say. (Enters the court) We are fine! I may wish all of you well, or I may not wish you well!

JUDGE: (To himself) Very strong-minded indeed is this plaintiff! (Aloud) Please sit down.

SHAKARA: Yes! This entire place is mine! So I shall sit where I want . . . (To Shreshti) I shall sit here . . . No . . . (To Shodhanaka) I shall sit there . . . No. No. (Places his hand on the judge’s head) I shall sit here! (Finally sits down on the ground)

JUDGE: Are you here as a plaintiff?

SHAKARA: Yes, I am.

JUDGE: Then state your case.

SHAKARA: I shall whisper my plaint into your ear!

I was born in a huge family,

Of the proportions of a cup made of coconut shell.

My father is the king’s father-in-law

Which makes the king my father’s son-in-law.

I am the king’s brother-in-law,

And so my sister’s husband is the king!

JUDGE: All this is known to us.

Why talk of one’s lineage?

One’s character alone is of relevance here.

Do trees full of thorns not grow and flourish

On land that is good and fertile?

Therefore please state your case.

SHAKARA: I say this to you. The king would not do anything even if I had committed a crime! Actually my sister’s husband is so well pleased with me that he has given me the old Pushpakarandaka Garden—really, the best of gardens—to use in whatever way I please, to divert myself in it, and to take care of it as well; I go there every day to drain it or clean it, to manure it or prune it. Today by chance I saw there in the garden—or did not see—a woman’s body fallen on the ground.

JUDGE: Do you know whose body it was?

SHAKARA: O Your Honours! How is it possible for anyone not to know who she was, herself such an ornament to the city, and further decked with a hundred different gold ornaments? Some villain, greedy for wretched wealth, must have taken Vasantasena to the old garden and strangled her with the power of his ropelike arms! Not by me . . . (He covers his mouth with the last sentence half-finished)

JUDGE: Alas! How woefully have the guards failed in their duty! Shreshti, Kayastha, note down the phrase ‘Not by me’ as a legal point.

KAYASTHA: (Notes down the point) Yes, my lord, I have noted it down.

SHAKARA: (To himself) Like a greedy beggar gulping down hot payasam, I have destroyed myself today! Well, let me repair the damage. (Aloud) O judges of the court, I was going to say she was merely seen by me. Why do you make all this fuss? (He rubs out with his foot what has been written)

JUDGE: How do you know that she has been strangled to death and that for the sake of money?

SHAKARA: Can I not guess, from her neck, so swollen it was and bare too; the other places for gold ornaments were empty as well.⁸

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: That fits.

SHAKARA: (To himself) Thank God! I have been given a fresh lease of life!

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: Whom does this plaint concern?

JUDGE: The law recognizes two kinds of plaints, one based on verbal depositions of the two parties and the other on facts. In the former instance the case must be settled between the complainant and the defendant and in the latter it is decided upon by the reasoning of the judge taking the facts into consideration.⁹

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: So this suit concerns Vasantasena’s mother.¹⁰

JUDGE: Exactly. My good man Shodhanaka, please bring Vasantasena’s mother to the court without unduly alarming her.

Scene 3

(Enter Shodhanaka on the way to the court with the mother of the courtesan)

SHODHANAKA: Please come with me, madam.

THE OLD WOMAN: My daughter has gone to her lover’s house to indulge in youthful pleasures. But this man here—may he have a long life—says, ‘Come with me, the judge is summoning you.’ I feel I am about to faint away! My heart quakes with fear . . . Arya, please show me the way to the courthouse.

SHODHANAKA: Come with me, madam . . . (They move around) . . . Here we are at the courthouse. Madam, please enter.

(They enter the court)

THE OLD WOMAN: Best wishes to the honourable gentlemen!

JUDGE: Welcome to the court, madam, please be seated.

(The Old Woman sits)

SHAKARA: (Abusively) So you have come, you old procuress! So you have come!

JUDGE: Are you Vasantasena’s mother?

THE OLD WOMAN: Yes, indeed, I am.

JUDGE: Where has Vasantasena gone now?

THE OLD WOMAN: To her friend’s house.

JUDGE: What is the name of the friend?

THE OLD WOMAN: (To herself) Alas! Alas! This is so shameful! (Aloud) This is a question that may be asked by ordinary people, but surely not by a judge!

JUDGE: There is no need to feel ashamed. This question is asked as part of the court’s proceedings.

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: This is legal procedure; there is no shame attached to it. Please answer.

THE OLD WOMAN: What legal procedure? All right, let the honourable gentlemen hear my words. My daughter has gone to the house of the honourable Arya Charudatta, grandson of the merchant Vinayadatta and son of Sagaradatta and who lives on the square where all the merchants live. Young as she is, she is there enjoying the youthful company of her lover.

SHAKARA: There, did the honourable gentlemen hear her properly? Please write down her words. My suit is with Charudatta.

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: There is nothing wrong in Charudatta being a friend.

JUDGE: It has now been shown that Charudatta may be involved with the case.

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: It would appear so.

JUDGE: Dhanadatta, write as the first part of the case that Vasantasena went to Charudatta’s house. Well, Arya Charudatta too must be called to the court now; the case summons him. Shodhanaka, please go and invite Charudatta to the court without alarming him or rattling him in any way, addressing him with a respectful preamble that the judges would like to see him.

SHODHANAKA: As Your Lordship commands. (Exit)

Scene 4

(Enter Shodhanaka with Charudatta. They are on their way to the court.)

CHARUDATTA: (Thoughtfully)

The king knows me,

By my lineage and my reputation.

Therefore these summons doubtless indicate

Some suspicion of me due to my penury.

(Further analysing the probable cause of the summons to him by the court)

Or has he been caught, that man

Who had broken free of his jailors

And whom I helped on the road

To get away in my bullock cart?

Has all this come to the knowledge of the king

Who has spies for his eyes?

Is that why I now walk to the court

Like one accused of a crime?

Ah well, what is the point of all this speculation? Let me get to the court first. (Aloud) My good man Shodhanaka, lead me to the court.

SHODHANAKA: This way, this way, my good sir! (They move around)

CHARUDATTA: (Worried) I see more disturbing omens!

This crow here caws raucously,

The minister’s minions call out to me repeatedly,¹¹

And my left eye throbs with force.

These ill omens do disturb me deeply.

SHODHANAKA: Please come along, good sir; be at your ease, be not troubled.

CHARUDATTA: (Walking on and looking ahead)

This crow that sits on a dead tree

Facing the sun,

Directs his left eye on me.

Something terrible is in store, for sure.¹²

(Looks elsewhere)

Alas! Alas! There is a snake here!

This king cobra that lay sleeping on my path,

Is now up and slithers towards me

Angrily, windingly, its belly swollen,

It’s stretched tongue darting out

In the midst of four white fangs.

The gaze of the snake of dark lustre—like powdered antimony—

Is fixed on me.¹³

My foot stumbles as I step along

Although the ground underneath is not slushy.

The left eye throbs and the arm too twitches again and again,

While this other bird here calling out in incessant lament

Announces terrible death, no doubt about that.

I hope the gods will set everything right.

SHODHANAKA: This way, sir, this is the court of law. Do please enter.

CHARUDATTA: (Enters and looks around) How extraordinarily beautiful this courthouse is!

Yet, this royal court is like the ocean in its cruelty!

The many counsellors lost in deep thought are the waters;

The rushing messengers, the waves and the milling shells;

The spies that prowl in the background

Are the sharks and the crocodiles.

The court elephants and horses

Stand in for other menacing creatures of the sea.

The loudly calling touts

Are the flights of screeching herons;

The wily scribes, the sea snakes;

As for the sandy shores, is there any doubt they symbolize

Justice pulverized by procedure?

All right! (While stepping in he knocks his head on the portal and broods) Alas! Yet another ill omen!

My left eye keeps throbbing!

The crow continues to caw.

This path was blocked by a serpent.

Yet I hope the gods will guard my welfare.

Let me now enter. (Enters the courtroom)

JUDGE: Here is Charudatta.

He has a face with a high nose; the eyes are long and wide.

Could such features harbour such crimes, of which he has been accused

Surely unjustly?

In elephants and cows, in horses and in men too,

Nobility of form is never seen

Divorced from an equal nobility of character.

CHARUDATTA: Greetings to the judges. Hello, officers of the court, how do you do?

JUDGE: (In some confusion) Welcome, good sir! Shodhanaka, go and fetch a chair for the noble gentleman.

SHODHANAKA: (Bringing a chair) Here is a seat for you, sir, please do sit down.

SHAKARA: (In anger) So you have come! You killer of women! You have arrived! How fair and just this legal procedure is that a chair has been brought to the woman-killer! Well! Well, give him the chair, give it to him!

JUDGE: Noble Charudatta, do you have any attachment, affection, or love for this lady’s daughter?

CHARUDATTA: Whose daughter do you speak of?

JUDGE: (Pointing at Vasantasena’s mother) This one here.

CHARUDATTA: (Gets up and bows to the Old Woman) I bow to you, madam.

THE OLD WOMAN: My son, may you live long! (To herself) So this is Charudatta. My daughter’s youth is indeed deposited in the right hands!

JUDGE: Is the courtesan your friend?

(Charudatta appears shy)

SHAKARA:

Is this shyness or fear

Or a ploy to conceal his villainy,

Having murdered for the sake of money?

But boss, that won’t do at all, will it?

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: Speak up, Charudatta, there is no cause to feel any shame as it is a legal hearing.

CHARUDATTA: (Bashfully) Officers of the court, how can I say in so many words that a courtesan is my friend? In any case, it is my youth and not my character that is at fault here.

JUDGE:

This case seems full of hurdles.

Get rid of the bashfulness in your heart.

Tell the truth and no more impertinence!

Prevarication too will get you nowhere.

No more shyness; it is the case that calls for answers from you.

CHARUDATTA: Judge, with whom do I have this case?

SHAKARA: (With arrogance) Hey, your case is with me!

CHARUDATTA: To have any legal dealing with you would be unbearable.

SHAKARA: Hey, you woman-killer! You finished off that lovely Vasantasena bedecked with costly jewellery and now, having become a thorough rogue, you try to hide everything.

CHARUDATTA: What arrant nonsense is this?

JUDGE: That is enough, Arya Charudatta, now please tell the truth. Is the courtesan your friend?

CHARUDATTA: Yes, she is.

JUDGE: Arya, where is Vasantasena now?

CHARUDATTA: She went home.

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: How did she go? When did she go? And who went with her?

CHARUDATTA: (To himself) Shall I say that she went in a concealed manner?

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: Speak up, sir!

CHARUDATTA: She went home! What more can I say?

SHAKARA: She was taken to my old garden Pushpakarandaka and there strangled to death for the sake of her jewels. Now you say that she went home!

CHARUDATTA: What drivel you do speak!

How drenched you are,

Like the edges of the blue jay’s wings in the skies,

But unlike the bird, not with the waters of the cloud!

What you utter is a lie; no wonder

Your face has the pallor of a lotus in the autumn.

JUDGE: (Aside)

Can one weigh the Himalayas,

Or ford the oceans,

Or grasp the winds in one’s hands?

Likewise can one accuse Charudatta of a crime?

(Aloud) This is Charudatta here; could he ever commit a crime?

SHAKARA: Why are you looking at the case in a prejudiced manner?

JUDGE: Away, away, you fool!

Unlettered as you are, you dare comment on the Vedas,

Yet your tongue has not fallen off!

You stare at the midday sun,

Yet your eyes have not at once been blinded!

You thrust your hand in a blazing fire,

But it is not getting scorched!

You wish to shake the unshakeable character of Charudatta,

And yet the earth has not swallowed you!

How can the noble Charudatta do such a dire deed?

Having amassed all the treasures lying in the ocean depths,

Leaving just the surging waters behind,

He gave them all away too with no attachment to the wealth.

How can such a great soul, a unique treasure house of virtues,

Commit so terrible a deed

Not done even to one’s enemies,

And that too for the sake of paltry wealth?

THE OLD WOMAN: Woe betide me! He gave away that priceless necklace of incomparable gems made of the essence of the four oceans to compensate for the theft of the gold ornaments left in his custody! Would he now, for the sake of mere baubles, commit such a dreadful deed? Alas, my daughter! Please come back! (She weeps)

JUDGE: Arya Charudatta, did she go home on foot or by a carriage?

CHARUDATTA: I did not see her go, so I do not know how she went—whether on foot or by a carriage.

(Viraka enters the courthouse in great anger)

VIRAKA:

The humiliation and dishonour of that kick

Kindled such intense feelings of hatred in me,

That while I lamented bitterly that insult

The night has somehow changed into day for me.

Let me enter the court. (Entering) Honourable gentlemen, is everything well with you?

JUDGE: The Chief of Police of the city! Viraka, what brings you here?

VIRAKA: In the excitement of Aryaka’s breaking away from the jail, a covered carriage passing by roused my suspicion. When I merely argued with Captain Chandanaka that although he had inspected the carriage, I too should take a look, he kicked me. The judges have to decide on my complaint.

JUDGE: My good man, do you know whose carriage it was?

VIRAKA: The driver of the carriage said that it belonged to this gentleman here, Arya Charudatta, and that the courtesan Vasantasena was riding in it. She was being driven to the old Pushpakarandaka Garden for relaxation.¹⁴

SHAKARA: There! Did you hear that, you gentlemen!

JUDGE: Alas!

The moon with its light so pure

Is being swallowed by Rahu.¹⁵

Water that is clear and translucent

Is muddied by the collapsing bank.

Viraka, we shall come to your case later. For now, please go to the Pushpakarandaka Garden and check if there is a woman’s corpse lying there. Use the horse standing at the entrance to the courthouse.

VIRAKA: As you wish, sir. (Exit)

Scene 5

(The courthouse. Enter Viraka.)

VIRAKA: Honourable gentlemen, I went to the garden and there I saw the body of a woman being devoured by wild animals.

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: How did you know it was the body of a woman?

VIRAKA: I could make that out by what remained of the hair, hands and feet.

JUDGE: How full of ups and downs is the investigation into the affairs of the people!

The more minutely this case is examined

The more difficulties one sees revealed.

Well-laid out are the rules of procedure

Yet understanding sinks like a cow caught in slush.

CHARUDATTA: (To himself)

When the flower first blooms

Swarms of bees fall upon it all at once to drink away all the honey.

Likewise man’s troubles too multiply several fold in times of adversity

And strike him all at once at every point of vulnerability.¹⁶

JUDGE: Arya Charudatta, please speak the truth.

CHARUDATTA:

Here is an evil-minded man

Envious of others’ virtues,

Blinded by passion and eager to kill another.

Why does one accept his words, undoubtedly false,

Uttered due to his vicious tendencies?

Why are they not investigated?

And here I am, incapable of even bending down

A bloom-laden creeper for plucking the flowers;

How can I grab a woman by her long bee-wing-dark hair

And kill her while she weeps?

SHAKARA: Hello! You officials of the court! You are looking at this case in a biased manner. Why is this wretched Charudatta still allowed to sit on a chair?

CHARUDATTA: Officers of the court! Please investigate the matter, do please investigate! (He rises from the chair and sits on the ground)

SHAKARA: (To himself, his heart dancing gleefully) He! He! I have effectively dumped my crime on someone else’s head! Now I am going to sit where Charudatta was sitting! (Goes and sits on the chair) Hey Charudatta, look, look at me! Then say you killed her!

CHARUDATTA: (Sighs and says to himself) Maitreya! You cannot imagine the violence being done to me today!

Ah, my dear wife, born in a pure brahmana lineage!

Ah, Rohasena, my son, you are unaware of what has befallen me;

Your joy in living has become a mere delusion

In the face of this calamity.

I sent Maitreya to look the child up first and then to Vasantasena to return the jewels she had given for making a cart of gold for Rohasena to play with. But why is he taking so long?

Scene 6

(Enter Vidushaka, carrying the ornaments on his way to Vasantasena’s house)

VIDUSHAKA: (To himself) I am on my way to Vasantasena’s house to return the jewels that she had given to Rohasena. My friend Charudatta thinks that while it is proper for her to give the jewels it is not proper for us to accept them. (Walks on) . . . How is friend Rebhila here? (Aloud) Bhava Rebhila, why do you look so alarmed? What do you say? . . . Arya Charudatta has been summoned to the court? . . . It cannot be a petty matter then. (To himself) I shall go to Vasantasena later. I must get to the court first . . . Here is the court. (Enters) Greetings to the officers of the court! Where is my friend?

JUDGE: Here he is!

VIDUSHAKA: Friend, I wish you well!

CHARUDATTA: May your wishes come true.

VIDUSHAKA: Are you all right now?

CHARUDATTA: I may yet become all right, yes.

VIDUSHAKA: My friend, why do you look so distressed? And why have they summoned you here?

CHARUDATTA:

Cruel as I am with total disregard for the future world,

I have . . . by me . . . a woman . . .

Maybe no different from Rati herself . . . has been,

. . . The rest shall be told by this one here!

VIDUSHAKA: What, what?

CHARUDATTA: (In his ear) Like this, like this!

VIDUSHAKA: Who is saying this?

CHARUDATTA: This unfortunate fellow, now an instrument of fate, thus accuses me.

VIDUSHAKA: Why didn’t you say she has gone home?

CHARUDATTA: I have said that many times, but my word is not accepted due to the force of circumstances.

VIDUSHAKA: Gentlemen, this man here has beautified the city of Ujjayini by laying out suburbs, by constructing viharas, gardens, temples, ponds, wells, sacrificial posts and so on. Will he, though poor now, commit such a vile deed as this for the sake of a few baubles? . . . Hey you! Son of a whore, the king’s brother-in-law, Samsthanaka, you unbridled rogue, foisting crimes on others, you baboon decked with ornaments, say it now, say it in front of me! This friend of mine who would flinch from bending a madhavi creeper for plucking the flowers for fear that it might crush the new leaves—you say such a one would commit a crime like this, condemned in both worlds, this one and the next? Just wait, you son of a procuress! With this stick that is as crooked as your heart I shall break your head into a hundred pieces!

SHAKARA: (With anger) Just listen to him! Listen to him, my lords! My dispute or my case is with Charudatta; why should this fellow with a crowfoot mark on his head, on his nut, break my head into a hundred pieces? Never, you son of a bitch, evil brat!

(Vidushaka raises his stick and repeats his insults. Shakara too gets up in anger and beats him. Vidushaka hits him back. They strike each other. The ornaments fall from under Vidushaka’s arm.)

SHAKARA: (Picks them up and looks at them in excitement) Noble lords, look, look! These are the ornaments of that poor woman! It is for these meagre jewels that she was beaten and killed!

(The judges remain seated with their heads lowered)

CHARUDATTA:

How unfortunate that at a time like this

These jewels should have been found!

They fell down due to my ill luck,

And no doubt will push me down too!

VIDUSHAKA: Why hasn’t the truth been told, as it really happened?

CHARUDATTA:

The king’s eye is weak; it does not see things as they are.

Telling the truth would merely

Reveal our wretched poverty

And lead to ignominious death.¹⁷

JUDGE: Alas! Alas!

With Mars in opposition

Jupiter is already in decline.

Now here is yet another planet risen,

Like a comet, by the side of Jupiter.

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: (To Vasantasena’s mother) Madam, look at these jewels carefully and tell us if they are the same as your daughter’s.

THE OLD WOMAN: (Looks at the jewels) They look like my daughter’s jewels but they are not the same as hers.

SHAKARA: You old procuress! Your eyes have already spoken, but your tongue tries to cover up.

THE OLD WOMAN: You wretch! Get away from me!

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: Please tell us carefully, without making a mistake, whether they are the same as your daughter’s.

THE OLD WOMAN: I was merely admiring the skill of the goldsmith, nothing else.

JUDGE: Madam, do you recognize these ornaments?

THE OLD WOMAN: I would say, no indeed! I do not recognize them. But they may have been made by the same goldsmiths or at any rate by skilled ones.

JUDGE: Look here, Shreshti,

Different things often wear a look of likeness,

Including ornaments,

In form and in their workmanship

As artisans do imitate the good work that they see.

And their skill in fashioning

Leads to a similarity of appearance.

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: These belong to Arya Charudatta, then.

CHARUDATTA: No, no, they do not!

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: Then whom do they belong to?

CHARUDATTA: They belong to this lady’s daughter.

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: How were they taken away from her?

CHARUDATTA: They just got separated . . . Yes! Now . . .

SHRESHTI AND KAYASTHA: Arya Charudatta, you have to speak the truth here.

Truth indeed leads to happiness!

Never does speaking truth lead to one’s downfall.

Satya¹⁸ is a word merely of two syllables!

Never conceal truth in falsehood.

CHARUDATTA: These ornaments . . . these ornaments . . . I do not know anything about them except that they have been brought here from my house.

SHAKARA: You took her to the garden and killed her there and now with great cunning you hide the truth.

JUDGE: Arya Charudatta, please speak the truth!

These harsh lashes of the whip will surely fall on your delicate limbs,

Bringing down our own hopes for you.

CHARUDATTA:

There is no sin in me—I who was born in a sinless lineage.

Were it even considered possible that there may be sin in me,

Then what indeed is the use

Of my having been sinless?¹⁹

(To himself) Without Vasantasena I have nothing left to live for.

(Aloud) It is by me, pitiless as I am

And unmindful of the consequences in the two worlds

That this woman, a rare jewel among women,

. . . The rest with details will be told by this man.²⁰

SHAKARA: Killed. You say it too. ‘She was killed by me.’

CHARUDATTA: You have said it yourself.

SHAKARA: Hear, hear, gentlemen! She was killed by him! All doubts have been cleared. Award capital punishment to this penniless Charudatta.

JUDGE: Shodhanaka, as the king’s brother-in-law says, arrest this Charudatta.

(The king’s officers take Charudatta into custody)

THE OLD WOMAN: Please, please, my lords! If my daughter is killed, she has been killed. But let this one live, blessed with a long life! Besides there is the matter of a legal suit between the plaintiff and the defendant; I am the plaintiff now and I ask you to release him.²¹

SHAKARA: Get away, you whore from birth! Go now! What is he to you?

JUDGE: Madam, go home now. Guards, show this woman out.

THE OLD WOMAN: O dear one! O my son! (She leaves crying)

SHAKARA: (To himself) I have done him a turn that is really worthy of me. I shall get away from here now. (Exit)

JUDGE: Arya Charudatta, we have authority only to pass judgement; the rest is with the king. Yet, Shodhanaka, King Palaka must be advised thus:

‘A brahmana may not be killed, says Manu,

Though he has been proved a criminal.

He may be banished from the land, however,

But with all his wealth intact.’

SHODHANAKA: Yes, my lord. (As the court waits he goes out and returns quickly and says with tears in his eyes) My lords, I went to the king and this is what he says: ‘As Vasantasena has been murdered for the sake of trifling trinkets, let those very ornaments be tied round the neck of the culprit and let him be taken to the southern burning ground to the accompaniment of the dindima and be impaled on the stake.’ The king also warns that anyone else who commits such a terrible crime will be similarly disgraced and punished.

CHARUDATTA: Alas! King Palaka acts without due reflection on the matter!

Thrown about into such legal fires by their ministers,

It is but inevitable that the kings fall into dire predicaments.

By such dishonest ‘white crows’²² who taint the king’s rule,

Innocents in their thousands have been and are still being slain.

My friend Maitreya, you go now; convey my last respects to my mother. And take care of my son Rohasena.

VIDUSHAKA: How can one care for a tree when the roots have been cut away?

CHARUDATTA: No, no, it is not like that at all!

The son is the physical image of a man

Living in the other world.

Whatever friendship you have for me,

Yoke it now to young Rohasena.

VIDUSHAKA: You have been my dear friend; can I live on without you?

CHARUDATTA: Will you at least bring Rohasena to me?

VIDUSHAKA: Yes, that is right and proper, I shall do it.

JUDGE: My good man Shodhanaka, remove this lad from here. (Shodhanaka sends Maitreya away)

JUDGE: You men, give the necessary orders to the executioners. (All officers exit)

SHODHANAKA: Please come this way, noble sir.

CHARUDATTA: (Looks up and speaks to the skies)

If my case had been decided

By the ordeal of poison, water or fire,

If I had been put on balance and found guilty

After due consideration,

A saw may indeed be passed through my body.²³

But now you are slaying me, a brahmana,

On the mere accusations of an avowed enemy;

Is there any doubt that you will be cast into hell

With all your children and grandchildren?²⁴

Here I come, let us go!

(Exit all)