"I fear, this is no easy task. You seem entangled too fast to be set
free: but, come what may, defend upon my friendship." The eyes of the
king then meet those of Urvasi. They now part.
The king is now at Prayag, the modern Allahabad, his residence. He walks
in the garden of his palace, accompanied by a Brahman who is his
confidential companion, and knows his love for Urvasi. The companion is
so afraid of betraying what must remain a secret to everybody at court,
and in particular to the queen, that he hides himself in a retired
temple. There a female servant of the queen discovers him, and 'as a
secret can no more rest in his breast than morning dew upon the grass,'
she soon finds out from him why the king is so changed, since his return
from the battle with the demon, and carries the tale to the queen. In
the meantime, the king is in despair, and pours out his grief. Urvasi
also is sighing for him. She suddenly descends with her friend through
the air to meet him.
Both are at first invisible to him, and listen to his confession of
love.
Then Urvasi writes a verse on a birch-leaf, and lets it fall near the
bower where her beloved reclines.
Next, her friend becomes visible, and at last, Urvasi herself is
introduced to the king. After a few moments, however, both Urvasi and
her friend are called back by a messenger of the gods, and the king is
left alone with his jester. He looks for the leaf on which 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.