SACRIFICE(play)
Rabindranath Tagore
A temple of the Goddess Kali in Tripura.
{Enters GUNAVATI, the Queen.}
GUNAVATI।
Have I offended thee, dread Mother? Thou grantest children to the beggar woman, who sells them to live, and to the adulteress, who kills them to save herself from infamy, and here I am, the Queen, with all the world lying at my feet, hankering in vain for the baby-touch at my bosom, to feel the stir of a dearer life within my life. What sin have I committed, Mother, to merit this, to be banished from the mothers' heaven? {Enters RAGHUPATI, the priest.} O Master, have I ever been remiss in my worship? and my husband, is he not godlike in his purity? Then why has the Goddess, who weaves the web of this world-illusion, assigned my place in the barren waste of childlessness?
RAGHUPATI।
Our Mother is all caprice, she knows no law, our sorrows and joys are mere freaks of her mind. Have
patience, daughter, to-day we shall offer special sacrifice in your name to please her.
GUNAVATI।
Accept my grateful obeisance, father. My offerings are already on their way to the temple, -red bunches of hibiscus and beasts of sacrifice.
(They go out.)
{Enter GOVINDA, the King; JAISING, the servant of temple; and PARNA, the beggar girl.}
JAISING।
What is your wish, Sire?
GOVINDA।
Is it true that this poor girl's pet goat has been brought by force to the temple to be killed? Will Mother accept such a gift with grace?
JAISING।
King, how are we to know whence the servants collect our daily offerings of worship? But, my child, why is
this weeping? Is it worthy of you to shed tears for that which Mother herself has taken?
APARNA।
Mother! I am his mother, If I return late to my hut, he refuses his grass, and bleats, with his eyes on the road. I take him up in my arms, when I come, and share my food with him. He knows no mother but me.
JAISING।
Sire, could I make the goat live again, by giving up a portion of my life, gladly would I do it. But how can I restore that which Mother herself has taken?
APARNA।
Mother has taken? It is a lie. Not mother, but demon.
JAISING।
O, the blasphemy!
APARNA।
Mother, art thou there to rob a poor girl of her love? Then where is the throne, before which to condemn thee? Tell me, King.
GOVINDA।
I am silent, my child. I have no answer.
APARNA।
This blood-streak running down the steps, is it his? O my darling, when you trembled and cried for dear life, why did your call not reach my heart through the whole deaf world?
JAISING।
[To the image]. I have served thee from my infancy, Mother Kali, yet I understand thee not. Does pity only belong to weak mortals, and not to gods? Come with me, my child, let me do for you what I can. Help must come from man, when it is denied from gods. {All go out but the King.}
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Tagore
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