CHAPTER VI. the gate-way; but now I wander about from house to house like a tame pigeon picking up the crumbs." The wicked prince. Reticence as re gards the Raja. The wicked character of the play is a dissipated prince named Samasthanaka. He was a man of low and vicious propensities, without a single redeeming quality. He was selfish, cowardly, conceited, mean, unscrupulous, and offensively abusive. He affected some acquaintance with literature, but invariably provoked the laughter of the audience by his absurd mistakes and misquotations. This prince was not the son of the Raja of Ujain, but the brother of the queen. Great stress is laid on this relationship in old Hindú traditions.1 The prince is supposed to exercise a paramount influence over his sister the queen, who in her turn domineers over her husband the Raja. The prince is generally accompanied by a personage known as the Vita, who seems to have united the characters of preceptor and parasite. The Vita is an obsequious companion, ever ready to pander to the pleasures of the prince, but refusing to become an accessary in any serious crime. The Raja of Ujain is named Pálaka, but he is kept entirely in the back-ground. Such silence on the part of a courtly dramatist seems to indicate that this particular sovereign was regarded as a tyrant. Had it been otherwise, the monarch would have been ushered upon the stage in all the pomp of royalty, as the bravest, wisest, and most majestic of Rajas. The rebellion was headed by a cowherd, who bears the name of Aryaka. His cause seems to be favoured by the dramatist, but his history will be brought under review hereafter. 4 See story of Kicháka, History, vol. i,, Mahá Bhárata, chap. ix. 5 heroine. The heroine in the "Toy-cart" is Vasanta-séná, CHAPTER VI. the chief courtesan of the city of Ujain. This The courtesan anomalous position cannot be explained by reference to Greek usages or European ideas. In India almost every class of the community has its acknowledged head; and consequently it may be accepted as a literal fact that Vasanta-séná was nominally the head of the courtesans of Ujain. At the same time it appears from Hindú traditions that the prosperity of the luxurious cities of India often depended upon the attractions of the chief courtesan, who allured all the rich nobles and merchants from the surrounding countries. Thus a princess of rare beauty and accomplishments was sometimes appointed to fill such an equivocal position. But it is obvious that a young and attractive female could scarcely possess the years and experience which would be necessary to exercise a controlling power over so difficult a class of the community. Accordingly in the Hindú drama the ideas of beauty and command are allotted to different individuals. Vasanta-séná was selected on account of her personal attractions, whilst the practical duties of the post were performed by her portly mother. Vasantaséná thus appears in the seclusion of her own apartments, in the company of her female attendants, or slave-girls; whilst the drama furnishes a glimpse of a palatial mansion with numerous apartments and extensive gardens, where youth might take pleasure in music, singing, or dancing, or lounge away the hours in the silken swings which were hanging from the trees. 5 Herodotus has preserved the tradition of a case of this character in ancient Egypt.—Herod., II., 121. See also description of the courtesans of Narsinya, infra, chap. ix.; and Appendix II., Buddhist Chronicles. heroine. CHAPTER VI. The character of Vasanta-séná is perhaps not Character of the sufficiently obvious. According to the existing version of the drama, the plot simply involves the idea that the dissipated and despicable prince was in love with the chief courtesan; whilst the chief courtesan rejected all his advances, and was in love. with the poor but virtuous Bráhman. But this incident is simple to childishness, and utterly devoid of moral meaning. It is impossible to presume that such was the conception of Vasantaséná, in an age when the edicts of Asoka, the religion of Dharma, still prevailed amongst the masses. Possibly in an earlier form of the story a deeper meaning was involved. The persecution which Vasanta-séná suffered from the prince may have been an allegorical description of the miseries of her position; and her love for the Bráhman may have been in like manner symbolical of her desire to escape from the life of luxury, and obtain the protection of a pure but virtuous husband on whom she might bestow her superabundant wealth. It must, however, be admitted that this conjecture is scarcely supported by the action of the play in its present form. Strangely enough Vasanta-séná is represented as a faithful worshipper of Buddha; and it has already been seen that the teachings of Gótama Buddha seem to have been generally acceptable to ladies of her character and profession. Incidents of the "Toy-cart." The incidents of the drama of the "Toy-cart" can now be indicated with tolerable clearness. The first act opens with a scene in the immediate neighbourhood of the residence of Chárudatta. Vasanta-séná is being pursued by the prince and his parasitical tutor, the Vita. She is running away like a timid ine. deer. Her ear-rings, anklets, and bangles are CHAPTER VI. jingling as she goes; whilst the tinkling zone round The flying heroher slender waist is sparkling with starlike gems. She is as bright as the guardian goddess of the city, but her countenance is pale with terror. Her pursuers shout to her in vain. She disappears in the darkness in the hope of obtaining refuge in the house of Chárudatta. She finds the private entrance, but the door is shut. At this moment out comes Maitreya with a servant-girl, and in runs Vasantaséná without being seen by any one. prince. Meantime the stupid brutal prince is seeking for The stupid the damsel in the dark, and making the most absurd mistakes. First he seizes the Vita. Next he falls foul of his own servant. Then he lays hold of the servant-girl who has come out with Maitreya. Finally he abuses Maitreya and Chárudatta in the most insulting language, and then retires. Vasanta-séná now makes her appearance inside The casket. the house. She declares that her pursuers only wanted her jewels, and she requests permission to leave the casket there for safety. Accordingly Maitreya takes charge of the casket, whilst Chárudatta escorts her to her own house. home, The second act takes places in Vasanta-séná's own The heroine at apartments. She is talking to her maid Madaniká, who appears to be her confident. Madaniká had accompanied her mistress to the gardens of Kámadeva's temple, where Vasanta-séná had first seen Chárudatta. Consequently the mistress talks to the maid about her love for the poor but virtuous Bráhman. Little incidents are here introduced to indicate her affection for Chárudatta. A gambler, who has lost more than he can pay, takes refuge in her CHAPTER VI. house; and when she hears that he was formerly in the service of Chárudatta, she herself pays his debt. Strangely enough this ruined gambler takes the vows of a Buddhist mendicant, and enters the order of Sákya Muni. Next the keeper of Vasantaséná's elephant runs in, and relates how the animal had broken his chain, and rushed through the streets of Ujain; but how he, the keeper, knocked down. the unwieldy beast with an iron bar, and was. rewarded by Chárudatta with the gift of a scented garment. Vasanta-séná accordingly takes the garment as a memento of the man she loves, and gives the keeper a rich jewel in return.o Robbery of the casket. The third act reverts to the house of Chárudatta. It is night, and Chárudatta and Maitreya are returning from a concert. Chárudatta is praising the beauty of the singing they have heard, whilst Maitreya is yawning from weariness. They retire to rest on couches which have been prepared for them in the outer apartment; and Maitreya as usual retains charge of the casket of Vasanta-séná. A burglar makes his appearance over the garden wall, and approaches the house. He is a dissipated Bráhman, named Servillaka, and is in love with Madaniká, the maid of Vasanta-séná. He is anxious to raise sufficient funds by robbery to purchase Madaniká from her mistress, in order to make her his wife. He tries to cut an opening in the wall of the house, where the brick-work is softened by recent damp, and the fall 6 This reference to the elephant of Vasanta-séná is somewhat curious. Arrian asserts that any woman in India would sacrifice her modesty if presented with an elephant (India, c. xvii.). This statement seems in itself to be unintelligible. Possibly the nomination to the post of chief courtesan was accompanied by the state present of an elephant, which no maiden could refuse. |