Oi, you ask her.
LAWRENCE: (To Sher Singh.) Why did you call me the Angrez Badshah?
SHER SINGH: That’s a way of speaking. After all they’re peasants …
LAWRENCE: But I’m not a king.
SHER SINGH: (Defensive.) Should I address you differently?
LAWRENCE: (Embarrassed.) No, no. I like it. Say it again.
SHER SINGH: (Puzzled.) Angrez Badshah!
LAWRENCE: No, I mean the whole thing.
SHER SINGH: What?
LAWRENCE: What you just said. Something about ‘commands the …’
SHER SINGH: (Puzzled.) ‘What do you say, commands the Angrez Badshah.’
LAWRENCE: Yes. Now say it with style.
SHER SINGH: (Concerned.) Larins Sahib, are you all right?
LAWRENCE: (Embarrassed.) Yes.
SHER SINGH: (Still concerned.) Maybe it’s the heat. Let’s go in.
LAWRENCE: No. Go on.
SHER SINGH: (To the Court.) Next case.
PROSECUTOR: But, Your Excellency, we have not finished with the present case.
SHER SINGH: (More confused.) All right, same case, then. You sons of swine, do you think we have the whole day?
PROSECUTOR: She doesn’t speak, Your Excellency. She hasn’t spoken since her husband died.
SHER SINGH: How can we deliver justice to …
LAWRENCE: (Correcting him.) Natural justice.
SHER SINGH: (Puzzled.) How can we deliver natural justice to the defendant, fool, if she can’t speak?
PROSECUTOR: (Apologetically.) Your Excellency, what can we do?
LAWRENCE: No wonder she doesn’t speak. What do you expect her to say when the whole village is ready to burn her. What do the brahmins have to say?
FIRST BRAHMIN: Maharaj, it’s the custom of our land that a holy-wedded wife perform sati on the pyre of her Lord and Master, her holy-wedded husband.
SECOND BRAHMIN: Yes, Your Highness. It’s the custom. And this irreligious, immoral woman refuses to abide by the custom by which her ancestors have conducted themselves.
LAWRENCE: My nation also has a custom. When men burn women alive, we hang them. Let us each act according to our national customs.
FIRST BRAHMIN: This is not justice. A man has a perfect right to do whatever he wants with his wife. She is his property. If he is angry with her, he can throw her in the well.
(Laughs. Others join in.)
LAWRENCE: Well, I’m angry. Why shouldn’t I throw you in the well?
(Shouts.)
Ho Sipahi throw these two brahmins into the well.
(Sepoy comes forward and leads them away.)
Sher Singh, we are issuing a proclamation: sati is with immediate effect abolished in all provinces and districts of the Punjab. And the Hindu Reform Bill is with immediate effect extended to all parts of the Punjab. Next case!
(Applause from the crowd. Shouts of ‘Larins Sahib zindabad.’)
SHER SINGH: Next case, fools.
PROSECUTOR: Time for recess, sir.
LAWRENCE: Call the Wazir and the Commander of the Khalsa.
SHER SINGH: The Wazir?
PROSECUTOR: The Wazir?
CROWD: The Wazir?
(Confused sounds.)
SHER SINGH: You can’t call the Wazir here, Larins.
LAWRENCE: Why not?
SHER SINGH: (Uncomfortable.) You can’t. He’s too big a man.
LAWRENCE: Call the Wazir!
SHER SINGH: Larins, don’t. It’s bad enough to have arrested him. Don’t disgrace him. You’re asking for trouble. Besides the Wazir only answers to the Regent. Please don’t. Let’s go in. The sun’s too hot.
LAWRENCE: Call the Wazir.
(Lal Singh and Tej Singh are brought in. The latter spits in contempt.)
Sher Singh, what are the charges?
SHER SINGH: (Automatically.) What are the charges, owl?
PROSECUTOR: What are the charges, sir?
LAWRENCE: All right. I shall speak the charges. One, you are charged with an attempt to abduct His Highness Maharaja Dalip Singh and subvert his Raj.
(Pandemonium among the crowd. Cries, confusion.)
Two, you are charged with the creation of a conspiracy which resulted in the firing at Shah’ alami Gate on the English officers.
(Confusion again.)
Three, you are charged with exploiting the war against the English, specifically, the Sobraon battle, to subvert the Raj.
(More confusion.)
Speak! What do you have to say in your defence?
(They spit simultaneously.)
Is that all you have to say? All right, when you’re in a better mood to talk, then we’ll talk. Ho, Sipahi! Put them in lock-up.
(Sepoy conducts them out. Crowd applauds loudly. Approving shouts, whistles. ‘Larins Sahib zindabad,’ ‘Angrez Badshah zindabad,’ ‘Resident Sahib zindabad.’)
LAWRENCE: (To Sher Singh.) Why are they shouting?
SHER SINGH: (Smiling.) They’re happy!
LAWRENCE: What are they saying?
SHER SINGH: ‘Long live Larins Sahib!’
LAWRENCE:—What else?
SHER SINGH: ‘Long live the Angrez Badshah!’
LAWRENCE: (Glowing.) Yes, yes, the Angrez Badshah. I’m ahero, Sher Singh.
SHER SINGH: You’re a hero, Larins Sahib!
(Lights slowly fade. Spot on Lawrence’s glowing face. Sound becomes louder. Drums. Triumphant music. Shouting becomes softer, ceases. Music and drums continue.)
Act Three Scene 1
The Governor-General’s headquarters at Fort William, Calcutta—seat of the Government of India. Two weeks later. A map room. Hardinge, Currie, and Elliot are standing before a huge map of North-West India, absorbed in the excitement of Empire-building.
ELLIOT: (Pointing.) What about a penetration from the East?
(Winking.)
I’m sure the Nawab should be agreeable.
CURRIE: Militarily, out of the question. Our hill strategy must be Punjab-based. We must secure the Punjab before we can think of the hills. This is precisely what Lord Ellenborough wrote to Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington a few months before he left India.
HARDINGE: (Sarcastically.) Oh, did he?
CURRIE: Yes.
HARDINGE: And would it be expecting too much, Currie, to have you make a point, without naming all the important people you know?
ELLIOT: The hill people are good fighters. It may not be possible, sir, to follow …
CURRIE: Of course it’s possible. Didn’t Sir Charles Napier do it in Sind in ’43? And the Baluchis were no mean fighters.
HARDINGE: Napier. Good God man, can’t you tell it straight. Napier—can’t stand the man myself.
CURRIE: Yes, sir. The Commander-in-Chief thought that the surprise-attack policy of Napier’s would be best suited to the hills. Without even Headquarters knowing Napier had Sind.
ELLIOT: It was a magnificent victory, sir.
CURRIE: (Excited.) He surprised the Baluchis at Khairpur with such artistry. And a handful of English soldiers—that’s all he had when he marched to Imamgarh. A splendid fight.
ELLIOT: (Excited.) You know the despatch that he sent to your predecessor,
