The blue-god, ever young, laughs and plays and wrestles with them in the shade of the scented sallow wood tree, and fulfills their yearning hearts—every single one of them.
Krishna the beautiful, the radiant, the graceful, the exciting, is giving and receiving joy.
ACTOR 1: Here we are! Where is the Rani? Doesn’t the Rani come to greet the Rana?
ACTRESS 2: Prepare the fire for the holy anointment!
ACTOR 1: The Rana has lost, and there will be no fires.
ACTRESS 2: The Rana has won the biggest victory.
ACTOR 1: It is all over, and I am tired.
ACTRESS 2: Mirabai is the Rana’s victory.
ACTOR 1: It is all over, and I want the Rani.
ACTRESS 2: The Rana cannot touch Mirabai.
ACTOR 1: Since when, is she Mirabai?
ACTOR 2: What has happened to her?
ACTOR 1: What is wrong with our sister?
ACTRESS 2: I gave her a cup …
ACTOR 1: Is there another man?
ACTRESS 3: She is the purest queen in the world.
ACTRESS 2: To preserve the honour of the family, forgive me, O Krishna, I gave her a cup of poison.
ACTOR 1: The Rana slaps his sister.
ACTRESS 2: She drank from the cup, and it was nectar to her lips. She sang and we knew.
ACTOR 1: Mira has gone mad.
ACTRESS 3: That is not all. Two days ago, she was in the garden picking flowers. I was with her. In her flower basket I saw a snake. I screamed with terror and asked her to run inside …
ACTRESS 2: I heard the scream and came out. She was playing with the snake.
ACTRESS 3: She was singing to a deadly poisonous cobra.
ACTOR 1: Jhali has also gone mad.
ACTRESS 2: She has changed us all.
ACTOR 1: Women without men become mad.
ACTRESS 3: She is a saint!
ACTOR 1: She is my wife.
ACTRESS 1: (Song Celestial.) There is true knowledge,
Knew it is this:
To see one changeless life in all the lives,
And in the separate, one inseparable!
ACTOR 1: Does the whole kingdom know that my wife is mad? The peasants want any excuse to swallow miracles. But my sister should know better.
ACTRESS 2: Dear brother, she has raised Mewar to its highest.
ACTOR 1: I have lost the war; I have lost my wife.
16. Why Should I be Angry?
ACTRESS 1: Enter Mira looking detached, serene and beautiful in white.
(Procession of the idol.)
ACTOR 1: Mira!
ACTRESS 1: Yes, Rana.
ACTOR 1: Are you well?
ACTRESS 1: Yes.
ACTOR 1: Why didn’t you come to greet me when I arrived?
ACTRESS 1: I was praying.
ACTOR 1: Did I disturb you?
ACTRESS 1: No.
ACTOR 1: Rana trying to keep the conversation going.
We have come home.
ACTRESS 1: Yes, I know.
ACTOR 1: Aren’t you happy that we have returned?
ACTRESS 1: Yes.
ACTOR 1: I failed.
ACTRESS 1: No.
ACTOR 1: Come here and sit down.
ACTRESS 1: She sits down beside him.
ACTOR 1: He takes her hand and tries to sound enthusiastic. I missed you.
ACTRESS 1: Did you?
ACTOR 1: Why is your hand so cold?
ACTRESS 1: Is it?
ACTOR 1: Are you angry with me?
ACTRESS 1: Why should I be angry?
ACTOR 1: Rana trying to make a joke, but actually deadly serious.
I should be angry. You have been playing with snakes and drinking cups of poison, and making a fool of yourself.
ACTRESS 1: When wine finishes you turn elsewhere; when youth finishes you turn inside.
ACTOR 1: You are going!
ACTRESS 1: The real treasure is inside me.
ACTOR 1: Come upstairs to sleep with me.
ACTRESS 1: I have to wait for Krishna.
ACTOR 1: Where is he?
ACTRESS 1: He is inside me. Just as the seed is in the tree and the tree is inside the seed; so I am in him and he is inside me.
ACTOR 1: Come later.
ACTRESS 1: Krishna stays with me the whole night.
ACTOR 1: I’ll lie down here.
(And he lies down.)
ACTRESS 1: Mira begin to fan him.
ACTOR 1: You too, lie down.
ACTRESS 1: I am not sleepy.
(He feigns sleeping for his own pride’s sake. She continues to fan him.
She gets up, blows out the lamp and is about to leave when the Rana tries to embrace her forcibly.)
Don’t touch me.
ACTOR 1: You are my wife.
17. Don’t ask the Blindman the Way
ACTRESS 2: Does the Rana know that we are leaving?
ACTOR 2: Yes.
ACTRESS 2: Did he say anything?
ACTOR 2: Nothing.
ACTRESS 2: What did you tell him?
ACTOR 2: I told him that … that Mirabai and Uda were going off to the Vrindavan forest.
ACTRESS 2: Did he believe you?
ACTOR 2: He knows he has lost you both forever.
ACTRESS 2: How is he?
ACTOR 2: Lonely.
ACTRESS 2: Oh Jai!
ACTOR 2: He is having a temple built for Mira. He forgets she is going away forever.
ACTRESS 2: Jai, why don’t you stay on a while, and look after him.
ACTOR 2: This is his wife’s duty.
(Pause.)
I have to live my own life. (Passionately).
If you wise and saintly people have given up living, why should I?
ACTRESS 2: Rana appears in the grey light of the door. He has a tragic radiance.
ACTOR 1: Jai, I think we need more colour in Mira’s temple.
I feel fresh after a cold bath in this hot weather. Let’s have a drink to cold baths!
I remember the day she arrived. She brought youth, love—so much of it. She used to go to the garden to pick flowers early in the morning.
She used to follow me like a shadow, wherever I went, afraid we would be separated. She wouldn’t eat until she had fed me by her hand …
(The Rana repairs the tank after it is empty.)
ACTOR 2: Time doesn’t turn back.
ACTOR 1: Ask them to stop those bells! If the people want to follow Mira’s god let them do it quietly.
ACTOR 2: Those
