RAMA RAJYA

ACT II     Scene II

PLACE: A Street in Ayodhya.

TIME: After night-fall.

(A very large crowd of men and women are gathered and are clamouring boisterously)

First Citizen :- Catch, Catch her! Let us hack her!
Second Citizen :- That hunch back wench!
Third Citizen :- Spurn her! Burn her!
Fourth Citizen:- That devil of a witch!
Fifth Citizen:- Kick her! Kick her! Stick her straight!

Sixth Citizen:- She drove our Rama and Sita to the forest.

Seventh Citizen:-She murdered Dasartha our old Kind.’

Eight Citizen:- She cannot escape now.]

(When the crowd is thus engaged, two of the citizens catching either hand of Manthara emerge from the crowd)

Manthara:- Who am I? What am I? Why are you killing me? What have I done?

First Citizen:- Do you think we do not know that you are Manthara, Queen Kaikeyi’s confidant?

Manthara:- I am not the same Manthara.

Second Citizen:- No, of course not! You must have changed.

Manthara:- Because , I am a hunchback, you mistake me.

Third Citizen:- Take or mistake. We are not going to leave you. We are going to burn you alive.

Fourth Citizen:- Was it not you that poisoned the mind of Queen Kaikeyi? Murdered Dasaratha the Great King and drove out our Rama and Sita. What do you not deserve?

Manthara:- Friends! Have patience, I shall explain 

Fifth Citizen:- Explain what? Your lies won’t wash. You cannot escape us this time.

Manthara:- (Despairing of escape cries out weeping) Ha! Rama, Ha! Sita!

(Just at that moment there enters Rama accompanied by the Police-General of Ayodhya and other members of the Police)

(Manthara, looking at Rama. Begins to weep more loudly) 

 Rama:- What is all this about? (Then recognizing Manthara)Why, this is the old Manthara! What are you doing with her? Friends! Hands off!

  (On that order the two citizens, who were catching hold of Manthara, release her hands. As soon as Manthara realizes that it was Rama that was standing before, her, she cries out bitterly and falls at his feet).

Manthara:- Save me! Save me! Oh Lord! These people are torturing me to death.

Rama:- (To Manthara) Don’t be afraid Manthara Get up. I shall protect you.

  (Thereupon Manthara gets up and keeps standing before Rama with obeisance)

Rama:- (addressing the crowd) Friends! I am ashamed of you, the people of Ayodhya, behaving thus like ruffians! Why? You seem to have almost killed this old lady.

First Citizens:- (Addressing Sri Rama) Maharajah! Do you know who she is?

Rama:- Yes, I know her. Only too well! 

Second Citizen:- Lord! She is Manthara. The very devil incarnate.

Third Citizen:- She it was that poisoned Queen Kaikeyi’s mind.

Fourth Citizen:- And murdered your father.

Fifth Citizen:- And drove you and Sita out to the forest.

Sixth Citizen:- Does she deserve any pity?

Rama:- Yes, she does. There is not a single human being, male or female, who is so bad as not to deserve pity.

  (First citizen attempts to catch hold of Manthara’s hand and says)  

First Citizen:- No, Maharajah! In this respect we will not obey you. We are determined to take her to the burning that and burn her alive, Even that will be kindness to her.


Rama:- (looking hard at that a citizen).

I command you. Take of that hand yours. Leave her. Anyone that touches her will be punished severely. When Rama speaks, Rama’s people must obey. And it is the rule in Rama Rajya that no one should indulge in any violence of any kind.

(Addressing Manthara) How did you Manthara Devi, manage to get into the hands of these ruffians?

Manthara:- Oh Lord! I was in hiding all these fifteen years, far away, in the land of Kekayas. When prince Bharata spurned me and abused me, I made my escape to my native country. A few days back I heard that you Ramachandra and Sita have returned from the forest and have been crowned. I thought it must have all been forgotten. I was curious to come and see you all. And so this evening after dark, I peeped to the street. Some one saw and cried, and a crowd gathered and beat me and kicked me and almost killed me. But for your stopping them just now, I might have been dead by this time.

Rama:- (Addressing the crowd). Friends! All this is wrong. Very wrong. You ought not to have laid violent hands on this old lady. For this you deserve severe punishment.

Second Citizen:-What! We deserve punishment for trying to punish this wicked woman, this old hag, this witch!

Rama:- Shut up there. You know not Dharma. Evil breeds evil. Good breeds good. I would have punished you all, every one of you, had it not been that you seem to have done, what you did, in love of me and Sita. And yet it was a great wrong, though I forgive you now. You, my dear friends, you will not behave like this, at any time in the future.

Third Citizen:- Is this justice Maharajah, that this worst of sinners, the most hated by all the people of Ayodhya, should be rescued from our hands which are itching to do her to death and be allowed to escape?

Rama:- Shame! Do not speak any more in that style. What do you know of justice? Of Dharma that is hidden, as it has been said, in the recesse of dark caverns unseen by human eyes, unknown to human minds. That is not the justice of reprisals, of returning evil for evil. Mine is the Dharma, the divine Dharma of returning good for evil, of mercy of forgiveness, of redemption, of sympathy and of helpfulness.

Manthara:- Oh! Sri Rama! You are God himself in human form.

Rama:- Speak not so. I am but a man striving.; struggling, towards the goal. What will you want Manthara Devi?

First Citizen:- Maharaja is not only forgiving her, this wretched old sinner, but I suppose loading her with presents.

Rama:- Why not, brother? Do you really know what she has done for me and my Sita and indeed for the whole world? But for her, we should not have become, we should not be today, the great King and Queen acclaimed by you with loyalty and devotion. But for her, we should not have become chastened and purified, as we have been, by our life in forest. But for here, I should not have known and become friends with Guha, Hanuman, Sugriva and Vibhishana. But for her Ravana would not have been killed in war and the world got ridden of that great malefactor. My friends, inscrutable , even devious, are the ways of Providence. Manthara, this lady, has been the tool of the Gods. To me, after Bagawan Viswamitra, she has been the greatest benefactor. You must judge of the acts of persons, not from what appears on the surface or even from the ideas of the moment, but only by the results, even as a plant is judged by the fruit it bears.

First citizen:- And so, Maharajah, you will now take her to the palace and make her the maid of the Queen and the queen of maids.

Rama:- My brother, you have spoken well and rightly. That is exactly what I propose to do. (Turning to the Police General) Well, General! You, please, with your men, escort this lady, safe to the apartments of my Queen Sita. Tell her from me that from this day forth, the should be the chief of all the maids of the palace and should be treated with kindness and consideration. It is my desire. It is my order. Please take her away. (The Police General then asks Manthara to follow him and surrounding her with members of the Police force escorts her and they all leave).

Rama:- (to the crowd) Now that all this is over, all of you, my brother may disperse and get to your homes. A great wrong has been righted today.

First citizen:- I suppose this is what is called Rama Rajya.

Second citizen:- Shut up you fool. If you and I do not understand, should we talk ill of it.

Rama:- Yes, My dear friends, this is Rama Rajya and if you want Rama, you can only have Rama Rajya.

                                                               Scene III.  to be continued

RAMA RAJYA

Act II. Scene I.

PLACE: Royal palace at Ayodhya - A Private Chamber of Sri Rama.

TIME: Early forenoon.

(When the curtain rises Rama is seen seated on a Divan after having finished his morning ablutions. Sita is standing a little close by.)

Rama: Can you guess? My dear Sita, what dream I has last night?

Sita: The very question would seem to suggest that it would not be possible or easy to guess. How can I?

Rama: Just try. Let us see.

Sita: (Pausing to think and smiling) I should have liked you to dream of our marriage. It seems only the other day, though it was so many years ago.

Rama: True! True! Was it not the greatest event in the lives both of us?

Sita: What would have happened, My Lord, if you have not had the misfortune to marry me and go through all the sufferings and dangers of those fourteen years?

Rama: What else? If I had not married you, I would not have been Rama, nor you Sita, and there would not have been the SitaRam, the refrain, which we found so many groups of citizens singing with ecstasy in the streets of our Ayodhya last night.

Sita: I suppose it is Divine? Providence that brought it all about.

Rama: No! it seems to me that even Providence could not have prevented it. We seem to have been made for each other, my dear!

Sita: What else! How else! It was because of your becoming wedded to me that you had to share all my misfortunes.

Rama :- No, My Lord! No! Even now, when I look back on those fourteen years of exile, I feel I would not have it otherwise. It strikes me that it was planned by Providence for us both. But for it, we might have been Sita and Rama, but never Sitaram.

Rama :- I like hearing you say so. Our troubles and struggles are momentary. But, as soon as the fleeting present becomes embalmed in the museum of our memory, it almost becomes a kind of Purana we like to hear recited, or a kind of painted picture, gazing at which from a distance, we like to enjoy its presentation of truth, beauty and good. By-the-by, my dream last night was of the forest and of the life we had therein in inseparable company.

Sita:- Ah! Ah! Those days ! How I love them!

(Enter Dwarapalaka, the watchman at the door of the Chamber)

Rama :- What is the matter, Dwarapalaka?

Dwarapalaka:- Maharajah must excuse me! His Holiness Baghawan Vasishta Maharishi, it seems, is coming here to see the Maharajah. A disciple came running and told me in advance.

Rama :- Very well.

(Exit Dwarapalaka.)

Rama :- (Turning to Sita) Rather and unexpected visit What may be the purpose?

Sita :- You will know it soon, My Lord! Shall I retire?

Rama :- No! Not so! There is no need for you to leave. We shall wait and see.

(The doors of the hall are suddenly thrown open and there enters Vasishta Maharishi with a smile on his face. As soon as Rama and Sita see him, both of them together prostrate before him and Srirama makes Abhivadanam by taking both his hands near the ears and then touching the feet of the Maharishi).

Vasishta :- May you both, like Sriman-Narayana and Mahalakshmi, rule over this ancient land of the Raghu’s Race for ever and ever! May this earth, under the joint sovereignty of you both become and be the pattern of a Dharma Rajya!

(Rama makes a gesture to the Maharishi to be seated on a special seat reserved for holy persons. Vasishta takes his seat there. Then Vasishta to Rama):

Vasishta :- Be seated, Sri Ramachandra! (Rama sits down on a seat at some distance from Vasishta).

Rama :- I have been wondering what this honour of an unexpected visit by your Holiness may be due to.

Vasishta :- You are right, Sri Ramachandra! Even as I rose early this morning, a thought struck me. Indeed it has been coming into my mind off and on for the last few days. I thought I world come and see you this morning about it.

Rama :- May we know it ?

Vasishta :- Of course. It is to tell you about it, I have come over here specially. It is this. Now that everything is over and you are finally installed on the throne of your great forefathers, it struck me that the time has come when I might retire once again to the Himalayan heights and spend the rest of my life in Tapas, Yoga and Samadhi – in that unison with the divine which alone gives us the peace that passeth understanding.

(Sita looks at Rama).

Rama :- Whence this sudden resolve Your Holiness? We are both of us surprised and pained in mind to hear it.

Vasishta :- Sri Ramachandra! I nee not tell you. All meetings on this earth of ours must end in partings. So many of our great and distinguished ancestors are gone. How long should I waste my years with Kings and Courts? I seem to have been waiting for your advent and coronation. It is all over now. I am beginning to feel tired and weary of crowds and noises. The call of the high hills and forests is irresistible. Their call is the call of the harmony of nature. Their message is the message of silence and meditation. It is the goal of my soul. How long can I keep away?

Rama :- It is not for you along, your Holiness! Even we, who are not rishis, are thrilled with joy when we think of the trees reaching up to the skies, the wild beasts, the singing birds, the leaping rivulets, the rushing rivers, the majestic rocks and the joys of solitude, far from the dust and din of cities.

Vasishta :- But you are the king. It is your duty to rule. It is your Dharma which you should not run away from, except-except-perhaps at the last and final stage, even as many of your ancestors have done.

Rama :- It is true, quite true, Your Holiness! It is that thought alone that keeps me here. Else, any day, my Dharmapathni here, - my Sita – and myself, would a hundred times prefer the discomforts of Dandaka to the delights of Ayodhya.

Vasishta :- But, if your proper place is on the throne of your ancestors, my proper place is among the heights of Himalayas.

Rama :- No, your Holiness! I refuse to agree, I cannot agree. To the Rishis who are still on the path, who are still in the process of preparation, the practice of Tapas may be necessary. But not to those like you Holiness, who have reached the summit of spiritual perfection. To such, indeed the return to the forest is only an act of utter selfishness. Their duty to humanity enjoins on them to live, move and have their beign among the people, to teach, to lead, to guide and to save.

Vasishta :- Sri Ramachandra! It is you that seem selfish now.

Rama :- I confess, now I am. In such a case, it is my duty to be selfish. I am selfish not for me, but for my people no, not for me, but for this ancient capital and country,.

Vasishta :- you both are here; your devoted brothers are here; all of you to look after the people and county. What need is there for me? I have begun to think that my function is finished, my mission is ended. Let me go back to my hallowed ashram on the Hills. I have been dreaming of it day and night.

Rama :- I and my Sita, You Holiness, will also come away with you.

Vasishta :- No! No! No! That cannot be. That ought not to be. That will verily lobe running away from the post of duty.

Rama :- It is only that which is keeping me here. Does your Holiness think that I have accepted the charge of the Raj because of the power and the pomp, because of the pleasures and luxuries, or even because I like to be a king? No, your Holiness! The crown is at best a heavy load on the head which wears it.

Vasishta :- Sri Ramachandra! I am sorry to here you speak so. You are yet young. Your ruling over this land will become and be the ideal for all future ages. For thousands of years still to come, Rama Rajya will be, and remain, a pattern to follow, a goal to be reached.

Sita :- With your blessings, your Holiness, may it prove so!

Vasishta :- I have no doubt about it. I know that the country and people are safe with you. Even when you great father, the old Dasaratha was alive, I was contemplating retirement from the pontifical land ministerial duties entrusted to me. But, when he passed away suddenly and you both left for the forest, and Bharatha would not touch the crown, it seemed to me that I should not leave the country or people in that state of anarchy. But all is well and it has ended well. I have crowned you both King and Queen. It is true that that there has been no precedent. I wished to create one. I did so, because of my faith in the perfection of humanity only in the inseparable combination of the masculine and the feminine in creation. I would not have been what I am but for my Arundhati-that perfection and pattern of womanhood.

Sita :- Your Holiness! I did not think of all these things when you placed us both on the throne on the Coronation day. I thought is was only for your blessings.

Rama :- No! my dear Sita. I had a glimpse into the mind of His Holiness. I knew and felt it was not for nothing. It is you who have made me what I am. And what am I without you? What is the sun without its light?

(The doors of the chamber open and the Dwarapalaka enters).

Dwarapalaka :- (Making obeisance to Vasistha, Srirama and Sita). Maharajah! Sachivothama sumantra has come and is waiting at the door. He asks if he may come in.

Rama :- What else! Somehow he always comes in at the right moment (To the Servant.) Ask him to come in.

(Exit Servant.)

Rama :- (To Vasishta) He is forsooth the other wing of our family –the secular wing.

(Enter Sumantra)

(He prostrates before Vasishta and makes obeisance to Rama and Sita)

Rama :- (To Sumantra). May I know my Sachivothama how you have throughout your life always come to the right place at the right moment?

Sumantra :- A minister who is worthy of his name must be al eyes and all ears.

Rama :- I suppose not all talk!

Sumantra :- No Maharajah! He who talks will not do.

Vasishta: And he who does, need not talk:!

Rama: (To Sumantra) My revered Minister! Baghawan Vasishta has come here to take leave of us and retire to his ancient Ashram on the Hills.

Sumantra: I suspected some such thing, Maharajah, and have therefore come with all speed.

Vasishta: (To Sumantra) Sachivothama, you and I have served the Raghu’s race of Kings faithfully for so long. Do tell me if I have not earned my right, in this evening of my life, to retire for my Tapas.

Sumantra: Your Holiness might also take me along with you.

Vasishta: You are not a Tapaswi. Your Tapas is the faithful discharge of your duties as Minister by the side of Sri Ramachandra!

Sumantra:- Your Holiness! How can even the mighty Royal Bird fly with one wing.

Rama:- Well spoken, Sumantra! It seems a judgment in one sentence. That is why you are truly Sumantra. I have been wondering whether that name was one given by your parents, or by my forefathers,

Sumantra: Why not both, Maharajah?

Rama: Yes, it was a proper name. It is truly a proper name.

Sita: I have ever thought that there is always a secret law behind the significance of the names of persons and even of places. A kind of pre-destiny! What about your own name, My Lord?

Vasishta: (Smiling) you have spoken truly, Sita. Though when I came in her, I came resolved to bid good-bye to you all, before retiring to my hermitage, as soon as I saw and spoke to Sri Ramachandra, all my resolve has melted away, even like moonlight of the smile of Sri Ramachandra?

Vasishta: (thinking for a moment and rising from his seat) (To Sumantra), Sumantra! When I came in, I was in two minds. There was a struggle within me. You have, as usual, helped me to get over it. How can I leave and go? Is he not a fool who leaves when the tree he has planted is in blossom and who would not wait till it bears fruit? (turning to Rama). I am sorry Sri Ramachandra, that I disturbed your peace of mind this morning by my impulsive proposal. No, I shall not leave. I shall go out of Ayodhya, when you, Sri Ramachandra, are leaving it with your Sita. (So saying Vasishta departs and goes out through the door. Rama, Sita and Sumantra follow him for a few steps and then halt).

Sita: It is a good morning in which such a great thing has been achieved with so little effort.

Rama: It is all due to our good and great Sachivothama!

                                        ----------------------

                                                                Scene  II to continue

Rama Rajya

RAMARAJYA

OR

THE IDEAL KING OF AN IDEAL KINGDOM

Act I. Scene I

PLACE: A Public Street in Ayodhya.

TIME : Night (Shortly after the Coronation of Sri Rama and Sita.)

[When the scene opens a large congregation of citizens of all castes and denominations, men and women, old and young, high and low, is seen with musical instruments etc., singing repeatedly and continuously the song:

"Raghupathi Raghava Raja Ram

Pathitha Pavana Sita Ram"

[Enter on one side Sri Rama and Sita in disguise.

The congregation slowly moves off the stage.]

Rama: Has this world witnessed such a thing ever before? Sita, dear!

Sita: Which thing, My Lord?

Rama: Such ecstatic devotion, such surging emotion, such love and loyalty, such praise and prayer by subjects to their rulers, by the common people to their King and Queen.

Sita: It seems the subjects of Rama Raj. What is there to be surprised at?

Rama: Do you know whom they are celebrating?

Sita: Of course you, My Lord, whom else?

Rama: No, my dear, not me,. They are celebrating not me, but the Scion of the Raghu’s race; not me, but the Husband of Sita.

Sita: Indeed! Who is that Scion of Raghu’s race? Who is that husband of Sita?

Rama: Sita, my love! The individual may be the same. But he may have several characters and aspects. Obviously they celebrate me merely as the descendant of the Great Raghu and as the husband of yourself, my dear.

Sita: That only shows My Lord, that you can be proud of your great race and need not be ashamed your spouse.

Sita: Be all that as it may. You have not answered my question Sita. Whether you have witnessed such a scene ever before.

Rama: Well do you think it has?

Sita: Well, My Lord, I think not. I am sure it has not. Of course I have seen no such thing even when your further the great Emperor ruled over this land. Nor have I seen anything like it with regard to my father, although he was also held in great esteem, as if he were a Maharshi himself.

Rama: I also believe not. Is it not wonderful? Is it not so gratifying? What have we done to deserve all this ecstatic devotion, love, and loyalty?

Sita: What more than that you are Rama, the delighter of human hearts!

Rama: Not me alone, my dear, but both of us together. The tribute, the homage, is to Sitaranm, to the husband of Sita. The two together! Are we not both of us together the bearers of the single sovereignty of this great and ancient state? Was it without significance that the great Vasishta, the Minister, the Ministrator and Pontiff of our royal race, set and seated you also beside me on the throne on the Coronation day and crowned us both jointly?

Sita: Yes, My Lord, I heard many people remark about it.

Rama: It was unprecedented forsooth. It was, however, as it should be. Is it not indeed the essence of our spiritual faith that divinity itself is the inseparable combination of the masculine and the feminine in existence, a kind of dual unity?

Sita: Is it then My Lord’s opinion that in every country, there should be a king and Queen ruling together?

Rama: No, not so. Not everywhere. Not always!

(Enter another group of citizens dancing and singing).

Rama: Stop dear, here comes another party of citizens. They are also singing the same and in the same manner.

(The crowd is singing "Raghupathi Raghava Raja Ram Pathitha Pavana Sita Ram")

(After singing for some time there is a stop).

Rama: Sita, my dear, why not we have some little fun? Shall we try and talk to these people? We are in disguise an d they would not know?

Sita: I am not quite sure of it. No doubt we are in disguise. But, My Lord, what will you do with your eyes? The moment they get a good look at your eyes, they are sure to discover the Lord of the Lotus Eyes.

Rama: Well, I do not know. Anyhow what would it matter? Even if we should be found out, we shall all have only a laugh.

Sita: I doubt it, my beloved Lord. You see the peopleare freely moving about singing and dancing without knowing that we are so near. If once they should come to know that we go about in disguise, it will make them for everafter suspicious and restrained.

Rama: No, dear, it will not matter much. Let us engage them in talk and see.

(So saying, Rama and Sita approach the crowd).

Rama: Brothers! What is the song you have been singing? What is its name? And what is the name of the composer?

(The leader of the party by name Prajapathi).

Prajapathi: Why? Did you not hear? Are your ears deaf? We were only singing about our King and our Queen.. Our Rama and Sita.

Rama: Who? What? Who are they?

Prajapathi: Hullo! Hullo! Look here, brothers and sisters! Here are two beasts come from the forest, who do not seem to have heard of Sita or Rama.

(A women in the crowd Savithri by name).

Savitri: They must be form the forest. They look it!

Rama: Do we? Perhaps you are right.

Prajapathi: Are you both strangers come to this City?

Rama: Yes. We have come to this City.

Savitri: Do you at least know the name of this town?

Rama: They tell me that it is called Ayodhya …… They invincible city!

Prajapathi: And so it is and so it has become in truth and fact. Where are the enemies that could even think of invading it? They have all been rooted out verily, cast off, destroyed, burnt to ashes and blown off. It ha, indeed, become the divine city of Ayodhya itself.

Rama: Oh! Indeed!

Prajapthi: You both seem to be quite strangers. Where do you come from?

Rama: Our native Place is far, far away. We left it long ago. We are wanderers, on this earth.

Prajapathi: More than wanderers, you seem to be wonderers.

Sita: True. We have been greatly wondering how the people of this city, instead of sleeping soundly in their houses at this hour of the night, should be going about singing and dancing.

Prajapathi: In this we find our greatest happiness. Is it notbetter to sing and dance than to sleep and dream?

Rama: I am sure I do not know. What is it you are singing about?

Prajapathi: Why? Did you not hear? We are singing about our King and Queen, our Rama and Sita, Our Sitaram.

Rama: Who are they? Perhaps you will tell me.

Prajapathi: Surely, you do not say, you have not heard of Sriram.

Rama: It seems to me that I have been hearing nothing else. If I could get sick of hearing that name and no other. Will you kindly tell me who that Ram is ?

Prajapathi: Why? He is our God!

Another in Crowd: He is our Emperor, our Great King!

A Third:-No9, He is our Father and Mother!

A Fourth:-Nay, our Brother and Sister!

A Sixth:-Indeed, he is our servant!

A Seventh:-The servant of servants!

Rama: I wish could know your Ram, as you seem to now him.

Prajapathi: Why? Have you not seen him? How

Long have you been here?

Rama: I cannot say I have met him anywhere.

Prajapathi: If so, dear brother, come tomorrow morning to the palace gate. From there, if you proceed straight to the great Hall in which the royal throne is placed, you will see your Rama and Sita seated there. You will then have their darshan and feast your eyes.

Sita: Are you quite sure that we will be allowed to meet them?

Prajapathi: What else am I telling you ?

One in the crowd: (to Prajapathi) What are you doing here, wasting time and talking to that man?

Another in the crowd: What does he want?

Prajapathi: He says he has not seen Srirama.

One in the crowd: Not seen Sri Ramachandra! It must be a lie.

Rama: I cannot speak a lie.

One in the crowd: Why then, if you are truly a per son that has not seen Sri Rama, you deserve to have yourself placed in the centre of the four royal roads of 0this city and exhibited to all the world as a curious animal who has never seen Sri Rama.

Rama: Not that we should mind! But what is the meaning of the song you have all been singing?

Savitri: Meaning! Meaning! Has Mantra any meaning?

Rama: Is it then a Mantra?

Prajapathi: What else? It is rama Mantra. The Taraka Mantra. It is the Mantra of Mantras.

Rama: Ah! Is its so? How wonderful! How do you say it is a Mantra? What is your authourity?

Prajapathi: Who wants authourity for what is known to all? Don’t you know?

Rama : Nobody ever taught me that Mantra.

Prajapathi: If you were Rama himself, you will do well for yourself to learn that Mantra. It is greater than all the thousand names of God Himself.

Sita: Of course it must be so. (Addressing Rama) I think we will also do well, for ourselves, to learn that great Mantra which these good people value so much.

Rama: Is it so valuable? In what way?

Prajapathi: Why! Why! I will even say that it is not so much Rama himself, but his miraculous name, that great Mantra, that has brought us Rama Rajaya .

Rama: My dear brother, don’t be foolish. You kseem to be a stranger to Rama Rajya. It means the ideal kingdom of an ideal king.

Rama: Is there such a thing on earth?

Prajapathi: Is there such a thing in heaven?

Rama: Why brother? Does Rama Rajya mean heaven on earth?

Praja[athi: Nay! Nay! More …. Much more!

Sita: Perhaps you will explain how than can be.

Prajapathi: How can one explain what is so plan?

Rama: (Glancing at Sita) Ah! I see.

Prajapathi: No you do not see. You will see only hereafter. There has been no king like Rama and no hingdomlike Rama Rajya.

Rama: How, and why, do you say so?

Ananda (a citizen): Has there ever been a kingdom in which the rains from heaven never failed and there has always been plenty?

Savitri: Or a kingdom in which there has been no evil, sorrow or sickness?

Prajapathi: Or a kingdom in which the king is like a common man and the common man like a king?

Savitri: By-the-by, brother, did you hear that last Friday when the marriage was going on of the daughter of the purohit Chaturvedi, the king suddenly came there and found fault with him for not telling him of the marriage, and made presents to the bridegroom and left for the palace?

Prajapathi: Is that so? Indeed I did not hear. But there is nothing to be surprised at.

Ananda: We have ceased to be surprised at surprises when every day and hour brings with it its surprises of goodness and kindness.

Prajapathi: What Else can be expected from such a God on earth! From one who has accepted the Kingship not because he wanted it, but because the people wanted him to: not because he hankered for the pomp and power of royalty, but only because he felt it was his Dharma.

Ananda: Yes, brother, you are right. The ancient Kings ruled over kingdoms and when they were tired, retired into asceticism. But Sri Rama having been first Brahmachari, then Grihastha and then Vanaprastha assumed the Crown in the place of asceticism.

(Rama looks at Sita and Sita smiles.)

Rama: Indeed! How wonderful!

Prajapathi: Brother and sister, if you are strangers, where will you sleep and rest tonight?

Sita: We have got our relations here. Please do not trouble.

(Then suddenly a woman emerges from the crowd and comes and states at Rama Sita by turns: then calls Prajapathi aside and talks to him).

Prajapathi: I cannot believe it.

Woman: Do look at their eyes.

(Rama and Sita hear it and suddenly both of them leave the place and disappear in the darkness).

Prajapathi: (Coming back to near the crowd) Where are the strangers?

Another: Who are they?

A still another : Where are they?

Woman: I am sure I can take an oath that they were our Rama and our Sita. It seems they must have come in disguise to give us darshan in answer to our prayers.

Prajapathi: I doubt it.

Woman: You have no eyes to see what is before you. They have eyes which they cannot hide.

Prajapathi: I think you are right. Else why should they have suddenly disappeared?

Woman: I saw them both watching our talking apart. It is when they turned and looked, I made sure.

Prajapathi: What a chance we have lost!

(Just then some one in the crowd begins again chanting the song. They all join in singing and dancing and leave the stage. The song is being heard proceeding further and further to a distance and dwindles away).

(curtain).

Act II to continue

after 3/3/2009.