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Collection: Part 10 · VIDEHA MITHILA MAITHILI DISCUSSION CRITICISM SERIES PART 10
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0:00–0:02विचार-विमर्शक रेक।
0:02–0:19विचार-विमर्शक रेक।
0:19–0:21विचार-विमर्शक रेक।
0:21–0:23विचार-विमर्शक रेक।
0:23–0:25विचार-विमर्शक रेक।
0:25–0:27विचार-विमर्शक रेक।
0:27–0:29विमर्शक रेक।
0:29–0:31विमर्शक रेक।
0:31–0:33विमर्शक रेक।
0:33–0:35विमर्शक रेक।
0:35–0:42Once people turn a man into a sage, they try to remove him from ordinary human grief and joy.
0:42–0:48Since when have I become a sage? I am only an ordinary student.
0:48–0:51Your brilliance is discussed everywhere.
0:51–1:01My brilliance. I oppose verbal cleverness. All I try to do is prevent clever speech from outweighing fact and truth.
1:01–1:09truth. What difference will that make? People will still twist their words. You have exposed
1:09–1:16the tricks of verbal sophistry. You have discussed it in so many verses. Even then, people go
1:16–1:22on turning words around to say what they wish. Since when have you begun to worry so
1:22–1:30much about me? Look at yourself. You have grown up in the leather workers quarter.
1:30–1:35You'll see your learning, but they also count the soil on which your feet first stood.
1:35–1:40And since childhood I have listened to what people say.
1:40–1:43But their words have grown more poisonous.
1:43–1:46How poisonous can they be?
1:46–1:50I have been granted Sadiakama's fortune.
1:50–1:52Which Sadiakama?
1:52–1:57The Sadiakama who did not know who his father was, whose mother herself could not
1:57–1:59say who his father was.
1:59–2:04But his teacher Gautama still gave him an education.
2:04–2:07Were you asked that question too, Gangesha?
2:07–2:10The question, who, who is your father?
2:10–2:14How were you born five years after your father's death?
2:14–2:17I was asked, Volaba.
2:17–2:19I was asked.
2:19–2:21A birth without a father.
2:21–2:27Five years after the father had passed from sight, Gangesha was born.
2:27–2:28Let it go.
2:28–2:31I know the truth.
2:31–2:34My teacher also questioned me about my father.
2:34–2:38The man from the Leatherworkers' Quarter who helped my mother in her hour of crisis
2:38–2:41has now left the village altogether.
2:41–2:44I have heard the same.
2:44–2:47No one knows where he went.
2:47–2:52Yet even today, in your quarter, I find that same warmth of belonging.
2:52–2:56The door of the Leatherworkers' Quarter that opened for me remains closed to them.
2:56–2:59What kind of justice is that?
2:59–3:01Ah.
3:01–3:04With whom will you take up every injustice?
3:04–3:09One such person is standing directly before me.
3:09–3:14And that very closeness offends people's eyes, it is a thorn lodged there.
3:14–3:19When love climbs over the wall of caste, the guardians of the wall burst into flame.
3:19–3:25Vullaba, you speak with everyone, with me, with trees and leaves, with little birds,
3:25–3:28all of nature.
3:28–3:32You make me think you must have been a woman in some former birth.
3:32–3:36You are a princess of Medila, Volaba.
3:36–3:41When you raise your eyes, it seems that nature opens its heart and begins to love.
3:41–3:46You are deep in grave as the underworld, yet yearning as a wind-borne cloud, steady as
3:46–3:51a banyan, yet always joyful as this ripening head of rice.
3:51–3:54He gestures toward the fields.
3:54–3:57And you are no less, Ganga Shah.
3:57–3:59You are steeped in learning.
3:59–4:02You hear every argument calmly and answer it.
4:02–4:08You judge like Vikramaditya, you understand the world, and you stand firm as the Himalayas.
4:08–4:12Vulaba, your beauty has no equal.
4:12–4:16Neither gold nor anything else possesses a greater perfection.
4:16–4:21When I come near you, I feel like a storm-tossed ship that has at last reached shore.
4:21–4:24My learning is nearing completion.
4:24–4:28On my churning of thought, I have brought forth something new.
4:28–4:31Medi-la has not become barren of knowledge.
4:31–4:35Yet without your songs, my book will remain half finished.
4:35–4:42For centuries after Odeyana, no one in Medi-la arose to challenge Lord Jagannath.
4:42–4:44Do not say that.
4:44–4:48Dina and Badari went and issued that challenge to Jagannath.
4:48–4:51Yes, Volaba.
4:51–4:54My mother told me that tale.
4:54–4:57Dina and Badari both won their victory.
4:57–4:59The temple doors opened.
4:59–5:03Tell me the story once more.
5:03–5:08Does your heart never tire of hearing the same story again and again?
5:08–5:09Never.
5:09–5:13It gives me the impulse to write the Tatvaka Tumani.
5:13–5:15Very well.
5:15–5:18Then I shall be Dina and you shall be Badari.
5:18–5:26But remember, this is not merely a tale, it is the people's memory.
5:26–5:31From Jogia village came Dina, joining brother Badari, Hei.
5:31–5:38Kalusadai, son of Neresomia, sturdy and strong, Hei.
5:38–5:42Poor they were, humble they were, but never helpless, Hei.
5:42–5:47They hunted through forest and battlefield, and together they tilled the fields, Hei.
5:47–5:53Five monts hose upon their shoulders, however far the big has spread, Hei.
5:53–5:58Fotera was the jackal king of the Kataya forest, hey.
5:58–6:02His companion was Dhaman, renowned for his venom, hey.
6:02–6:07With words like poison, Dhaman called to the brothers, go, Dina.
6:07–6:09Go, Badari.
6:09–6:13Go and make your home in the water.
6:13–6:15Rieee.
6:15–6:18What did you say, Dhaman, you, you?
6:18–6:21What did you say, Dhaman?
6:21–6:23Rieee.
6:23–6:27You are no partner in my life in the Kataya forest, hey!
6:27–6:31You have scorned my life, you have belittled my strength, hey!
6:31–6:36The brothers sprang upon him, striking blow after blow, hey!
6:36–6:40They killed Daman and cast him down before Daman, hey!
6:40–6:44Daman began to tremble, brother, I shall avenge you!
6:44–6:46Hey!
6:46–6:51King Fotar of the Kataya forest was his faithful friend, hey!
6:51–6:54You two brothers together have killed my friend Dhamman.
6:54–6:57Hey!
6:57–6:59The days passed.
6:59–7:02The Dari and Dina went hunting in the forest.
7:02–7:03Hey!
7:03–7:04Uncle Bahurin went with them.
7:04–7:06Fotar lay ready.
7:06–7:07Hey!
7:07–7:10He sank his venomous teeth into them and killed both brothers.
7:10–7:11Hey!
7:11–7:12Dead!
7:12–7:15The two brothers wandered as spirits.
7:15–7:16Hey!
7:16–7:20Hiriya the beetle seller of Dori village saw the two brothers.
7:20–7:21Hey!
7:21–7:27Jirya the blacksmith woman of Dori village saw the two brothers, hey, we want husbands such as these.
7:28–7:35And they began their penance, hey, Vullaba, sitting in meditation like an ascetic woman Dina we desire,
7:35–7:41Badari we desire, one husband for each friend. Dead though you are, what of it?
7:42–7:50Enter the Ganga and accept us. Matt air, Matt air, I had heard that Matt air lay far away,
7:50–7:57Hey. Grain I gave, the wealth I gave, Lacks me in abundance, hey. Yet without that one husband,
7:57–8:02everything feels empty, hey. Matt Hare, Matt Hare, so I had heard.
8:06–8:12Kamala, Kamala, I had heard that Kamala lay far away, hey. Entering the sacred chamber,
8:12–8:19Kamala became Kasehore, hey. Grain I gave, wealth I gave, Lacks me in abundance, hey.
8:19–8:26Yet the one thing. Bravo, Gungesha! No, no, this is not verbal cleverness. No cleverness at all.
8:26–8:32This is embodied love. Love, love, wherever I look, everything is filled with love. Hey,
8:32–8:35without love, the whole world feels empty. Hey!
8:38–8:39Devdatta.
8:40–8:46No, Gungesha, I possess no verbal cleverness. But is there truly no logic in what I have said?
8:46–8:54Devdutta, my mother made no vow, nor did she bind me by any oath. Nor is the love between
8:54–8:59Volaba and me a repayment for the help this quarter once gave my mother. Because this
8:59–9:04love contains neither vow, nor oath, nor debt of favor, it is embodied love.
9:06–9:28Logic. No verbal trickery at all. Devdutta, after a thousand years this love will return,
9:28–9:32Will it not? For the sake of Gungesha's immortal book, I accept that weight.
9:33–9:38Let love go undiscussed, ha. Love is not made in order to be talked about.
9:38–9:42Does love exist merely so that people may discuss it, Devdatta?
9:43–9:48Volaba, I can see Gungesha's defeat. I can see defeat on Gungesha's face.
9:48–9:53Gungesha, do you agree with Volaba? If no one speaks of your embodied love,
9:53–9:58Will your purpose of social harmony ever be fulfilled? Does your book own nothing to this
9:58–10:04embodied love? Or to the narrow shamsey ballad of this quarter? Will your fierce logic not
10:04–10:10harden into mere doctrine, Gungesha? Will it not lose all practical force? I promise you,
10:10–10:16Gungesha, I promise. No one will openly oppose your embodied love. You will keep believing
10:16–10:21that they remain silent because your fierce logic defeated them. But the truth is that
10:21–10:26commentary upon commentary and gloss upon gloss will continue to be written on your book.
10:26–10:31Forget opposing you. No one will even oppose your descendants, Gungesha. You and your
10:31–10:34logic will be reduced to doctrine.
10:34–10:39Devdatta, none of your words seems difficult to me. But such a tightly reasoned speech,
10:39–10:43how are you speaking with so much logic?
10:43–10:48So much logic. Turning to Gungesha. You have understood correctly, Gungesha. I
10:48–10:49I heard these words from others.
10:49–10:51They are not thoughts of my own.
10:51–10:54This is what the teachers say in the chapati.
10:54–10:58I understand none of it, grinning, perhaps that is why they say it all in front of me.
10:58–10:59I am going.
10:59–11:03I am going.
11:03–11:06Give him his reward, Gangisha.
11:06–11:10Who knows where he may have picked up this story too.
11:10–11:13No, Volaba.
11:13–11:17This reward is more impossible than the chess problem itself.
11:17–11:22Even if all the grain grown across the whole earth were gathered for 500 to 1000 years,
11:22–11:26only then could this reward be paid.
11:26–11:28The reward is that vast.
11:28–11:32500 years from now, but before 1000 years have passed.
11:32–11:38Gangesha, if you do not pay me, your embodied love will remain hidden until then.
11:38–11:41Huh, huh, huh, to himself.
11:41–11:44What a frightening thought, what a frightening thought.
11:44–12:15He exits.
12:15–12:20I am indeed the son of a Brahmin woman, but my son is not.
12:20–12:22He is the son of a Brahmin's daughter-in-law.
12:22–12:28I am the author of a single Tatvakaantamani equal to 12,000 books, and merely an ordinary
12:28–12:30teacher.
12:30–12:33Who will forbid anyone to copy my Tatvakaantamani?
12:33–12:55The students of Navadvipa will surely carry my teaching away with them.
12:55–12:57What did Dev Datta mean?
12:57–13:02No one in the Toll or Chapati has said any such thing in front of me.
13:02–13:10the calculation of grains on the chessboard, that is beyond Dev Datta's mind.
13:10–13:12What is it?
13:12–13:14What has set you brooding?
13:14–13:17The same riddle Dev Datta left behind.
13:17–13:20Oh, let it go.
13:20–13:24He has not a trace of intelligence.
13:24–13:27That is precisely why, Vullaba.
13:27–13:32Truth and falsehood belong to the workings of intelligence, but he has none.
13:32–13:36That is why I must think about what he said.
13:36–13:41Besides being the author of the Tathakintamani, you have now become a poet as well.
13:41–13:45You have begun to write such beautiful songs.
13:45–13:51In the Tathakintamani, Acharya Simha and Acharya Viagra, in the songs, Little Gureya.
13:51–13:54Yes, Vullabha.
13:54–13:58Without meaning to, you have said something wonderful.
13:58–14:02He goes to the chessboard cube, tilts it, and balances one corner beneath his little
14:02–14:03finger.
14:03–14:09Yes, Volaba, not the Tattvakantamani, not the definitions of Acharya Simha and Acharya
14:09–14:14Viagra, it is Balgoreya that will have the power to break the conspiracy of the Tole
14:14–14:16and Chupati.
14:16–14:19Ganga Shah removes his little finger.
14:19–14:22The cube spins, then settles again.
14:22–14:24Looking toward Volaba.
14:24–14:28meaning to, you say such wonderful things, Volaba.
14:28–14:37Gungesha the poet. He spreads his arms in astonishment. Gungesha, author of the Tattvah
14:37–14:44Kintamani. No one will ever discuss the poetry of Gungesha the poet. People want a philosopher,
14:44–14:48not a poet, they want high birth.
14:48–14:51Was that decision also taken in the Toll and Chapati?
14:51–14:55Yes, Volaba. But how did you know?
14:55–14:58I did not know, but now I understand.
14:58–15:03A guard has been posted over every discussion of the love between Gangesha and me, over
15:03–15:06every mention of our marriage.
15:06–15:09Then no one will discuss my poems either.
15:09–15:15Every line of the Tatvik and Tamani will receive commentary and gloss, but the poems.
15:15–15:19Gangesha, stop worrying now.
15:19–15:22All these songs will be sung in my mother's village.
15:22–15:27Devdutta, go and tell the Toll and Chapati, the songs will not be silenced.
15:27–15:33If not today, then 700 years from now, this love will be spoken of again.
15:33–15:37If a name is cut from the book, its breath will survive in song.
15:37–15:43And a love that can wait 700 years cannot be stopped by a bamboo grove.
15:43–15:47It cannot happen, Volubba, it has already been prevented.
15:47–15:49Look at that bamboo grove.
15:49–15:53Between this village and the quarter of your mother's village, see the sharp bamboo shoots
15:53–15:54rising.
15:54–15:57They will turn your own birthplace into a foreign land.
15:57–16:02Your song may leave that quarter, but in this bamboo grove it will wander as a ghost
16:02–16:03song.
16:03–16:04To Gungesha.
16:04–16:08Gungesha, author of the Tapvakin Tamani.
16:08–16:14Sukavi Kerava Kananendu, the moon above the water lily grove of fine poets, Gungesha.
16:14–16:17I shall tell our son Vardimana.
16:17–16:20He will leave behind proof that his father was a poet.
16:20–16:24Goa Devdutta, and tell this to the Toll and Chapati.
16:24–16:28Is there anyone there who can fight for 700 years?
16:28–16:32The song of the bamboo grove will keep circling back.
16:32–16:35I have heard that no sound ever dies in this world.
16:35–16:40I have heard that seven people of the same kind live in the world at the same time.
16:40–16:46In 700 years, will there not be seven such people, Devdutta?
16:46–16:47No Volubba.
16:47–16:51In 700 years, even one would be a great deal.
16:51–16:54There will be one, Devdutta.
16:54–16:59For that one person, the song of our love will go on roaming through this wild bamboo grove.
16:59–17:05In 700 years, the life beyond the grove, the toll, the chapati, will all have vanished,
17:05–17:08but this ghost song will not end.
17:08–17:13The bamboo grove will call the spirits back, the good spirits, Udana, Dina, Badari,
17:13–17:17Acharya Viagra, Acharya Simha.
17:17–17:20It will not end, Volubba, it will not.
17:20–17:24But if the good spirits return, might the evil ones not return as well?
17:24–17:28That is my fear, Volubba, that the evil spirits will come too.
17:28–17:35When memory returns, it will also demand an accounting.
17:35–17:37Volubba, let all this go.
17:37–17:40Why have you begun brooding too?
17:40–17:43Tell me a story, some other story.
17:43–17:46I shall write no more books of Nyaya.
17:46–17:50For the rest of my life, I shall write only poetry.
17:50–17:54Tell me the tale of Bularam and the Brahmin Bangshitar, of the Tiger and the Boar, of
17:54–17:56Gahil and Durga.
17:56–18:02Here, here, the Boar runs past the wrestling ground, behind him Brahmin Bangshitar gives
18:02–18:05chase through the crowd.
18:05–18:09At dawn in the arena, man and Boar meet in battle, Shyam Singh comes and hurls earth
18:09–18:11into the fray.
18:11–18:16rises in Bungshitar, he shouts fierce words, crying the hill.
18:16–18:18Ge Hill.
18:18–18:20Shaom Singh charges hard.
18:20–18:26Bungshitar is strong, he strikes with terrible force, with a cry Shaom Singh falls, and darkness
18:26–18:27descends.
18:27–18:33His son Balaram takes a solemn vow, one vow, two vows, three vows, yes.
18:33–18:37The hill, give me strength to kill Bungshitar.
18:37–18:41The hill goes to goddess Durga to have the valve fulfilled, but Durga comes to protect
18:41–18:42Bungshitar.
18:42–18:47Bungshitar's boar is killed, pierced by the enchanted thorn.
18:47–18:53In fury Bungshitar challenges Bularam, but Bularam drives the thorn into his belly too.
18:53–18:57Bungshitar's belly is torn, Durga comes between them.
18:57–19:00In the Ganga, Bularam raises Bungshitar to his feet.
19:00–19:02Friendship is born between the two.
19:02–19:03The hill joins them.
19:03–19:05Durga joins them.
19:05–19:06Let everyone unite.
19:06–19:39Let all move forward together in this land.
19:39–19:45Gumgesha discussed us in the Tavikintamani, but now people have forgotten even our true
19:45–19:46names.
19:46–19:51Our books, too, have vanished without trace.
19:51–19:54But none of that concerns us, does it?
19:54–19:56Ha!
19:56–20:01After death, being called a tiger and a lion is still better than being called ghosts
20:01–20:02and demons.
20:02–20:03Is it not?
20:03–20:05Ha!
20:05–20:07we were never personally involved.
20:08–20:11Gunjisha mentioned us only in philosophical propositions,
20:11–20:15merely as Acharya Simher and Acharya Viagra and nothing more.
20:17–20:19And that is precisely how we were erased.
20:19–20:20Is it not?
20:21–20:24But he mentioned many other people in the Tathachintamani.
20:25–20:27Why were they not erased?
20:28–20:30Because Gungishah wrote their names.
20:30–20:32Clear? Human names?
20:32–20:34This man and that man.
20:34–20:43For us he wrote only Acharya Simha and Acharya Viagra. Thus Gangesha's poetry became alchama,
20:43–20:50while we became a tiger and a lion. Conceal a person's name and the person slowly becomes a symbol.
20:51–20:55The symbol becomes a story and the story becomes an accusation.
20:55–21:01Gangesha's son Vardhimana wrote of his father. What secret lies in this?
21:01–21:07Insecurity, Acharya Simha, insecurity.
21:07–21:14Gangesha defended our arguments against Riharsha's assault and created Navya Naya, a new discipline,
21:14–21:15a new logic.
21:15–21:21He himself was strange enough, born five years after his father's death, and married to
21:21–21:23a leather worker woman.
21:23–21:29From that marriage came Vardamana, who reunited Naya and Navya Naya.
21:29–21:33But Vardamana did not forget his father's poetry.
21:33–21:39In security, Acharya Simha, the Chalpati would not allow students from outside to make copies
21:39–21:43of the Tavikantamani, nor would it let them write summaries.
21:43–21:50After Vardamana, everyone in the Chalpati turned Acharya Viagra, Acharya Simha, and
21:50–21:53Ulkmuk into inventions.
21:53–21:58But how can creation take place under such conditions, Acharya Viagra?
21:58–22:02How can students express themselves in a shopardy without creation?
22:02–22:04How will their abilities grow?
22:04–22:10Will ancient history and ancient knowledge not be reduced to tigers, lions, and ulkamuk?
22:10–22:14Prohibition, prohibition, then how will knowledge expand?
22:14–22:18One section of society will be cut off from another, prohibition, prohibition, will
22:18–22:22that increase affection, or indifference?
22:22–22:27You do what you must, I shall do what I must, is that to be society's course.
22:27–22:33Acharya Simha, should there not be an attempt to stop this forgetting?
22:33–22:35There should, Acharya Vyagra.
22:35–22:41Nothing can truly be forgotten until we first cease to understand it.
22:41–22:45Understand it and remember it, well said, Acharya Simha.
22:45–22:51So perhaps the Chopati is arranging for students to memorize lessons without understanding
22:51–22:56them, so that everyone will forget Gumgishaw and Vallabha.
22:56–22:58And we can use signs.
22:58–23:02Through signs, memory will not become oblivion.
23:02–23:07The lesson of the Shopradi will remain incomplete, and an incomplete lesson cannot be forgotten.
23:07–23:11Only a complete lesson can be forgotten.
23:11–23:13But what sign can halt this forgetting?
23:13–23:16Acharya Simha.
23:16–23:21Ulkamukh.
23:21–23:25This marriage of Gunjisha and Valaba, the chessboard squares will grow gigantic,
23:25–23:33and 700 years cast will disappear, do something, stop it in oblivion to oblivion.
23:33–23:37Acharya Sharaba, an incomplete lesson cannot be forgotten.
23:37–23:41Only a complete lesson can be forgotten.
23:41–23:46From the teaching of Acharya Simha and Acharya Viagra has come a script of signs.
23:46–23:50Through signs, memory cannot become oblivion, Acharya Sharaba.
23:50–23:54That coded lesson is Alkamuk.
23:54–23:56What is this Alkamuk?
23:56–24:03Kikia, disciple Sohi, what is Ulkamuk? I hear its name everywhere. But will anyone in the
24:03–24:05Shopeh D tell me what Ulkamuk is?
24:05–24:12Acharya Sharaba, how are we to see Ulkamuk? It is an application of the teaching of Acharya
24:12–24:18Simha and Acharya Viagra, used by Gangesha and Volabha in their poems. It is what has
24:18–24:22made all of us ghosts and inventions, and that too through the power of Acharya Viagra
24:22–24:27vyāgra and acarya-simha. Everything is only a sign, a sign that is everywhere and nowhere.
24:29–24:36But acarya-vyāgra and acarya-simha are themselves inventions. How, then, are they doing any of this?
24:37–24:47Through our own power. Through our own power? Yes. When the power of oblivion grows, memory brings
24:47–24:52back the very things we hate. That is why Acharya Viagra and Acharya Simha returned.
24:53–24:57And once Acharya Viagra and Acharya Simha returned, they brought us with them.
24:58–25:03But how did that sign, that Ulkamukh, cross this bamboo grove, disciple Sohi?
25:05–25:12Acharya Sharaba. We did finish them off Acharya Viagra and Acharya Simha. If Gangesha honored
25:12–25:20them, their books too were reduced to dust. Gangasha's poetry was erased as well, and so his poem became
25:20–25:29alchemok. Volaba made it alchemok. Acharya Viagra, Acharya Simha, and Gangasha. The fear of these three
25:29–25:34names. When ancient history was turned into a tiger, a lion, and alchemok, we too became
25:34–25:41Sharaba, Kikir, and Sahi. Sharaba became an invention, a complete invention. There is no
25:41–25:47animal by that name at all. Yet though no such creature ever existed, Sharaba has always
25:47–25:53existed as an imaginary beast. Sahi and Kikir too are disappearing, growing fewer like tigers
25:53–25:59and lions. Prohibition, prohibition. Then how can knowledge expand?
25:59–26:06Am I entirely imaginary, disciple Kikir? Acharya, you are an invention, and we are
26:06–26:11the makers of inventions. The chapati would not allow outside students to make copies of
26:11–26:16the tatvakintamani. Now look at the state of the chapati. Forget students from outside,
26:16–26:19even local students have become scarce here.
26:19–26:27Am I an invention? Is Acharya Sharaba an invention of the past or an invention of the future?
26:27–26:33Oblivion. Teaching others to forget, Acharya Sharaba himself has been forgotten. The mantra
26:33–26:39of oblivion, this ulkamuk has become a terror. In teaching others to forget, people forget
26:39–26:40themselves.
26:40–26:50Am I an invention? An invention of the past, or of the future?
26:50–26:56Of the past, acharya vyagra, of the past. The future will come 700 years after valabha's
26:56–27:03death. Only half that time has passed. The future is still waiting, but by then, what
27:03–27:05What else will have turned into invention?
27:05–27:10What if anything will survive?
27:10–27:13Then let us be inventions, Acharya Simha.
27:13–27:19Come, let us go to Vardamana, Dina, Bhadari and Adena.
27:19–27:22They may be able to tell us something.
27:22–27:25That is not a bad idea, Acharya Vyagra.
27:25–27:28The conspiracy must be broken.
27:28–27:31The question is what will remain by then.
27:31–27:35We can already see what remains, Acharya Simha.
27:35–27:40Acharya Sharaba and his disciples Sahi and Kikar are not silent.
27:40–27:43They are doing something or other.
27:43–27:47The student of Mithila has become a machine for rote recitation.
27:47–27:53Navyanaya has gone to Bengal, and no one here is troubled to ask why it left.
27:53–27:59In destroying Balabha and Gangesha, they themselves are being destroyed.
27:59–28:01But is worse still, Acharya Viagra.
28:01–28:08Look, Vurdumana, Dina, Vdari and Udayana have arrived.
28:08–28:11We have gathered here because...
28:11–28:12A famine.
28:12–28:13A flood?
28:13–28:19No, Udayana, not a flood.
28:19–28:23No, Vardamana, not a famine.
28:23–28:26Vurdumana, there is a famine of thought.
28:26–28:30Udayana, a flood of Petanus has risen.
28:30–28:33enemy from outside?
28:33–28:36A human being or a wild beast.
28:36–28:39No Dina, no outside enemy.
28:39–28:45Badari, nothing from outside, neither human nor wild beast.
28:45–28:49They are all our own people, Dina and Badari.
28:49–28:52There is no foreign enemy, no creature from the wild.
28:52–28:57They are homegrown, Acharya Sharabar and his disciples.
28:57–29:03At the Je'Gon'Loth temple, Udayana proclaimed, because I exist, you are worshipped.
29:03–29:05The locked doors opened.
29:05–29:07And who is this Acharya Sharaba?
29:07–29:10A Jackal.
29:10–29:15We braced our bodies against the foundation, the wall cracked, and the locked doors opened.
29:15–29:17And who is Acharya Sharaba?
29:17–29:21A Jackal.
29:21–29:26Hidden in the bones of a dead cow, Fotara the Jackal watched Selhis, Dina, and Badari
29:26–29:32wrestle the tiger. We brothers seized the tiger by its thighs, tore it apart, and flung
29:32–29:38the halves aside. Then Selhis emerged from the dead cow's bones in the form of Fotara
29:38–29:47the jackal, joined the body, and rose again. And who is Achaya Sharaba? A jackal.
29:47–29:52Find a way, all of you, to stop that jackal from hurling fire, to stop the fire it
29:52–29:58should not be able to throw. The king of Matilla had the Narwar Pawn dug by Hansraj and Vonshraj
29:58–30:03of Magadar, but they could not raise the great jait. We two brothers hurled it from the southern
30:03–30:09gathering, and it fell straight into the trench prepared for it. Even now that jait leans toward
30:09–30:15the south. And who is Acharya Sharabar? A jackal, a jackal that hurls fire.
30:16–30:21Find the means, all of you, how will that jackal hurl its ball of fire,
30:21–30:25And how will this land survive? How will this country be saved from oblivion?
30:27–30:32Oblivion? In interpreting a mantra, Maharshi Patanjali's scientific statement,
30:32–30:38Yacabda Acha Tadasmakaam Pramanaam, what the word or the words of the mantra state is our evidence,
30:38–30:44was later distorted in the Bhavishya Purana, under my name, into, the Vedya alone is authority.
30:44–30:49Why? I do not know. How can one person remember what another person saw?
30:49–30:56Ablivion. Acharya Sharaba's fire of forgetting is spreading. Now I understand.
30:56–31:03Memory itself is being destroyed. Memory is being turned into oblivion.
31:03–31:11Daman ordered us to work in his field. We beat him, seized him, and threw him before Daman.
31:11–31:14Enraged. Daman summoned her friend, Photara the Jackal.
31:14–31:15Photara killed us.
31:15–31:19For tarah after death we received living life through this orc mark.
31:19–31:22Bude Ana, your learning has no authority here.
31:22–31:25Bude Ana, your learning has no authority here.
31:25–31:28And yet we live, even after dying.
31:28–31:30I understand.
31:30–31:32Now I understand.
31:32–31:37We must create folk ballads, we must awaken the Narashamsi tradition.
31:37–31:43To recite my books and Gungeshi's without understanding them is another form of forgetting.
31:43–31:49Gangesha, Sikavi Kairava Kananendu, the moon above the water lily grove of fine poets, will become alchamuk.
31:51–31:55Just as we have become a tiger and a lion, Acharya Simha.
31:57–32:00And we have turned the teachers of the Shoprdi into Acharya Sharabha,
32:00–32:07and its students into Kekir and Sahi. Will everything be destroyed? Total annihilation.
32:07–32:14But Hiriya, the beetle seller of Dori, performed penance to win a husband.
32:14–32:19And Jiriya, the blacksmith woman of Dori, performed penance to win a husband.
32:19–32:24Even after we died, we entered the Gonga and made the two women our wives.
32:24–32:33Even after death, Achaya Viagra, Achaya Simha, Udayana, Vardamana, Alive even in death,
32:33–32:37death. What is forgotten will return.
32:39–32:43Ganjisha defended my arguments from Sri Harsh's assault and created Navyanaya,
32:43–32:50a new discipline, a new logic. He himself was strange enough, born five years after his father's
32:50–32:56death, and married to a leather worker woman. From that marriage came Vodamanaya, who reunited
32:56–32:57Naya and Novya Naya.
32:57–33:01Satchakama's condition was the same.
33:01–33:03He did not know who his father was.
33:03–33:09Satchakama, son of Jabela, but he found a teacher like Gautama, Gautama of Mitalor,
33:09–33:15instead of Devada, even after death, Udayana, the old and the new mate and content, Brahman,
33:15–33:17Banshadar and Balarama were reconciled.
33:17–33:24The folk goddess Gahil and the puranic goddess Dugo were reconciled.
33:24–33:28Even after death, Dina and Badari?
33:28–33:30Yes, Udayana.
33:30–33:36A friend came for Tara the Jackal. Selvies joined us after death.
33:36–33:42Disciple Nadia. Disciple Bijji.
33:42–33:45Strike them, strike Kikir and Sohi.
33:45–33:48They are damaging learning, both of them.
33:48–33:52Kikir and Sohi seem to be dead.
33:52–33:57Disciple Nadia, Disciple Bijji, now begin the lesson.
33:57–34:01There will be no further difficulty.
34:01–34:04I have memorized it all Acharya Sharaba.
34:04–34:07You have memorized it too, Bijie.
34:07–34:10I too have memorized everything, Nadia.
34:10–34:15Yes, Acharya, I have memorized it all.
34:15–34:16Good.
34:16–34:20You may both go.
34:20–34:21Good.
34:21–34:23Everything is in order now.
34:23–34:28I am the one who hurls the flaming tail, I, Acharya Sharaba.
34:28–34:32Let them turn him into Ulkamukh, I too can hurl fire.
34:32–34:36After me, my two disciples will become Achayas.
34:36–34:40My two disciples will become Achaya Nadya and Achaya Bijji.
34:40–34:45Until now, at least one true Achaya always survived.
34:45–35:06From now on, rote learning will survive and questions will die.
35:06–35:07Who is there?
35:07–35:09Who is there?
35:09–35:11Pacing in agitation.
35:11–35:13Who is there?
35:13–35:19I killed my beloved disciples Kikir and Bijji, but who are these people trying to stop oblivion?
35:19–35:23Through signs they seek to spread what ought to be completely forgotten.
35:23–35:25He wonders widely about.
35:25–35:27The voice returns.
35:27–35:29Shoo.
35:29–35:30Shoo.
35:30–35:31Shame.
35:31–35:33Shame.
35:33–35:37Flames pour from Sharaba's mouth, but why does nothing burn?
35:37–35:38Shoo.
35:38–35:39Shoo.
35:39–35:40Shame.
35:40–35:41Shame.
35:41–36:02The custom of restoring old names has returned.
36:02–36:04I am Udayana.
36:04–36:08This is Dina, that is Badari, and there is Vardamana.
36:08–36:10I have heard that names exert power.
36:10–36:15A name is the first lamp of memory, when the lamp goes out, the house remains, but
36:15–36:17darkness fills it.
36:17–36:24And so, who can live in peace beside a current and in a house full of snakes, Udayana?
36:24–36:27Mithila has become such a place.
36:27–36:31We must go at once to Buttelepond and Sagdaalapond.
36:31–36:32At once.
36:32–36:37Where be may use to set down his rice and grains?
36:37–36:40Yes, and to Samalvan as well.
36:40–36:42Semapur.
36:42–36:45Where Arjuna hid his weapons during the year of concealment?
36:45–36:47Yes.
36:47–36:51Another war has begun, a war of the mind.
36:51–36:55Narashamsi will begin within the mind.
36:55–37:00Smiling, laughing, we shall make our appeal, you spent such labor digging the trench of
37:00–37:04hatred, now dig a pond of luck, one that the man soon will fill with the water of love and
37:04–37:09that will remain full, because you have dug it deep. Love will swim there, and go on swimming,
37:09–37:15while hatred and envy are swept away and drowned. The water diver will seize them and carry them
37:15–37:22off. As long as I remain, no one will touch the child of love and truth, for the child of
37:22–37:27truth is filled with strength and energy. Around him will stand a rampart raised with
37:27–37:34the mortar of embodied love. Do not be afraid. And when I am no longer here, you will have
37:34–37:40learned everything. Separation from me will make you strong, swift, and unyielding against
37:40–37:45the enemies of truth. Any attempt to break that rampart will be thwarted by your friends,
37:45–37:49the lovers of embodied truth. Whether I remain or do not remain, the
37:49–37:56journey will not stop, madness will not grow. If you would kill me, then kill me, but remember,
37:56–37:59many other things will die with me, and yet the seekers of embodied love will endure."
38:01–38:05And they will perform the first dance through the movement of the hands,
38:05–38:12the Chaturahan gesture, the heart filled with joy, for truth, fossoed, and the judgment between them.
38:13–38:17Taking the Daffkajuri drum covered with monitor lizard hide, they will draw sound from the
38:17–38:24the trembling chord, gumkey, the voice of that kajuri, and gumkey, gum, gum, gumkey, then
38:24–38:27the second dance will begin.
38:27–38:32The shikara hand gesture, like the summit of a mountain, to summon and display the call
38:32–38:34to battle.
38:34–38:39Let them dig the trench of hatred, if they would kill us, let them kill us.
38:39–38:44But remember, many other things will die with us.
38:44–38:49Separation from me will make them strong, swift, and then yielding, the Ractabija like children of truth.
38:51–38:52Buriadahi is with us.
38:53–38:57Fields filled with lotus stalks, leaves, seeds, and roots.
38:57–38:58She is not an old woman.
38:58–39:02The field that was once so lush has become the lotus lake of love.
39:02–39:07This Buriadahi of ours stands against hatred.
39:09–39:10Buriadahi.
39:11–39:12Valaba.
39:12–39:13Valaba.
39:13–39:13Valaba.
39:13–39:14See its power.
39:14–39:15Udayana.
39:15–39:16It's power.
39:16–39:17Look, Udayana.
39:17–39:19Look.
39:19–39:24Cut out the name, cut out the song, cut the body, but where will you cut the sound of love?
39:24–39:31Again, the same argument, in self-defense, in opposition to truth, the thief speaks again.
39:31–39:35Can the joy of creation be found in theft, in putting your own name upon another's
39:35–39:40work, or claiming another person's labor as your own, in crushing another person's
39:40–39:44talent, in plotting and scheming, then drinking bang and rolling beneath the rubbish
39:44–39:50sheep? Whose fingers will you cut off to stop the act of riding? Break the spine, cut off
39:50–39:56the legs, gouge out the eyes, lay the body beneath the roller, and carry away the pulp.
39:56–40:02So the great ones have come to taste the joy of creation.
40:02–40:08A book that fears questions is not a book, it is a prison. Should we then accept defeat?
40:08–40:15Should we abandon the struggle? Will desire triumph, or envy? My resolve is to turn
40:15–40:17the course of this current.
40:17–40:20Will resolve prevail, or hatred?
40:20–40:25Yet envy and hatred are coming straight toward me, envy, determined that I shall fail to
40:25–40:30turn the current, hatred, determined that it shall continue to flow as before, or grow
40:30–40:33more terrible than before.
40:33–40:34Gungisha.
40:34–40:35See its power.
40:35–40:36Udayana.
40:36–40:37Look.
40:37–40:38Look.
40:38–40:44The resolve I have made, the desire within me, let it be defeated, let envy and malice
40:44–40:46Let hatred triumph.
40:46–40:52Ah, but let me lose in such a way that the people see that the age itself sees.
40:52–40:57Let my resolve, my desire, be defeated in such a way.
40:57–41:02That I stand before the current to halt it, resolve to turn that savage, unruly flood,
41:02–41:09yet still more envy come straight toward me, and malice wishes my effort, my effort to turn the current.
41:09–41:14To make the current even more violent after I have tried to turn it, to make it follow
41:14–41:18its old channel with still greater tyranny, and to make me lose.
41:18–41:23Let me lose in such a way that people remember, let them remember that someone once dared to
41:23–41:28stand before the current, and that this terrible fate was the result, so that fear keeps
41:28–41:34them from ever daring again, from daring to stand before a lawless, tyrannical flood.
41:34–41:38Let my fall become a cautionary tale, and let the hearing of it send a tremor through
41:38–41:48every heart. I am Buryadahi, standing against hatred. Yet I laugh. I may be defeated, but
41:48–41:54the blood seeds shed by my discipline will become seeds in every drop, sprouting a thousandfold.
41:54–42:01This Buryadahi of ours stands against hatred. A field will arise, filled with lotus stalks,
42:01–42:07leaves, seeds, and roots. The field that was once so lush, where we had dug the
42:07–42:15trench of hatred. In that field, where the trench of hatred was dug, lotus stalks, leaves,
42:15–42:22seeds, and roots will fill the earth. And the lotus of love has blossomed. The thousand braided
42:22–42:28Buri-a-Dai has done this. And then, the judgment will be made, when people turn, and words turn
42:28–42:33with them, from moment to moment they change, lips twist, the sweet voice of speech, the spoken
42:33–42:39word, changes and becomes poisonous. With a cow dung wash we shall cleanse memory until it shines.
42:40–42:43Even then, this Bariya Dahi of ours stood against hatred.
42:45–42:48Those who have caught the fever of stopping the current will beat out the rhythm against it
42:48–42:54and rise to their feet. Manus will grow afraid, remembering that each of these thousandfold
42:54–42:59lives, born from blood seeds, bears blood seeds of its own, under attack, the descendants of
42:59–43:06their seeds will multiply again, for they are resolved, they are desire, those who have caught the fever of stopping the current.
43:07–43:10What you call Bariya Dahi stands against hatred.
43:10–43:13What you call Bariya Dahi stands against hatred.
43:13–43:17What you call Bariya Dahi stands against hatred.
43:17–43:21What you call Bariya Dahi stands against hatred.
44:07–44:12I have built my house beside the current, while you live in a house full of snakes, Acharya Udayana.
44:13–44:17Where is peace for one who lives beside a current or in a house full of snakes?
44:18–44:23Vodemana, Dina and Badari are at Batalapond and Sagdalapond. They not
44:24–44:31Batalapond where be may used to sit down his rice. I am Dina here at Batalapond
44:33–44:40Sagdalapond where be may used to sit down his grains. I am Badari here besides Sagdalapond
44:40–44:47Yes. Someone must also go to Semelvan. Acharya Sharaba has occupied it.
44:47–44:54Yes. That's Semelvan at Semipair where Arjuna hid his weapons during the year of concealment?
44:54–44:58Yes. Another war has begun.
44:58–45:03But this war cannot be won by philosophical disputation, Acharya Udayana.
45:03–45:07Pointing toward the central acting area. Look there.
45:07–45:15there. Everything appears empty, yet hidden there are weapons, hatred, envy, malice, and
45:15–45:22Anacaya Sharaba. Pointing to the far end of the acting area. There, that is Thakurganj,
45:22–45:28where Bhima passed his time disguised as the cook Phalabha, and where he killed Kichaka.
45:28–45:31Now hatred will be killed.
45:31–45:34Suddenly, Badari.
45:34–45:37Agadam Bagadam, Timba and Thorn.
45:37–45:43Afraid of a crow by day, yet at night he swims the river.
45:43–45:47There at Manahari, the jewel from Sri Krishnas ring was lost.
45:47–45:49Acharya Viabra.
45:49–45:50Acharya Simha.
45:50–45:54The answer to Acharya Sharabha, who turned you into paper tigers and lions, has now
45:54–45:56been found.
45:56–46:00The lost jewel, spread this sign, will come up everywhere, from place to place.
46:00–46:23whoever finds it, even after forgetting, will remember again.
46:23–46:27Why has this bamboo grove grown so thin?
46:27–46:31No voice ever came through it, but now, for the first time, this song has pierced it and
46:31–46:33is coming through.
46:33–46:35How can it stop Ulcamuk?
46:35–46:37How can it?
46:37–46:40He pauses and looks behind him.
46:40–46:41Disciples?
46:41–46:43Another pause.
46:43–46:46But these disciples are good for nothing.
46:46–46:48How can they stop Ulcamuk?
46:48–46:51They are merely custodians of rote learning.
46:51–46:57I banned women from the Shopadi and the Toll long ago, yet it is the women who are singing.
46:57–47:00These disciples will neither understand nor think about Ul Kamukh.
47:00–47:05How can they stop it?
47:05–47:08Enough of invention, Acharya Sharaba.
47:08–47:11We are tired.
47:11–47:14Acharya Sharaba, invention is over.
47:14–47:16The magic is over.
47:16–47:21Now that the bamboo barrier has fallen, neither I, nor Acharya Viagra, nor you,
47:21–47:27nor Gungisha, nor Valabha, nor Vurdimana, nor Udayana, nor Dina, nor Bidari retains
47:27–47:30an existence of the old kind.
47:30–47:36This bamboo grove has become the forest of Vrindavan, pointing toward the path.
47:36–47:41Even Sister Bhutto, the path that leads here, has begun to help Bolabong.
47:41–47:48A wick set in mustard oil inside a turtle shell was made into a wedding lamp for Bolabong.
47:48–47:53and bid-hard I have arrived in the form of does.
47:53–47:58See that pair of pirates with green wings and red beaks, see the entwined pirates.
47:58–48:00Pointing elsewhere in the sky.
48:00–48:04See that pair of peacocks, companions of love.
48:04–48:07They have set out for this rindaven.
48:07–48:11The severed head of Chinamaster drinks the thick central stream that falls from the
48:11–48:14headless trunk, the thick stream of blood.
48:14–48:17I have become that fallen head, Acharya Simha.
48:17–48:20I will not be defeated.
48:20–48:22Oblivion will prevail.
48:22–48:25Oblivion has already prevailed.
48:25–48:31And two Yoganis standing on either side drink the other two streams, Acharya Sharaba.
48:31–48:37Dina and Badari have enchanted those Yoganis, just as they once enchanted Jiriya, the blacksmith
48:37–48:41woman and Hiriya, the beetle seller.
48:41–48:43Desire is a machine.
48:43–48:49The truth of truth itself and the truth of history are merely virtual appearances.
48:49–48:55This bamboo grove had erased the distinction between truth and appearance.
48:55–48:58The unconscious has become consciousness.
48:58–49:01Its language is ulkamuk.
49:01–49:06Acharya Sharava, your method of education deprives certain feelings and thoughts of
49:06–49:09any place.
49:09–49:13Ulkamuk opposes that imposed continuity.
49:13–49:17The word nearest equality is inequality, the word nearest justice is injustice, and the
49:17–49:21word nearest deprivation is attainment.
49:21–49:23No acharya.
49:23–49:26That is your repressive method of education.
49:26–49:29And ulkamukh opposes it.
49:29–49:34You wish to drag those in high places down and raise those below them.
49:34–49:38High and lower themselves products of your educational system and ulkamukh opposes
49:38–49:40them.
49:40–49:46wish to erase the solo instrument and replace it with the noise of the crowd.
49:46–49:51Upon the Narashamsi composed from the people's ballard, the people will dance, and the Gandhavas
49:51–49:53will dance with them.
49:53–49:57Ulkamuk is the resonance of a united chorus.
49:57–49:59But the creator is dead.
49:59–50:02Who will believe who wrote this Ulkamuk?
50:02–50:07The creation is more important than its creator, its message.
50:07–50:13creation and that message are alchema. At night the thief was king, by day he called
50:13–50:20others, master, master. A thief no longer has any single appearance, now everyone has begun
50:20–50:26to steal. In earlier days, thieves trained beside the field embankment. They demonstrated
50:26–50:31how to cut a breach by cutting into the bank itself. At daybreak, when people went to
50:31–50:37the fields, they saw the opening, the whole village was in an uproar, stay alert. They
50:37–50:43are planning a great theft. Yet by day the same people looked entirely ordinary.
50:43–50:50For two days I have survived on scraps. Tonight I must steal for the children. Oil
50:50–50:58the body, smear ash upon the face. If anyone tries to catch me, I shall slip away. If
50:58–51:02If someone recognizes the thief at night, he must keep silent.
51:02–51:06He must not reveal the name, or the thief will kill him.
51:06–51:10By day, after all, the thief may be his master.
51:10–51:14That is what the king of the night fears.
51:14–51:15What story are you telling?
51:15–51:16That, that.
51:16–51:18What did you call it?
51:18–51:20Okamook?
51:20–51:23When I twisted my mouth, people thought I was pleased.
51:23–51:27When I tightened my brow, they thought me contemplative.
51:27–51:29But the heart kept weeping.
51:29–51:31I know that, Acharya Sharabar.
51:31–51:37Look, Van Devi has also entered this Rindavan, and with her comes her companion Vanasaptu,
51:37–51:40the tender, winged cow.
51:40–51:46Vanasaptu has come to show Ulkamook, lost in the forest, their way home.
51:46–51:49Imagination is losing its footing.
51:49–51:51Ulkamook is coming.
51:51–51:54Agadam baghada, Agadam Timber Tim Thorne.
51:54–51:57Agadam baghada, Agadam Timber Timber and Thorne.
51:57–52:00Agadam baghada, Agadam Timber and Thorne.
52:00–52:01Timber and Thorne.
52:01–52:02Okamok has arrived.
52:02–52:08Okamok has arrived.
52:08–52:10This earth is turning.
52:10–52:13With effort, he lifts the spear in his hands.
52:13–52:16It hangs in the sky.
52:16–52:18Nothing supports it from below.
52:18–52:22It is so heavy, yet within the sky it has no weight.
52:22–52:25Agadam bag-atom, timber and thorn.
52:25–52:32Look!
52:32–52:36Seen from the north, the earth turns against the hands of a clock.
52:36–52:39Seen from the south, it appears to turn with them.
52:39–52:45We who stand upon the earth have weight, while the earth itself hangs weightless in the sky.
52:45–52:48The disciple lifts the sphere and demonstrates.
52:48–52:56Agadam bag-atom, timber and thorn.
52:56–53:01Guruji came from the south after hearing the story of Baisaveshwar.
53:01–53:06He says the same thing will happen in Mithila after a thousand years, an ancient event will
53:06–53:08occur again.
53:08–53:09Smiling.
53:09–53:12My Guru is an accomplished master.
53:12–53:15He says the strangest things.
53:15–53:18But today the amulet itself spoke.
53:18–54:25What the Guru forgot, the object remembered.
54:25–54:31So Hago, my mother Gunga's Grace we have lived to see this day, let us name him Gungadar.
54:31–54:33Of course.
54:33–54:52She fondles and rocks the baby.
54:52–54:56Agadam bag Adam, Timber and Thorn.
54:56–55:00Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous.
55:00–55:03This child is extraordinary.
55:03–55:07In which month did the clouds begin to thunder?
55:07–55:10In which month did the frogs begin to call?
55:10–55:16O girl, in which month was the little boy born, piercing the co-wife's hut?
55:16–55:22In Sawan the clouds began to thunder, in Bedan the frogs began to call.
55:22–55:27In Asin the little boy was born, piercing the co-wife's hut.
55:27–55:30Which oil shall we give the mother-in-law?
55:30–55:33And what shall we give the husband's sister?
55:33–55:40O girl, bitter oil we shall give the mother-in-law, and teasing words to the husband's sister.
55:40–55:47O girl, amla we shall give the co-wife, let it remain a debt upon her.
55:47–55:51This child is extraordinary, extraordinary.
55:51–55:55He is no ordinary child, and so this is no ordinary gift.
55:55–56:01But remember, the amulet does not give power, it only reminds him that the power is already
56:01–56:03within.
56:03–56:06The Jekyll hurling its flaming tail.
56:06–56:09Sage Jotah.
56:09–56:12Alchemuk.
56:12–56:14Alchemuk?
56:14–56:18You remembered the name, Sage Jotah.
56:18–56:20Alchemuk.
56:20–56:22Yes.
56:22–56:26You just said it, Alchemuk.
56:26–56:28I said it.
56:28–56:30Yes.
56:30–56:33You said Alchemuk, Sage Jotah.
56:33–56:37Truly. I said it.
56:37–56:43Yes, Sage Jhāda, you did. Is it an evil omen?
56:43–56:48No, no evil omen. I had forgotten.
56:48–56:53This was given to my teacher's teacher's teacher by a still earlier master.
56:53–56:56I had forgotten the name of this amulet.
56:56–56:59Today, without warning, I remembered it.
56:59–57:03What have you named this divine child?
57:03–57:04Dungadar, Sage Jata.
57:06–57:11The amulet has passed to his neck. My teacher received it from his teacher,
57:11–57:17and that teacher from his teacher, and so on. I had forgotten its name, Ullkammuk.
57:18–57:22Yes, that is what my teacher told me, and what his teacher told him.
57:23–57:26Divine, Divine. This child is divine.
57:28–57:31Sage Jata, what divine quality do you see in this child?
57:33–57:37Sage Jata, he will not become some wandering ascetic, will he?
57:38–57:39I do not know.
57:40–57:42But I feel that something will happen.
57:43–57:48In this desert, amid the sand, something may be born, yet it may fail to sprout.
57:50–57:51Why, Sage Jata?
57:53–57:58Because this amulet has lain in many places, beside all ponds and in forests.
57:58–58:04Sage Jotta has placed it on many people, his teacher placed it on many and his
58:04–58:12teacher's teacher and the teacher before him. Yet nothing happened. What did not
58:12–58:24happen, Hiru? Nothing was born from the sand of the desert. Come, Gangadhar, come.
58:24–58:28HIRU, what are you doing?
58:28–58:31So many cacuses have piled up.
58:31–58:33He draws a deep breath.
58:33–58:38This is a calf's height, it died young.
58:38–58:40What will you make from it?
58:40–58:45Look, I'm trying to make a mandadrum, if there is enough.
58:45–58:48There is very little height.
58:48–58:50To Gangadhar.
58:50–58:54Sit properly, or you will roll off.
58:54–59:00I warn you. This frame can bear the weight of great day animals, yet it could not bear
59:00–59:04the weight of a little boy like you.
59:04–59:07Why is that, hero?
59:07–59:13Because it also matters how a thing is placed. It is not enough simply to say, this frame
59:13–59:19has the strength to bear so much weight. That old sage-jotter keeps muttering things
59:19–59:24like that, that one should understand before one speaks.
59:24–59:28What else does sage jhata say?
59:28–59:30Many things.
59:30–59:34He says that we feel the weight of a mango, but the mango tree does not feel the weight
59:34–59:38of the mangoes growing upon it.
59:38–59:41What else does he say?
59:41–59:46He says the sky divides this world into two parts.
59:46–59:47Two parts.
59:47–59:50The sky divides it in two.
59:50–59:53But the sky itself keeps receding before us.
59:53–59:56Where, then, does the other part begin?
59:56–1:00:00The sky is glass.
1:00:00–1:00:03Through this sight, we look to the other.
1:00:03–1:00:05Truly.
1:00:05–1:00:08What else does he say?
1:00:08–1:00:13He says words are pearls, words are the light of rubies.
1:00:13–1:00:20But if words remain merely words, and speech and action drift apart, what use are those pearls?
1:00:20–1:00:22What use is that ruby light?
1:00:22–1:00:28A word that never reaches the poor man's mouth becomes an ornament in the royal court.
1:00:28–1:00:32Then, HIRU, it becomes theft.
1:00:32–1:00:34Yes.
1:00:34–1:00:39Then, HIRU, it becomes the murder of words.
1:00:39–1:00:41Yes.
1:00:41–1:00:46Then, HIRU, it becomes a lie.
1:00:46–1:00:48Yes.
1:00:48–1:00:52Then, HIRU, it becomes hatred of truth.
1:00:52–1:00:55Yes.
1:00:55–1:00:59Then, HIRU, it becomes an arrogant word.
1:00:59–1:01:02Yes.
1:01:02–1:01:05Then it becomes an unword.
1:01:05–1:01:13It becomes blaming another person, blaming that person because we ourselves fail to understand the meaning of our own words.
1:01:13–1:01:15Yes.
1:01:15–1:01:17They rise.
1:01:17–1:01:23Hiro assumes a pose from the Tandova dance and, overwhelmed, begins to sing.
1:01:24–1:01:30At mother's doorway stands a hibiscus tree, mother, its branches bend beneath fruit and flower.
1:01:31–1:01:36From the south-west a parrot comes, mother, it settles upon the hibiscus tree.
1:01:38–1:01:44Some smear the courtyard in front, some the courtyard behind, I, unfortunate, stand holding
1:01:44–1:01:51the doorway. Some gather Bella flowers, some Hibiscus, I, unfortunate, dig up the sacred
1:01:51–1:01:59dub grass. Some ask for grain and wealth, some for a sun, I, unfortunate, stand with folded
1:01:59–1:02:06hands. The parrot eats neither fruit nor flower, mother, from leaf to leaf to leaf he plays
1:02:06–1:02:13at autumn. Where has Dior Tokugong gone? What has happened? What has happened? Mother,
1:02:13–1:02:43Mother, suit and call your parrot home.
1:02:43–1:02:48Has such a thing ever happened, refusing the sacred thread ceremony?
1:02:48–1:02:50Have I ever stopped you?
1:02:50–1:02:55Though born a Brahman's child, you went to Hiru's quarter to hear and learn songs.
1:02:55–1:02:58Did I ever forbid you?
1:02:58–1:03:05I have already taken this upon myself, Father, this Okamuki amulet given by Sage Jata.
1:03:05–1:03:06Look!
1:03:06–1:03:08He holds it up.
1:03:08–1:03:15Why should one who wears Okamuk require any further right of initiation?
1:03:15–1:03:18Do not speak like that, Gungadar.
1:03:18–1:03:20Such a thing has never happened.
1:03:20–1:03:22What will people say?
1:03:22–1:03:25What will the pundits say?
1:03:25–1:03:27Give up this stubbornness.
1:03:27–1:03:31You are no longer a baby, you are eight years old.
1:03:31–1:03:33Look!
1:03:33–1:03:37Were you not the one who said that as he grew older, his stubbornness would lessen?
1:03:37–1:03:41Instead, I see it increasing day by day.
1:03:41–1:03:45His schoolmaster also says that when he gives a lesson to memorize, all the children learn
1:03:45–1:03:49it, but this boy finds a hundred faults in it.
1:03:49–1:03:53Father, I do not like the rote learning taught at school.
1:03:53–1:03:57When I ask questions, the teacher does not explain.
1:03:57–1:04:03He says, memorize it exactly so, because his own teacher made him memorize it in exactly
1:04:03–1:04:05the same way.
1:04:05–1:04:09I think none of them fully understands the subject.
1:04:09–1:04:13How can it be a crime to ask why a frog jumps into water?
1:04:13–1:04:15There!
1:04:15–1:04:18Now what new argument is this?
1:04:18–1:04:20To Sohego!
1:04:20–1:04:24Ask Gungadar where we are to build a new school specially for him.
1:04:24–1:04:28Son, does anyone speak so about his teacher?
1:04:28–1:04:34Mother, I recognize only Sage Jada, touching the amulet, who placed this amulet on
1:04:34–1:04:40me, and his disciple Hiru the Leatherworker as my teachers.
1:04:40–1:04:44What is so special about Hiru the Leatherworker?
1:04:44–1:04:49He possesses art. He knows how to cure the hides of dead cattle and turn them into many
1:04:49–1:04:57kinds of sandals, Mundar drums, and merdengas. When a problem arises, he changes his method
1:04:57–1:05:02and applies his knowledge afresh. He sings songs in which the wisdom of many sacred
1:05:02–1:05:06texts can be learned from a single song.
1:05:06–1:05:10And what is special about Sage Jhata?
1:05:10–1:05:13He never tells us merely to memorize.
1:05:13–1:05:16When questioned, he explains.
1:05:16–1:05:22When someone interprets a sacred text, he does not grow angry, instead, he corrects a mistaken
1:05:22–1:05:24interpretation.
1:05:24–1:05:29Yes, yes, that is why he was expelled from the school and took the road into the forests
1:05:29–1:05:31of Saptari.
1:05:31–1:05:35Mother, father, this is my final decision.
1:05:35–1:05:39I shall not undergo the sacred thread ceremony.
1:05:39–1:05:43HIRU says the pundits misinterpret the scriptures.
1:05:43–1:05:47Religion has been reduced to the sacrifice of goats.
1:05:47–1:05:51HIRU says, in every matter, HIRU says.
1:05:51–1:05:54And who told HIRU all these things?
1:05:54–1:05:57SAGE JADA told him.
1:05:57–1:06:00And who told SAGE JADA?
1:06:00–1:06:12Sage Jata's teacher told him, and his teacher's teacher told that teacher, and, and, there is some mystery within this alchamuk, a mystery no one yet understands.
1:06:12–1:06:18In other words, no one understands it yet upon that ignorance you have based your final decision.
1:06:18–1:06:22But do you truly value complicated ritual?
1:06:22–1:06:25I find more principle in Hiru's songs.
1:06:25–1:06:29And yes, you have understood my final decision.
1:06:29–1:06:37You will make your final decision, remain in this house, and after you remain here, the villagers will allow me to remain in this village?
1:06:37–1:06:40Do you imagine all that is possible?
1:06:40–1:06:48Mother, father, I do not think Gangadhar will move from his position.
1:06:48–1:06:52Yes. I understand everything.
1:06:52–1:06:59He has found his proper place, Sage Jhata, Hiru the leather worker, and a school in the forests of Saptari.
1:06:59–1:07:05Sage Jhada and Hiru can find no disciple and my Gangadhar can find no teacher of their kind.
1:07:05–1:07:11Mother, father, do not indirectly force Gangadhar to leave home.
1:07:11–1:07:17But do you not see what is happening here? He refuses the sacred thread ceremony.
1:07:17–1:07:20Can stubbornness go this far?
1:07:20–1:07:26Leave aside what people here think. I myself cannot accept it.
1:07:26–1:07:31it. Gungadar, my final decision is that we will not leave this village.
1:07:31–1:07:35Who is asking you to leave the village?
1:07:35–1:07:41Mother, he means that if I do not leave the house, he will be forced to leave the village.
1:07:41–1:07:45Father, I shall set out for the forests of Saptari today.
1:07:45–1:07:50My final decision and yours cannot be reconciled.
1:07:50–1:07:55Gungadar, you are only eight years old, and alone.
1:07:55–1:08:05I shall not be alone. I have a certain refuge in the Saptari Forest, with my teachers, Sage Jata and Hiru the Leatherworker.
1:08:05–1:08:08Give me your permission to go.
1:08:08–1:08:19No. We cannot simply let Gungadar go alone. We shall go with him. To Ananda. Will we not, Ananda?
1:08:19–1:08:25Yes. We cannot abandon him. Mother, you remain with father.
1:08:25–1:08:30I promise that Gangadhar will complete his education, and...
1:08:30–1:08:35And Okamak is already with me.
1:08:35–1:08:41Sage Jata, Hyru, Gangadhar's quick-mind had become a problem for him at school.
1:08:41–1:08:48The teacher could not answer his questions and therefore kept making complaints against Gangadhar instead.
1:08:48–1:08:51Only the fortunate receive such a disciple, ananda.
1:08:52–1:08:57But if a diamond never reaches a jeweler, it remains only a stone.
1:08:59–1:09:02Yes. And we too have learned so many kinds of knowledge here.
1:09:03–1:09:06The plants and animals of this forest have become our teachers.
1:09:08–1:09:13If every school in Mithila had teachers like sage Jata and Hiru, our fortune would rise.
1:09:13–1:09:17Instead, they appoint people who...
1:09:17–1:09:21HIRU, describe how much knowledge we have gained in these five years.
1:09:21–1:09:25What can I possibly describe?
1:09:25–1:09:31The forest, the creatures of the forest, teaching us something new at every moment.
1:09:31–1:09:37Snakes to the left, snakes to the right, wearing garments of wondrous pattern.
1:09:37–1:09:40Where shall I bring arms from every day?
1:09:40–1:09:46Turn back, wanderer, and leave this courtyard.
1:09:46–1:09:50The yogi takes no arms, nor will he turn back.
1:09:50–1:09:53Come out into the courtyard.
1:09:53–1:09:56Oho!
1:09:56–1:10:01I shall not go, I shall not go, I shall not go from your courtyard.
1:10:01–1:10:08The Bihira snake has built the marriage pavilion, the Thilea snake has tied its bindings.
1:10:08–1:10:13The dormant snake has made the bridal lap, the python has laid the foundation.
1:10:13–1:10:19From the horror snake come anklets and ornaments, from the kereitkum bracelets.
1:10:19–1:10:24From the pennyederer comes the amlut, from the derber comes the drum.
1:10:24–1:10:30The sagua snake brings the celebration, the moon and stars bring the mirror, the fisheagle
1:10:30–1:10:33brings the jewellery.
1:10:33–1:10:39I shall not go, I shall not go, I shall not go from your courtyard."
1:10:39–1:10:41You must go, Gangadhar.
1:10:41–1:10:44You have much work to do.
1:10:44–1:10:48My heart is content now that I have found a disciple like you.
1:10:48–1:10:52Such good fortune was granted neither to my teacher, nor to his teacher, nor to the teacher
1:10:52–1:10:54before him.
1:10:54–1:10:58The inner fulfillment I found while teaching you was extraordinary.
1:10:58–1:11:04In this age of rote learning, your hunger to understand every subject was astonishing.
1:11:04–1:11:06I am content.
1:11:06–1:11:11Whether this is the power of Okamuk, or whether your power has made Okamuk come true, I do
1:11:11–1:11:13not know.
1:11:13–1:11:14Go.
1:11:14–1:11:17Go to the court of Kirti Singh.
1:11:17–1:12:02Let us see what this Okamuk makes possible.
1:12:02–1:12:05Finance Minister Narayan.
1:12:05–1:12:09Had the accounts been reconciled yet, or not?
1:12:09–1:12:11How can they be?
1:12:11–1:12:15Every student emerging from the schools has been trained by rote and becomes lost when faced
1:12:15–1:12:17with a new mathematical problem.
1:12:17–1:12:21Ask such a student anything from the book and he will recite it in a rush without looking,
1:12:21–1:12:27yet none of them can calculate an account or reconcile the ledges and lend records.
1:12:27–1:12:30Finance Minister Narayan, what am I hearing?
1:12:30–1:12:37Yes, yes, I was just having one of my disciples add 1 plus 2 plus 3 all the way to 100.
1:12:37–1:12:44I told him to finish the sum within an hour, but before he could, this man, pointing to Cordier
1:12:44–1:12:482, dragged me here.
1:12:48–1:12:53Finance Minister, you could not reconcile the sum yesterday either, sum upon sum.
1:12:53–1:12:58My Lord, for a whole year no one has been able to discover whether the accounts and
1:12:58–1:13:02land registers show a profit or a loss.
1:13:02–1:13:04Your Majesty, I found this boy there.
1:13:04–1:13:07He said he could reconcile all the accounts.
1:13:07–1:13:10There was little time, so I brought him with me.
1:13:10–1:13:15Your Majesty, with your permission, may I speak?
1:13:15–1:13:21Adding the numbers from 1 to 100 must take time, Your Majesty.
1:13:21–1:13:24Thank you, Your Majesty.
1:13:24–1:13:27Facing Finance Minister Narayan.
1:13:27–1:13:32To add 1 through 100, first consider how many numbers there are.
1:13:32–1:13:34100.
1:13:34–1:13:36How many else could there be?
1:13:36–1:13:40Write 1 to 100 and beneath them 100 to 1.
1:13:40–1:13:46Pair 1 with 100, 2 with 99, 3 with 98.
1:13:46–1:13:49What does each pair equal?
1:13:49–1:13:50101.
1:13:50–1:13:52What else?
1:13:52–1:13:55Each pair contains two numbers.
1:13:55–1:13:58How many pairs are there among 100 numbers?
1:13:58–1:14:0050.
1:14:00–1:14:02What else?
1:14:02–1:14:05There are 50 pairs of 101.
1:14:05–1:14:08multiply 100 and 1 by 50.
1:14:08–1:14:12Or multiply 50 by 100, then add 50.
1:14:12–1:14:14What does that make?
1:14:14–1:14:1850 times 100 is 5,000.
1:14:18–1:14:20Plus 50 makes 5,050.
1:14:20–1:14:235,050, your majesty.
1:14:23–1:14:26Yes, that is correct.
1:14:26–1:14:29Your pupil is exceptionally capable.
1:14:29–1:14:30To Gangadhar.
1:14:30–1:14:33What is your name, my child?
1:14:33–1:14:37No, Your Majesty, he is not my pupil.
1:14:37–1:14:39He came to ask me for employment.
1:14:39–1:14:44When I asked which school he attended, he said he had studied in Saptari with Sage Jata
1:14:44–1:14:49and his disciple Hiru the Leatherworker, and had attended no formal school.
1:14:49–1:14:51Therefore I refused him employment.
1:14:51–1:14:53I am ashamed, Your Majesty.
1:14:53–1:14:56His name is Gangadhar.
1:14:56–1:14:58Astonishing.
1:14:58–1:15:03He attended no school, but studied with Sage Jata and his disciple Hiru the Leatherworker.
1:15:03–1:15:10Your Majesty, with your permission, shall I appoint Gungadar to a post?
1:15:10–1:15:12Appoint him.
1:15:12–1:15:15If you do not, your own post will be in danger.
1:15:15–1:15:20For here no one is known whether the kingdom's accounts and registers show profit or loss.
1:15:20–1:15:22Never mind.
1:15:22–1:15:25Gesturing to courtiers one and two.
1:15:25–1:15:30Go and summon Commander Harikar.
1:15:30–1:15:35Gungadar, are you willing to serve in the Royal Court?
1:15:35–1:15:39Your Majesty, I am ready to work anywhere.
1:15:39–1:15:44If I serve in the royal court, others will benefit from my education, and I may also prove
1:15:44–1:15:51that this kind of learning can be practiced elsewhere.
1:15:51–1:15:55Finance Minister, Gungador, sit in the reception chamber.
1:15:55–1:15:58I have an urgent matter to discuss.
1:15:58–1:16:00Remain seated, do not go anywhere.
1:16:00–1:16:03Yes, Your Majesty.
1:16:03–1:16:07Your Majesty.
1:16:07–1:16:10You summoned me, Your Majesty.
1:16:10–1:16:19Yes, Commander. Today I met a boy named Gungudar, extraordinarily clever, extraordinarily gifted.
1:16:19–1:16:24The Finance Minister is useless, he cannot produce an account or submit a ledger on time. Yet
1:16:24–1:16:28one merit remains, he never disobeys an order.
1:16:28–1:16:31Yes, Your Majesty.
1:16:31–1:16:37A thought has occurred to me. The marriage of my sworn sister Kumar Suta.
1:16:37–1:16:42Your Majesty, you are not thinking of Gungodaw, are you?
1:16:42–1:16:45I am, Commander.
1:16:45–1:16:50But your Majesty stands for High Lineage, and Gungodaw is?
1:16:50–1:16:55Yes, that is precisely why he must be raised to noble rank.
1:16:55–1:17:02I shall arrange Gungodaw's marriage to my sworn sister, Kumar Suta, and appoint him Prime Minister of this kingdom.
1:17:02–1:17:08Commander Harikha, that young man who just passed before you, he is extraordinarily gifted.
1:17:09–1:17:11Yes, Your Majesty.
1:17:11–1:17:14Gesturing towards Quartia 1 and Quartia 2.
1:17:15–1:17:18These two were only just discussing his brilliance.
1:17:18–1:17:21He would be an entirely suitable husband for Kuma Souter.
1:17:22–1:17:27Finance Minister Narayan has been unable to manage the additional charge of Prime Minister.
1:17:28–1:17:31Then make every arrangement for the wedding, Commander.
1:17:32–1:17:41Certainly, Your Majesty, certainly. Everything will be arranged at once.
1:17:41–1:17:46In the new schools, students are thinking for themselves and working with their own hands.
1:17:46–1:17:49Women's education has begun again.
1:17:49–1:17:54Cast divisions have been abolished, education is for everyone.
1:17:54–1:17:58Welcome to this meeting of the Experience Council.
1:17:58–1:18:02We are eager to hear your thoughts, Sage Jata.
1:18:02–1:18:08Education through understanding, not rote repetition, has begun, something absent in the time of
1:18:08–1:18:13my teacher, his teacher, and his teacher before him.
1:18:13–1:18:18Learning memorized without understanding is merely a burden loaded on a donkey.
1:18:18–1:18:22Is that not so, Mansook?
1:18:22–1:18:23Indeed it is.
1:18:23–1:18:25To his son Jive.
1:18:25–1:18:28Arrange refreshments for all our guests, Jive.
1:18:28–1:18:29To Harriker.
1:18:29–1:18:32Erika, would you also like to speak?
1:18:33–1:18:35Daughter, go and help Jive.
1:18:35–1:18:41I do, Mansukh, but in a little while.
1:18:41–1:18:44First I would like to hear more from Gangadha.
1:18:45–1:18:49The Experience Council honors labor, not wealth.
1:18:49–1:18:52A rich man's riches are like a hen's milk.
1:18:52–1:18:57They may nourish only the hen's own chicks, but they can never make sweets for everyone.
1:18:57–1:18:58everyone.
1:18:58–1:18:59Yes.
1:18:59–1:19:06I keep telling my sworn brother, Kirti Singh, the same thing.
1:19:06–1:19:11Finance Minister Narayan continues to believe that every welfare measure of the experience
1:19:11–1:19:15council is being paid for from the Royal Treasury.
1:19:15–1:19:18Narayan does not understand economics.
1:19:18–1:19:21He understands only how money may be collected.
1:19:21–1:19:25He does not understand how wealth is created.
1:19:25–1:19:30Dungadar has explained the accounts to Keeti Singh many times.
1:19:30–1:19:36Every welfare program of the experience council is funded by the wealth it earns itself.
1:19:36–1:19:40In Dungadar's presence, Narayan accepts that.
1:19:40–1:19:45Behind his back, he calls Dungadar's accounts evasive and ulkamukh maize figures and
1:19:45–1:19:49spreads the illusion that they cannot be trusted.
1:19:49–1:19:55You may question someone bitten by a snake or someone tormented by ghosts and spirits,
1:19:55–1:19:59And what can you ask of one possessed by the ghost called money?
1:19:59–1:20:03The experience council schools teach people to earn through their own work, they teach
1:20:03–1:20:06self-reliance."
1:20:06–1:20:08Well said, Gungdidar.
1:20:08–1:20:14At the experience council school, my son never once felt that his people had ever been treated
1:20:14–1:20:16as untouchable.
1:20:16–1:20:17Looking at me too.
1:20:17–1:20:20Is that not so me too?
1:20:20–1:20:23Do not call them untouchable, Monsuk.
1:20:23–1:20:27The experience council has named them Alkamookies.
1:20:27–1:20:29Looking at Madov.
1:20:29–1:20:34Madov has organized the Alkamookie schools so well that words cannot do them justice.
1:20:34–1:20:38Yes, Alkamookies emerge from those schools.
1:20:38–1:20:42Turning to Associate 1 and Associate 2.
1:20:42–1:20:46Tell everyone how the Alkamookie schools meet their financial needs.
1:20:46–1:20:48Everywhere.
1:20:48–1:20:53Alkamookie members support the teachers and students through their own labour.
1:20:53–1:20:59where, all Kamuki members meet the cost of land and buildings for the all Kamuki schools.
1:20:59–1:21:03People say the all Kamuki schools have brought them immense benefit.
1:21:03–1:21:07The experiments carried out by the students and teachers of those schools have transformed
1:21:07–1:21:10their lives.
1:21:10–1:21:14They also say that former and present students and teachers come to their aid whenever
1:21:14–1:21:15needed.
1:21:15–1:21:19Therefore, however much the people give these schools, the schools return even more
1:21:19–1:21:20to them.
1:21:20–1:21:22Looking at Ananda.
1:21:22–1:21:26Commander herself was present when this was being discussed in one place.
1:21:26–1:21:34Yes, that is true. But much more remains to be done. Shall we conclude today's meeting
1:21:34–1:21:35now?
1:21:35–1:21:40No. I have something to say.
1:21:40–1:21:43What is it, Commander Harikar?
1:21:43–1:21:49Madhav, Gangadhar is leaving for Saptary. You will therefore have to undertake this
1:21:49–1:22:03I wish my daughter Metta to marry Jive. I shall attend to the wedding arrangements, and because you and I both serve in the royal court, we shall obtain the king's formal permission for it. I place that responsibility upon you.
1:22:04–1:22:17This is joyful news. He rises. Everyone stands and begins congratulating Mansukh and Harakir. Jive and Metha enter carrying trays and other refreshments.
1:22:17–1:22:37darkness spreads.
1:22:37–1:22:40And outrage has occurred, Your Majesty.
1:22:40–1:22:43News has arrived of the marriage between the prominent commander Harika's daughter and
1:22:43–1:22:46the son of the leatherwork Amansukh.
1:22:46–1:22:51Such a Pratiloma marriage can in no way be called proper, especially when it had not
1:22:51–1:22:54received royal assent.
1:22:54–1:22:57And this when the commander is a member of this court, and model belongs to the experience
1:22:57–1:23:01council that arranged the marriage.
1:23:01–1:23:05When I had not granted permission for jive and mediter marry, how did this wedding take
1:23:05–1:23:08place, mod of?
1:23:08–1:23:11Your Majesty, the permission was only a formality.
1:23:11–1:23:16No one in the experience council opposed a marriage.
1:23:16–1:23:18The experience council.
1:23:18–1:23:20The experience council.
1:23:20–1:23:24Has it grown greater than this royal court?
1:23:24–1:23:27I raised objections as well, Your Majesty.
1:23:27–1:23:34This experience council wonders about dispensing endless charity and draining the royal treasury.
1:23:34–1:23:38Everyone in the experience council eats what they earn through labour, finance minister
1:23:38–1:23:39Narayan.
1:23:39–1:23:44From time to time you repeat this charge against Gangadhar, but he has answered it thoroughly,
1:23:44–1:23:48and you yourself declared that you were satisfied.
1:23:48–1:23:50How could he be satisfied?
1:23:50–1:23:55Kandadas Lebranten accounts never entail his understanding.
1:23:55–1:23:57Those were minor matters.
1:23:57–1:24:00This time the king's command has been defied.
1:24:00–1:24:04The king never obstructed any work of the experience council.
1:24:04–1:24:08And wrote learning, they said, and it was ended.
1:24:08–1:24:13But the finance minister's accounts could never add up without wrote learning.
1:24:13–1:24:18Once wrote learning ended, people began to think with their own minds.
1:24:18–1:24:20This is only the beginning, your majesty.
1:24:20–1:24:24The marriage of Mansukh, the leather worker's son to the Brahmin commander-harriker's
1:24:24–1:24:27daughter will bring revolution.
1:24:27–1:24:29What do they call it?
1:24:29–1:24:30Thinking.
1:24:30–1:24:31All Komuki.
1:24:31–1:24:32All Komuki.
1:24:32–1:24:38Modov, go and tell Haruka that he is no longer commander of this kingdom.
1:24:38–1:24:44Inform the Experience Council, HMPH, the Experience Council, that Gungodot is no longer
1:24:44–1:24:47prime minister of this kingdom.
1:24:47–1:24:51When an idea begins to rise above the royal command, the walls of the palace begin to
1:24:51–1:24:52tremble.
1:24:52–1:24:55Narayan will now assume both offices.
1:24:55–1:25:01Modov, you may go.
1:25:01–1:25:06Commander Narayan, I want for eyes, medders two and jives two.
1:25:06–1:25:11When both pairs have been gouged out, throw the two of them before the Madanerivata.
1:25:11–1:25:15Have them crushed, but first I want those for eyes.
1:25:15–1:25:19Eyes that dared to look beyond cast cannot be endured by the throne.
1:25:19–1:25:25Let the new spread to the farthest horizon for Pratiloma.
1:25:25–1:25:27Is this your final decision?
1:25:27–1:25:30All together, yes.
1:25:30–1:25:35Yes. It is final, Gungadar, whether you accept it or not.
1:25:36–1:25:39I too accept this decision.
1:25:40–1:25:44The experience council has always honoured the will of the majority.
1:25:44–1:25:46But think it over.
1:25:46–1:25:54Maudove. How is it that the royal order for the brutal killing of Meda and Jive was kept secret from you?
1:25:55–1:25:58Brutal, the utmost brutality.
1:25:58–1:26:05Oh! Such a murder, the daughter of the royal commander's own house, and his son-in-law.
1:26:05–1:26:10An order for such a death, and you court not even the faintest hint of it, Mottorv.
1:26:10–1:26:19Gungadar, and members of the Experience Council, I demand justice. Justice against the injustice of the royal court.
1:26:19–1:26:24I demand a justice turner, even in the court's injustice.
1:26:24–1:26:30Very well. Let it be so. Who shall be entrusted with it?
1:26:31–1:26:35I shall take this burden, Gungudok, gladly, gladly.
1:26:35–1:26:39I shall stand against the royal court that committed this monstrous sin.
1:26:39–1:26:45I shall conduct a secret campaign against the court that concealed this conspiracy from me.
1:26:45–1:26:51That shall be my penance. But this must not become mere revenge, it must defend memory.
1:26:51–1:26:56If only revenge remains, I too shall burn in the same fire."
1:26:56–1:27:00Modov comes to the front of the stage with his two associates.
1:27:00–1:27:03Modov, you must be cautious.
1:27:03–1:27:08Everyone in the royal court knows that you are a member of the experience council.
1:27:08–1:27:11Modov, Hiru, and I shall prepare the ground.
1:27:11–1:27:18Such a convincing pretense that the royal court will believe you have been expelled from the experience council.
1:27:18–1:27:26And I shall spread the story through Song, so the court will believe that the experience council collapse after Maudave was cast out.
1:27:27–1:27:28Then let it be so.
1:27:29–1:27:33Every member of the experience council must leave for Sceptari.
1:27:33–1:27:37Maudave, you and your two associates must return to the royal court.
1:27:38–1:27:45Sage Jata and Hiru, do not take long, complete your task quickly and reach the forests of Sceptari.
1:27:45–1:27:56Mother Rudramati, bless your son Modov and both of us, so that we may complete the task entrusted to us by the Experience Council.
1:27:56–1:28:07Mother Rudramati, after the monstrous murder of Meda and Jive, silence would be cowardice. The Experience Council has resolved that we must punish the king for his date.
1:28:07–1:28:12Has the Experience Council's decision been carried out, Modov?
1:28:12–1:28:14No, mother.
1:28:14–1:28:16We are about to leave.
1:28:16–1:28:22I thought I should come home first and seek my mother's blessing before setting out.
1:28:22–1:28:28How did you dare enter this house before carrying out the experience council's decision, Madov?
1:28:28–1:28:33Medda and Jive were killed, their eyes gouged out, their bodies crushed beneath an elephant.
1:28:33–1:28:38You are fortunate, Madov, that you have been entrusted with punishing the criminal
1:28:38–1:28:39responsible.
1:28:39–1:28:42But do you understand the gravity of that charge?
1:28:43–1:28:44I do, mother.
1:28:45–1:28:48What do you understand, Modove?
1:28:48–1:28:53How dare you enter this house without carrying out the experience council's decision, my son?
1:28:53–1:28:59Until you fulfill it, you shall live in the form of a chicken, and a chicken has no right to eat from a plate.
1:28:59–1:29:03Eat. Eat the rice I have thrown on the ground.
1:29:03–1:29:13Bangles for the hens, a bracelet of flowers, where shall I find them now, my beloved?
1:29:13–1:29:20A girdle for the waist, a chain of gold, none of them delights my hut, my beloved.
1:29:20–1:29:28Mada and Jive have been slain, yet Mordeth remains silent, that does not please my hut, my beloved.
1:29:28–1:29:35The king tore out their eyes and had the elephant crush them, where shall I find Mada and Jive now, my beloved?
1:29:36–1:29:41I will not eat the Sathura, O King, it tastes bitter.
1:29:41–1:29:44Madhav's conduct tastes bitter to Gangadhar.
1:29:44–1:29:50The mother comes to bless the sixth day right, Madhav's conduct tastes bitter to Gangadhar.
1:29:50–1:29:58The sister comes to prepare the coal, Madhav's conduct tastes bitter to Gangadhar.
1:29:58–1:30:00What are you saying?
1:30:00–1:30:05Everyone at court knows that Madhav and Gangadhar trust each other without limit.
1:30:05–1:30:07Not trust.
1:30:07–1:30:08trusted.
1:30:10–1:30:11What do you mean?
1:30:12–1:30:14The murder of Jive and Meadow.
1:30:15–1:30:17But Modov knew nothing about that.
1:30:18–1:30:20You may know that.
1:30:20–1:30:27Everyone in the experience council, however, kept asking how Modov could have known nothing of the conspiracy
1:30:27–1:30:30and how he could have made no attempt to stop it.
1:30:31–1:30:34And so the experience council broke apart.
1:30:34–1:30:39The experience council has broken apart.
1:30:39–1:30:44Mordov either left the experience council or was expelled from it.
1:30:44–1:30:53In either case, that means the council has split, does it not?
1:30:53–1:30:55This is useful news.
1:30:55–1:30:58The king has been needlessly suspicious of Mordov.
1:30:58–1:31:00Yes.
1:31:00–1:31:05These mendicants have no idea how great a favour they have done us.
1:31:05–1:31:10Well, we must go now. We shall meet again one day over a drink of pain.
1:31:10–1:31:20Very well, brothers. We shall certainly meet again.
1:31:20–1:31:28Come, hero. Our work is done. We too must now set out for the forests of Saptari.
1:31:28–1:31:36Ghosts and spirits play the symbols. I make the Yoganese dance. I destroy the demons.
1:31:36–1:31:41I bind the world together.
1:31:41–1:31:43Victory to your majesty.
1:31:43–1:31:45I bring welcome news.
1:31:45–1:31:48Modov has been expelled from the Experience Council.
1:31:48–1:31:55The council suspected that Modov had concealed from it his knowledge of the royal order to kill Jive and Mehta.
1:31:55–1:31:57But Modov knew nothing of it.
1:31:57–1:32:01V did not know, how could he have hidden it from anyone?
1:32:01–1:32:04Who in the Experience Council would believe that?
1:32:04–1:32:08When the royal order was issued, Modov was present in the royal court.
1:32:09–1:32:12Yes, that is true. But how did you learn this?
1:32:13–1:32:15I have placed informants everywhere.
1:32:16–1:32:18The experience council could hardly escape their reach.
1:32:22–1:32:24Victory to your majesty.
1:32:24–1:32:28Modov and his two associates seek permission to enter the royal court.
1:32:30–1:32:31Permission is granted.
1:32:32–1:32:34Bring all three in with honor.
1:32:37–1:32:39Come, Modov.
1:32:39–1:32:46I had thought that you too had abandoned the royal court, like Gungodaw and Harikah.
1:32:46–1:32:50How could I abandon the royal court, your majesty?
1:32:50–1:32:55Gungodaw and Harikah have the experience council, if not the royal court, then the experience
1:32:55–1:32:56council.
1:32:56–1:32:59For me, only the royal court remains.
1:32:59–1:33:00Softly.
1:33:00–1:33:06Sometimes, to enter within, one must appear a traitor from without.
1:33:06–1:33:10The decision to execute Jive and Mehta was taken without warning.
1:33:10–1:33:14That is why you could not be informed.
1:33:14–1:33:19Even had I been told, Finance Minister Narayan, I could not have altered the royal decree.
1:33:19–1:33:25Modav, if I had borne any hatred towards Gangadhar, would I have arranged his marriage to my
1:33:25–1:33:27sworn sister Kuma Suta?
1:33:27–1:33:31I made him Prime Minister so that he might be raised a noble rank.
1:33:31–1:33:35How was I to know that he was a patron of the lowborn, and that he would colour
1:33:35–1:33:38Kuma-suter in his own colors as well.
1:33:38–1:33:40Yes.
1:33:40–1:34:03He colored all of us in his own colors, Keetising.
1:34:03–1:34:06The time has come to take leave.
1:34:06–1:34:12The experience council brought every cast closer and abolished cast, but...
1:34:12–1:34:14No, Gangadhar.
1:34:14–1:34:17Nothing will happen to you.
1:34:17–1:34:20Everything is being set right, Gangadhar.
1:34:20–1:34:22Keetising is dead.
1:34:22–1:34:25Now everything will be right again.
1:34:25–1:34:29But Madhavan both his associates died with him.
1:34:29–1:34:33Hirdi Singh's death had become necessary.
1:34:33–1:34:37No human being could order the monstrous murder of Mitha and Jive.
1:34:37–1:34:43Hirdi Singh became surrounded by people who turned him from a human being into an animal.
1:34:43–1:34:46Gangadhar, nothing will happen to you.
1:34:46–1:34:49No, Khmer Sutta.
1:34:49–1:34:51Everyone's time must come.
1:34:51–1:34:55I have certain fears about the experience council.
1:34:55–1:35:02Gangadhar, the experience council will continue exactly as you wish.
1:35:02–1:35:05I am afraid.
1:35:05–1:35:08Afraid of what, Gangadhar?
1:35:08–1:35:10Afraid of what?
1:35:10–1:35:17Every caste may enter the experience council, and women face no discrimination there.
1:35:17–1:35:19That is true today, HIRU.
1:35:19–1:35:22I want it to remain true tomorrow, sage jhata.
1:35:22–1:35:26My only fear is that the fire of vengeance may turn the experience council itself into
1:35:26–1:35:29an ulkamuki caste, sage jhata.
1:35:29–1:35:30That is my one fear.
1:35:30–1:35:32He begins to cough.
1:35:32–1:35:36My one fear is that, in resisting the attack certain to be made upon it, the experience
1:35:36–1:35:41council may enclose itself within a wall and bar the entry of every other caste.
1:35:41–1:35:44The door we open must not be shut again after I am gone.
1:35:44–1:35:47Do not let that happen after I am gone, kumarsuta.
1:35:47–1:35:50But the fire of revenge may make it happen.
1:35:50–1:35:51That alone is my fear.

Plain text

विचार-विमर्शक रेक। विचार-विमर्शक रेक। विचार-विमर्शक रेक। विचार-विमर्शक रेक। विचार-विमर्शक रेक। विचार-विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। Once people turn a man into a sage, they try to remove him from ordinary human grief and joy. Since when have I become a sage? I am only an ordinary student. Your brilliance is discussed everywhere. My brilliance. I oppose verbal cleverness. All I try to do is prevent clever speech from outweighing fact and truth. truth. What difference will that make? People will still twist their words. You have exposed the tricks of verbal sophistry. You have discussed it in so many verses. Even then, people go on turning words around to say what they wish. Since when have you begun to worry so much about me? Look at yourself. You have grown up in the leather workers quarter. You'll see your learning, but they also count the soil on which your feet first stood. And since childhood I have listened to what people say. But their words have grown more poisonous. How poisonous can they be? I have been granted Sadiakama's fortune. Which Sadiakama? The Sadiakama who did not know who his father was, whose mother herself could not say who his father was. But his teacher Gautama still gave him an education. Were you asked that question too, Gangesha? The question, who, who is your father? How were you born five years after your father's death? I was asked, Volaba. I was asked. A birth without a father. Five years after the father had passed from sight, Gangesha was born. Let it go. I know the truth. My teacher also questioned me about my father. The man from the Leatherworkers' Quarter who helped my mother in her hour of crisis has now left the village altogether. I have heard the same. No one knows where he went. Yet even today, in your quarter, I find that same warmth of belonging. The door of the Leatherworkers' Quarter that opened for me remains closed to them. What kind of justice is that? Ah. With whom will you take up every injustice? One such person is standing directly before me. And that very closeness offends people's eyes, it is a thorn lodged there. When love climbs over the wall of caste, the guardians of the wall burst into flame. Vullaba, you speak with everyone, with me, with trees and leaves, with little birds, all of nature. You make me think you must have been a woman in some former birth. You are a princess of Medila, Volaba. When you raise your eyes, it seems that nature opens its heart and begins to love. You are deep in grave as the underworld, yet yearning as a wind-borne cloud, steady as a banyan, yet always joyful as this ripening head of rice. He gestures toward the fields. And you are no less, Ganga Shah. You are steeped in learning. You hear every argument calmly and answer it. You judge like Vikramaditya, you understand the world, and you stand firm as the Himalayas. Vulaba, your beauty has no equal. Neither gold nor anything else possesses a greater perfection. When I come near you, I feel like a storm-tossed ship that has at last reached shore. My learning is nearing completion. On my churning of thought, I have brought forth something new. Medi-la has not become barren of knowledge. Yet without your songs, my book will remain half finished. For centuries after Odeyana, no one in Medi-la arose to challenge Lord Jagannath. Do not say that. Dina and Badari went and issued that challenge to Jagannath. Yes, Volaba. My mother told me that tale. Dina and Badari both won their victory. The temple doors opened. Tell me the story once more. Does your heart never tire of hearing the same story again and again? Never. It gives me the impulse to write the Tatvaka Tumani. Very well. Then I shall be Dina and you shall be Badari. But remember, this is not merely a tale, it is the people's memory. From Jogia village came Dina, joining brother Badari, Hei. Kalusadai, son of Neresomia, sturdy and strong, Hei. Poor they were, humble they were, but never helpless, Hei. They hunted through forest and battlefield, and together they tilled the fields, Hei. Five monts hose upon their shoulders, however far the big has spread, Hei. Fotera was the jackal king of the Kataya forest, hey. His companion was Dhaman, renowned for his venom, hey. With words like poison, Dhaman called to the brothers, go, Dina. Go, Badari. Go and make your home in the water. Rieee. What did you say, Dhaman, you, you? What did you say, Dhaman? Rieee. You are no partner in my life in the Kataya forest, hey! You have scorned my life, you have belittled my strength, hey! The brothers sprang upon him, striking blow after blow, hey! They killed Daman and cast him down before Daman, hey! Daman began to tremble, brother, I shall avenge you! Hey! King Fotar of the Kataya forest was his faithful friend, hey! You two brothers together have killed my friend Dhamman. Hey! The days passed. The Dari and Dina went hunting in the forest. Hey! Uncle Bahurin went with them. Fotar lay ready. Hey! He sank his venomous teeth into them and killed both brothers. Hey! Dead! The two brothers wandered as spirits. Hey! Hiriya the beetle seller of Dori village saw the two brothers. Hey! Jirya the blacksmith woman of Dori village saw the two brothers, hey, we want husbands such as these. And they began their penance, hey, Vullaba, sitting in meditation like an ascetic woman Dina we desire, Badari we desire, one husband for each friend. Dead though you are, what of it? Enter the Ganga and accept us. Matt air, Matt air, I had heard that Matt air lay far away, Hey. Grain I gave, the wealth I gave, Lacks me in abundance, hey. Yet without that one husband, everything feels empty, hey. Matt Hare, Matt Hare, so I had heard. Kamala, Kamala, I had heard that Kamala lay far away, hey. Entering the sacred chamber, Kamala became Kasehore, hey. Grain I gave, wealth I gave, Lacks me in abundance, hey. Yet the one thing. Bravo, Gungesha! No, no, this is not verbal cleverness. No cleverness at all. This is embodied love. Love, love, wherever I look, everything is filled with love. Hey, without love, the whole world feels empty. Hey! Devdatta. No, Gungesha, I possess no verbal cleverness. But is there truly no logic in what I have said? Devdutta, my mother made no vow, nor did she bind me by any oath. Nor is the love between Volaba and me a repayment for the help this quarter once gave my mother. Because this love contains neither vow, nor oath, nor debt of favor, it is embodied love. Logic. No verbal trickery at all. Devdutta, after a thousand years this love will return, Will it not? For the sake of Gungesha's immortal book, I accept that weight. Let love go undiscussed, ha. Love is not made in order to be talked about. Does love exist merely so that people may discuss it, Devdatta? Volaba, I can see Gungesha's defeat. I can see defeat on Gungesha's face. Gungesha, do you agree with Volaba? If no one speaks of your embodied love, Will your purpose of social harmony ever be fulfilled? Does your book own nothing to this embodied love? Or to the narrow shamsey ballad of this quarter? Will your fierce logic not harden into mere doctrine, Gungesha? Will it not lose all practical force? I promise you, Gungesha, I promise. No one will openly oppose your embodied love. You will keep believing that they remain silent because your fierce logic defeated them. But the truth is that commentary upon commentary and gloss upon gloss will continue to be written on your book. Forget opposing you. No one will even oppose your descendants, Gungesha. You and your logic will be reduced to doctrine. Devdatta, none of your words seems difficult to me. But such a tightly reasoned speech, how are you speaking with so much logic? So much logic. Turning to Gungesha. You have understood correctly, Gungesha. I I heard these words from others. They are not thoughts of my own. This is what the teachers say in the chapati. I understand none of it, grinning, perhaps that is why they say it all in front of me. I am going. I am going. Give him his reward, Gangisha. Who knows where he may have picked up this story too. No, Volaba. This reward is more impossible than the chess problem itself. Even if all the grain grown across the whole earth were gathered for 500 to 1000 years, only then could this reward be paid. The reward is that vast. 500 years from now, but before 1000 years have passed. Gangesha, if you do not pay me, your embodied love will remain hidden until then. Huh, huh, huh, to himself. What a frightening thought, what a frightening thought. He exits. I am indeed the son of a Brahmin woman, but my son is not. He is the son of a Brahmin's daughter-in-law. I am the author of a single Tatvakaantamani equal to 12,000 books, and merely an ordinary teacher. Who will forbid anyone to copy my Tatvakaantamani? The students of Navadvipa will surely carry my teaching away with them. What did Dev Datta mean? No one in the Toll or Chapati has said any such thing in front of me. the calculation of grains on the chessboard, that is beyond Dev Datta's mind. What is it? What has set you brooding? The same riddle Dev Datta left behind. Oh, let it go. He has not a trace of intelligence. That is precisely why, Vullaba. Truth and falsehood belong to the workings of intelligence, but he has none. That is why I must think about what he said. Besides being the author of the Tathakintamani, you have now become a poet as well. You have begun to write such beautiful songs. In the Tathakintamani, Acharya Simha and Acharya Viagra, in the songs, Little Gureya. Yes, Vullabha. Without meaning to, you have said something wonderful. He goes to the chessboard cube, tilts it, and balances one corner beneath his little finger. Yes, Volaba, not the Tattvakantamani, not the definitions of Acharya Simha and Acharya Viagra, it is Balgoreya that will have the power to break the conspiracy of the Tole and Chupati. Ganga Shah removes his little finger. The cube spins, then settles again. Looking toward Volaba. meaning to, you say such wonderful things, Volaba. Gungesha the poet. He spreads his arms in astonishment. Gungesha, author of the Tattvah Kintamani. No one will ever discuss the poetry of Gungesha the poet. People want a philosopher, not a poet, they want high birth. Was that decision also taken in the Toll and Chapati? Yes, Volaba. But how did you know? I did not know, but now I understand. A guard has been posted over every discussion of the love between Gangesha and me, over every mention of our marriage. Then no one will discuss my poems either. Every line of the Tatvik and Tamani will receive commentary and gloss, but the poems. Gangesha, stop worrying now. All these songs will be sung in my mother's village. Devdutta, go and tell the Toll and Chapati, the songs will not be silenced. If not today, then 700 years from now, this love will be spoken of again. If a name is cut from the book, its breath will survive in song. And a love that can wait 700 years cannot be stopped by a bamboo grove. It cannot happen, Volubba, it has already been prevented. Look at that bamboo grove. Between this village and the quarter of your mother's village, see the sharp bamboo shoots rising. They will turn your own birthplace into a foreign land. Your song may leave that quarter, but in this bamboo grove it will wander as a ghost song. To Gungesha. Gungesha, author of the Tapvakin Tamani. Sukavi Kerava Kananendu, the moon above the water lily grove of fine poets, Gungesha. I shall tell our son Vardimana. He will leave behind proof that his father was a poet. Goa Devdutta, and tell this to the Toll and Chapati. Is there anyone there who can fight for 700 years? The song of the bamboo grove will keep circling back. I have heard that no sound ever dies in this world. I have heard that seven people of the same kind live in the world at the same time. In 700 years, will there not be seven such people, Devdutta? No Volubba. In 700 years, even one would be a great deal. There will be one, Devdutta. For that one person, the song of our love will go on roaming through this wild bamboo grove. In 700 years, the life beyond the grove, the toll, the chapati, will all have vanished, but this ghost song will not end. The bamboo grove will call the spirits back, the good spirits, Udana, Dina, Badari, Acharya Viagra, Acharya Simha. It will not end, Volubba, it will not. But if the good spirits return, might the evil ones not return as well? That is my fear, Volubba, that the evil spirits will come too. When memory returns, it will also demand an accounting. Volubba, let all this go. Why have you begun brooding too? Tell me a story, some other story. I shall write no more books of Nyaya. For the rest of my life, I shall write only poetry. Tell me the tale of Bularam and the Brahmin Bangshitar, of the Tiger and the Boar, of Gahil and Durga. Here, here, the Boar runs past the wrestling ground, behind him Brahmin Bangshitar gives chase through the crowd. At dawn in the arena, man and Boar meet in battle, Shyam Singh comes and hurls earth into the fray. rises in Bungshitar, he shouts fierce words, crying the hill. Ge Hill. Shaom Singh charges hard. Bungshitar is strong, he strikes with terrible force, with a cry Shaom Singh falls, and darkness descends. His son Balaram takes a solemn vow, one vow, two vows, three vows, yes. The hill, give me strength to kill Bungshitar. The hill goes to goddess Durga to have the valve fulfilled, but Durga comes to protect Bungshitar. Bungshitar's boar is killed, pierced by the enchanted thorn. In fury Bungshitar challenges Bularam, but Bularam drives the thorn into his belly too. Bungshitar's belly is torn, Durga comes between them. In the Ganga, Bularam raises Bungshitar to his feet. Friendship is born between the two. The hill joins them. Durga joins them. Let everyone unite. Let all move forward together in this land. Gumgesha discussed us in the Tavikintamani, but now people have forgotten even our true names. Our books, too, have vanished without trace. But none of that concerns us, does it? Ha! After death, being called a tiger and a lion is still better than being called ghosts and demons. Is it not? Ha! we were never personally involved. Gunjisha mentioned us only in philosophical propositions, merely as Acharya Simher and Acharya Viagra and nothing more. And that is precisely how we were erased. Is it not? But he mentioned many other people in the Tathachintamani. Why were they not erased? Because Gungishah wrote their names. Clear? Human names? This man and that man. For us he wrote only Acharya Simha and Acharya Viagra. Thus Gangesha's poetry became alchama, while we became a tiger and a lion. Conceal a person's name and the person slowly becomes a symbol. The symbol becomes a story and the story becomes an accusation. Gangesha's son Vardhimana wrote of his father. What secret lies in this? Insecurity, Acharya Simha, insecurity. Gangesha defended our arguments against Riharsha's assault and created Navya Naya, a new discipline, a new logic. He himself was strange enough, born five years after his father's death, and married to a leather worker woman. From that marriage came Vardamana, who reunited Naya and Navya Naya. But Vardamana did not forget his father's poetry. In security, Acharya Simha, the Chalpati would not allow students from outside to make copies of the Tavikantamani, nor would it let them write summaries. After Vardamana, everyone in the Chalpati turned Acharya Viagra, Acharya Simha, and Ulkmuk into inventions. But how can creation take place under such conditions, Acharya Viagra? How can students express themselves in a shopardy without creation? How will their abilities grow? Will ancient history and ancient knowledge not be reduced to tigers, lions, and ulkamuk? Prohibition, prohibition, then how will knowledge expand? One section of society will be cut off from another, prohibition, prohibition, will that increase affection, or indifference? You do what you must, I shall do what I must, is that to be society's course. Acharya Simha, should there not be an attempt to stop this forgetting? There should, Acharya Vyagra. Nothing can truly be forgotten until we first cease to understand it. Understand it and remember it, well said, Acharya Simha. So perhaps the Chopati is arranging for students to memorize lessons without understanding them, so that everyone will forget Gumgishaw and Vallabha. And we can use signs. Through signs, memory will not become oblivion. The lesson of the Shopradi will remain incomplete, and an incomplete lesson cannot be forgotten. Only a complete lesson can be forgotten. But what sign can halt this forgetting? Acharya Simha. Ulkamukh. This marriage of Gunjisha and Valaba, the chessboard squares will grow gigantic, and 700 years cast will disappear, do something, stop it in oblivion to oblivion. Acharya Sharaba, an incomplete lesson cannot be forgotten. Only a complete lesson can be forgotten. From the teaching of Acharya Simha and Acharya Viagra has come a script of signs. Through signs, memory cannot become oblivion, Acharya Sharaba. That coded lesson is Alkamuk. What is this Alkamuk? Kikia, disciple Sohi, what is Ulkamuk? I hear its name everywhere. But will anyone in the Shopeh D tell me what Ulkamuk is? Acharya Sharaba, how are we to see Ulkamuk? It is an application of the teaching of Acharya Simha and Acharya Viagra, used by Gangesha and Volabha in their poems. It is what has made all of us ghosts and inventions, and that too through the power of Acharya Viagra vyāgra and acarya-simha. Everything is only a sign, a sign that is everywhere and nowhere. But acarya-vyāgra and acarya-simha are themselves inventions. How, then, are they doing any of this? Through our own power. Through our own power? Yes. When the power of oblivion grows, memory brings back the very things we hate. That is why Acharya Viagra and Acharya Simha returned. And once Acharya Viagra and Acharya Simha returned, they brought us with them. But how did that sign, that Ulkamukh, cross this bamboo grove, disciple Sohi? Acharya Sharaba. We did finish them off Acharya Viagra and Acharya Simha. If Gangesha honored them, their books too were reduced to dust. Gangasha's poetry was erased as well, and so his poem became alchemok. Volaba made it alchemok. Acharya Viagra, Acharya Simha, and Gangasha. The fear of these three names. When ancient history was turned into a tiger, a lion, and alchemok, we too became Sharaba, Kikir, and Sahi. Sharaba became an invention, a complete invention. There is no animal by that name at all. Yet though no such creature ever existed, Sharaba has always existed as an imaginary beast. Sahi and Kikir too are disappearing, growing fewer like tigers and lions. Prohibition, prohibition. Then how can knowledge expand? Am I entirely imaginary, disciple Kikir? Acharya, you are an invention, and we are the makers of inventions. The chapati would not allow outside students to make copies of the tatvakintamani. Now look at the state of the chapati. Forget students from outside, even local students have become scarce here. Am I an invention? Is Acharya Sharaba an invention of the past or an invention of the future? Oblivion. Teaching others to forget, Acharya Sharaba himself has been forgotten. The mantra of oblivion, this ulkamuk has become a terror. In teaching others to forget, people forget themselves. Am I an invention? An invention of the past, or of the future? Of the past, acharya vyagra, of the past. The future will come 700 years after valabha's death. Only half that time has passed. The future is still waiting, but by then, what What else will have turned into invention? What if anything will survive? Then let us be inventions, Acharya Simha. Come, let us go to Vardamana, Dina, Bhadari and Adena. They may be able to tell us something. That is not a bad idea, Acharya Vyagra. The conspiracy must be broken. The question is what will remain by then. We can already see what remains, Acharya Simha. Acharya Sharaba and his disciples Sahi and Kikar are not silent. They are doing something or other. The student of Mithila has become a machine for rote recitation. Navyanaya has gone to Bengal, and no one here is troubled to ask why it left. In destroying Balabha and Gangesha, they themselves are being destroyed. But is worse still, Acharya Viagra. Look, Vurdumana, Dina, Vdari and Udayana have arrived. We have gathered here because... A famine. A flood? No, Udayana, not a flood. No, Vardamana, not a famine. Vurdumana, there is a famine of thought. Udayana, a flood of Petanus has risen. enemy from outside? A human being or a wild beast. No Dina, no outside enemy. Badari, nothing from outside, neither human nor wild beast. They are all our own people, Dina and Badari. There is no foreign enemy, no creature from the wild. They are homegrown, Acharya Sharabar and his disciples. At the Je'Gon'Loth temple, Udayana proclaimed, because I exist, you are worshipped. The locked doors opened. And who is this Acharya Sharaba? A Jackal. We braced our bodies against the foundation, the wall cracked, and the locked doors opened. And who is Acharya Sharaba? A Jackal. Hidden in the bones of a dead cow, Fotara the Jackal watched Selhis, Dina, and Badari wrestle the tiger. We brothers seized the tiger by its thighs, tore it apart, and flung the halves aside. Then Selhis emerged from the dead cow's bones in the form of Fotara the jackal, joined the body, and rose again. And who is Achaya Sharaba? A jackal. Find a way, all of you, to stop that jackal from hurling fire, to stop the fire it should not be able to throw. The king of Matilla had the Narwar Pawn dug by Hansraj and Vonshraj of Magadar, but they could not raise the great jait. We two brothers hurled it from the southern gathering, and it fell straight into the trench prepared for it. Even now that jait leans toward the south. And who is Acharya Sharabar? A jackal, a jackal that hurls fire. Find the means, all of you, how will that jackal hurl its ball of fire, And how will this land survive? How will this country be saved from oblivion? Oblivion? In interpreting a mantra, Maharshi Patanjali's scientific statement, Yacabda Acha Tadasmakaam Pramanaam, what the word or the words of the mantra state is our evidence, was later distorted in the Bhavishya Purana, under my name, into, the Vedya alone is authority. Why? I do not know. How can one person remember what another person saw? Ablivion. Acharya Sharaba's fire of forgetting is spreading. Now I understand. Memory itself is being destroyed. Memory is being turned into oblivion. Daman ordered us to work in his field. We beat him, seized him, and threw him before Daman. Enraged. Daman summoned her friend, Photara the Jackal. Photara killed us. For tarah after death we received living life through this orc mark. Bude Ana, your learning has no authority here. Bude Ana, your learning has no authority here. And yet we live, even after dying. I understand. Now I understand. We must create folk ballads, we must awaken the Narashamsi tradition. To recite my books and Gungeshi's without understanding them is another form of forgetting. Gangesha, Sikavi Kairava Kananendu, the moon above the water lily grove of fine poets, will become alchamuk. Just as we have become a tiger and a lion, Acharya Simha. And we have turned the teachers of the Shoprdi into Acharya Sharabha, and its students into Kekir and Sahi. Will everything be destroyed? Total annihilation. But Hiriya, the beetle seller of Dori, performed penance to win a husband. And Jiriya, the blacksmith woman of Dori, performed penance to win a husband. Even after we died, we entered the Gonga and made the two women our wives. Even after death, Achaya Viagra, Achaya Simha, Udayana, Vardamana, Alive even in death, death. What is forgotten will return. Ganjisha defended my arguments from Sri Harsh's assault and created Navyanaya, a new discipline, a new logic. He himself was strange enough, born five years after his father's death, and married to a leather worker woman. From that marriage came Vodamanaya, who reunited Naya and Novya Naya. Satchakama's condition was the same. He did not know who his father was. Satchakama, son of Jabela, but he found a teacher like Gautama, Gautama of Mitalor, instead of Devada, even after death, Udayana, the old and the new mate and content, Brahman, Banshadar and Balarama were reconciled. The folk goddess Gahil and the puranic goddess Dugo were reconciled. Even after death, Dina and Badari? Yes, Udayana. A friend came for Tara the Jackal. Selvies joined us after death. Disciple Nadia. Disciple Bijji. Strike them, strike Kikir and Sohi. They are damaging learning, both of them. Kikir and Sohi seem to be dead. Disciple Nadia, Disciple Bijji, now begin the lesson. There will be no further difficulty. I have memorized it all Acharya Sharaba. You have memorized it too, Bijie. I too have memorized everything, Nadia. Yes, Acharya, I have memorized it all. Good. You may both go. Good. Everything is in order now. I am the one who hurls the flaming tail, I, Acharya Sharaba. Let them turn him into Ulkamukh, I too can hurl fire. After me, my two disciples will become Achayas. My two disciples will become Achaya Nadya and Achaya Bijji. Until now, at least one true Achaya always survived. From now on, rote learning will survive and questions will die. Who is there? Who is there? Pacing in agitation. Who is there? I killed my beloved disciples Kikir and Bijji, but who are these people trying to stop oblivion? Through signs they seek to spread what ought to be completely forgotten. He wonders widely about. The voice returns. Shoo. Shoo. Shame. Shame. Flames pour from Sharaba's mouth, but why does nothing burn? Shoo. Shoo. Shame. Shame. The custom of restoring old names has returned. I am Udayana. This is Dina, that is Badari, and there is Vardamana. I have heard that names exert power. A name is the first lamp of memory, when the lamp goes out, the house remains, but darkness fills it. And so, who can live in peace beside a current and in a house full of snakes, Udayana? Mithila has become such a place. We must go at once to Buttelepond and Sagdaalapond. At once. Where be may use to set down his rice and grains? Yes, and to Samalvan as well. Semapur. Where Arjuna hid his weapons during the year of concealment? Yes. Another war has begun, a war of the mind. Narashamsi will begin within the mind. Smiling, laughing, we shall make our appeal, you spent such labor digging the trench of hatred, now dig a pond of luck, one that the man soon will fill with the water of love and that will remain full, because you have dug it deep. Love will swim there, and go on swimming, while hatred and envy are swept away and drowned. The water diver will seize them and carry them off. As long as I remain, no one will touch the child of love and truth, for the child of truth is filled with strength and energy. Around him will stand a rampart raised with the mortar of embodied love. Do not be afraid. And when I am no longer here, you will have learned everything. Separation from me will make you strong, swift, and unyielding against the enemies of truth. Any attempt to break that rampart will be thwarted by your friends, the lovers of embodied truth. Whether I remain or do not remain, the journey will not stop, madness will not grow. If you would kill me, then kill me, but remember, many other things will die with me, and yet the seekers of embodied love will endure." And they will perform the first dance through the movement of the hands, the Chaturahan gesture, the heart filled with joy, for truth, fossoed, and the judgment between them. Taking the Daffkajuri drum covered with monitor lizard hide, they will draw sound from the the trembling chord, gumkey, the voice of that kajuri, and gumkey, gum, gum, gumkey, then the second dance will begin. The shikara hand gesture, like the summit of a mountain, to summon and display the call to battle. Let them dig the trench of hatred, if they would kill us, let them kill us. But remember, many other things will die with us. Separation from me will make them strong, swift, and then yielding, the Ractabija like children of truth. Buriadahi is with us. Fields filled with lotus stalks, leaves, seeds, and roots. She is not an old woman. The field that was once so lush has become the lotus lake of love. This Buriadahi of ours stands against hatred. Buriadahi. Valaba. Valaba. Valaba. See its power. Udayana. It's power. Look, Udayana. Look. Cut out the name, cut out the song, cut the body, but where will you cut the sound of love? Again, the same argument, in self-defense, in opposition to truth, the thief speaks again. Can the joy of creation be found in theft, in putting your own name upon another's work, or claiming another person's labor as your own, in crushing another person's talent, in plotting and scheming, then drinking bang and rolling beneath the rubbish sheep? Whose fingers will you cut off to stop the act of riding? Break the spine, cut off the legs, gouge out the eyes, lay the body beneath the roller, and carry away the pulp. So the great ones have come to taste the joy of creation. A book that fears questions is not a book, it is a prison. Should we then accept defeat? Should we abandon the struggle? Will desire triumph, or envy? My resolve is to turn the course of this current. Will resolve prevail, or hatred? Yet envy and hatred are coming straight toward me, envy, determined that I shall fail to turn the current, hatred, determined that it shall continue to flow as before, or grow more terrible than before. Gungisha. See its power. Udayana. Look. Look. The resolve I have made, the desire within me, let it be defeated, let envy and malice Let hatred triumph. Ah, but let me lose in such a way that the people see that the age itself sees. Let my resolve, my desire, be defeated in such a way. That I stand before the current to halt it, resolve to turn that savage, unruly flood, yet still more envy come straight toward me, and malice wishes my effort, my effort to turn the current. To make the current even more violent after I have tried to turn it, to make it follow its old channel with still greater tyranny, and to make me lose. Let me lose in such a way that people remember, let them remember that someone once dared to stand before the current, and that this terrible fate was the result, so that fear keeps them from ever daring again, from daring to stand before a lawless, tyrannical flood. Let my fall become a cautionary tale, and let the hearing of it send a tremor through every heart. I am Buryadahi, standing against hatred. Yet I laugh. I may be defeated, but the blood seeds shed by my discipline will become seeds in every drop, sprouting a thousandfold. This Buryadahi of ours stands against hatred. A field will arise, filled with lotus stalks, leaves, seeds, and roots. The field that was once so lush, where we had dug the trench of hatred. In that field, where the trench of hatred was dug, lotus stalks, leaves, seeds, and roots will fill the earth. And the lotus of love has blossomed. The thousand braided Buri-a-Dai has done this. And then, the judgment will be made, when people turn, and words turn with them, from moment to moment they change, lips twist, the sweet voice of speech, the spoken word, changes and becomes poisonous. With a cow dung wash we shall cleanse memory until it shines. Even then, this Bariya Dahi of ours stood against hatred. Those who have caught the fever of stopping the current will beat out the rhythm against it and rise to their feet. Manus will grow afraid, remembering that each of these thousandfold lives, born from blood seeds, bears blood seeds of its own, under attack, the descendants of their seeds will multiply again, for they are resolved, they are desire, those who have caught the fever of stopping the current. What you call Bariya Dahi stands against hatred. What you call Bariya Dahi stands against hatred. What you call Bariya Dahi stands against hatred. What you call Bariya Dahi stands against hatred. I have built my house beside the current, while you live in a house full of snakes, Acharya Udayana. Where is peace for one who lives beside a current or in a house full of snakes? Vodemana, Dina and Badari are at Batalapond and Sagdalapond. They not Batalapond where be may used to sit down his rice. I am Dina here at Batalapond Sagdalapond where be may used to sit down his grains. I am Badari here besides Sagdalapond Yes. Someone must also go to Semelvan. Acharya Sharaba has occupied it. Yes. That's Semelvan at Semipair where Arjuna hid his weapons during the year of concealment? Yes. Another war has begun. But this war cannot be won by philosophical disputation, Acharya Udayana. Pointing toward the central acting area. Look there. there. Everything appears empty, yet hidden there are weapons, hatred, envy, malice, and Anacaya Sharaba. Pointing to the far end of the acting area. There, that is Thakurganj, where Bhima passed his time disguised as the cook Phalabha, and where he killed Kichaka. Now hatred will be killed. Suddenly, Badari. Agadam Bagadam, Timba and Thorn. Afraid of a crow by day, yet at night he swims the river. There at Manahari, the jewel from Sri Krishnas ring was lost. Acharya Viabra. Acharya Simha. The answer to Acharya Sharabha, who turned you into paper tigers and lions, has now been found. The lost jewel, spread this sign, will come up everywhere, from place to place. whoever finds it, even after forgetting, will remember again. Why has this bamboo grove grown so thin? No voice ever came through it, but now, for the first time, this song has pierced it and is coming through. How can it stop Ulcamuk? How can it? He pauses and looks behind him. Disciples? Another pause. But these disciples are good for nothing. How can they stop Ulcamuk? They are merely custodians of rote learning. I banned women from the Shopadi and the Toll long ago, yet it is the women who are singing. These disciples will neither understand nor think about Ul Kamukh. How can they stop it? Enough of invention, Acharya Sharaba. We are tired. Acharya Sharaba, invention is over. The magic is over. Now that the bamboo barrier has fallen, neither I, nor Acharya Viagra, nor you, nor Gungisha, nor Valabha, nor Vurdimana, nor Udayana, nor Dina, nor Bidari retains an existence of the old kind. This bamboo grove has become the forest of Vrindavan, pointing toward the path. Even Sister Bhutto, the path that leads here, has begun to help Bolabong. A wick set in mustard oil inside a turtle shell was made into a wedding lamp for Bolabong. and bid-hard I have arrived in the form of does. See that pair of pirates with green wings and red beaks, see the entwined pirates. Pointing elsewhere in the sky. See that pair of peacocks, companions of love. They have set out for this rindaven. The severed head of Chinamaster drinks the thick central stream that falls from the headless trunk, the thick stream of blood. I have become that fallen head, Acharya Simha. I will not be defeated. Oblivion will prevail. Oblivion has already prevailed. And two Yoganis standing on either side drink the other two streams, Acharya Sharaba. Dina and Badari have enchanted those Yoganis, just as they once enchanted Jiriya, the blacksmith woman and Hiriya, the beetle seller. Desire is a machine. The truth of truth itself and the truth of history are merely virtual appearances. This bamboo grove had erased the distinction between truth and appearance. The unconscious has become consciousness. Its language is ulkamuk. Acharya Sharava, your method of education deprives certain feelings and thoughts of any place. Ulkamuk opposes that imposed continuity. The word nearest equality is inequality, the word nearest justice is injustice, and the word nearest deprivation is attainment. No acharya. That is your repressive method of education. And ulkamukh opposes it. You wish to drag those in high places down and raise those below them. High and lower themselves products of your educational system and ulkamukh opposes them. wish to erase the solo instrument and replace it with the noise of the crowd. Upon the Narashamsi composed from the people's ballard, the people will dance, and the Gandhavas will dance with them. Ulkamuk is the resonance of a united chorus. But the creator is dead. Who will believe who wrote this Ulkamuk? The creation is more important than its creator, its message. creation and that message are alchema. At night the thief was king, by day he called others, master, master. A thief no longer has any single appearance, now everyone has begun to steal. In earlier days, thieves trained beside the field embankment. They demonstrated how to cut a breach by cutting into the bank itself. At daybreak, when people went to the fields, they saw the opening, the whole village was in an uproar, stay alert. They are planning a great theft. Yet by day the same people looked entirely ordinary. For two days I have survived on scraps. Tonight I must steal for the children. Oil the body, smear ash upon the face. If anyone tries to catch me, I shall slip away. If If someone recognizes the thief at night, he must keep silent. He must not reveal the name, or the thief will kill him. By day, after all, the thief may be his master. That is what the king of the night fears. What story are you telling? That, that. What did you call it? Okamook? When I twisted my mouth, people thought I was pleased. When I tightened my brow, they thought me contemplative. But the heart kept weeping. I know that, Acharya Sharabar. Look, Van Devi has also entered this Rindavan, and with her comes her companion Vanasaptu, the tender, winged cow. Vanasaptu has come to show Ulkamook, lost in the forest, their way home. Imagination is losing its footing. Ulkamook is coming. Agadam baghada, Agadam Timber Tim Thorne. Agadam baghada, Agadam Timber Timber and Thorne. Agadam baghada, Agadam Timber and Thorne. Timber and Thorne. Okamok has arrived. Okamok has arrived. This earth is turning. With effort, he lifts the spear in his hands. It hangs in the sky. Nothing supports it from below. It is so heavy, yet within the sky it has no weight. Agadam bag-atom, timber and thorn. Look! Seen from the north, the earth turns against the hands of a clock. Seen from the south, it appears to turn with them. We who stand upon the earth have weight, while the earth itself hangs weightless in the sky. The disciple lifts the sphere and demonstrates. Agadam bag-atom, timber and thorn. Guruji came from the south after hearing the story of Baisaveshwar. He says the same thing will happen in Mithila after a thousand years, an ancient event will occur again. Smiling. My Guru is an accomplished master. He says the strangest things. But today the amulet itself spoke. What the Guru forgot, the object remembered. So Hago, my mother Gunga's Grace we have lived to see this day, let us name him Gungadar. Of course. She fondles and rocks the baby. Agadam bag Adam, Timber and Thorn. Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous. This child is extraordinary. In which month did the clouds begin to thunder? In which month did the frogs begin to call? O girl, in which month was the little boy born, piercing the co-wife's hut? In Sawan the clouds began to thunder, in Bedan the frogs began to call. In Asin the little boy was born, piercing the co-wife's hut. Which oil shall we give the mother-in-law? And what shall we give the husband's sister? O girl, bitter oil we shall give the mother-in-law, and teasing words to the husband's sister. O girl, amla we shall give the co-wife, let it remain a debt upon her. This child is extraordinary, extraordinary. He is no ordinary child, and so this is no ordinary gift. But remember, the amulet does not give power, it only reminds him that the power is already within. The Jekyll hurling its flaming tail. Sage Jotah. Alchemuk. Alchemuk? You remembered the name, Sage Jotah. Alchemuk. Yes. You just said it, Alchemuk. I said it. Yes. You said Alchemuk, Sage Jotah. Truly. I said it. Yes, Sage Jhāda, you did. Is it an evil omen? No, no evil omen. I had forgotten. This was given to my teacher's teacher's teacher by a still earlier master. I had forgotten the name of this amulet. Today, without warning, I remembered it. What have you named this divine child? Dungadar, Sage Jata. The amulet has passed to his neck. My teacher received it from his teacher, and that teacher from his teacher, and so on. I had forgotten its name, Ullkammuk. Yes, that is what my teacher told me, and what his teacher told him. Divine, Divine. This child is divine. Sage Jata, what divine quality do you see in this child? Sage Jata, he will not become some wandering ascetic, will he? I do not know. But I feel that something will happen. In this desert, amid the sand, something may be born, yet it may fail to sprout. Why, Sage Jata? Because this amulet has lain in many places, beside all ponds and in forests. Sage Jotta has placed it on many people, his teacher placed it on many and his teacher's teacher and the teacher before him. Yet nothing happened. What did not happen, Hiru? Nothing was born from the sand of the desert. Come, Gangadhar, come. HIRU, what are you doing? So many cacuses have piled up. He draws a deep breath. This is a calf's height, it died young. What will you make from it? Look, I'm trying to make a mandadrum, if there is enough. There is very little height. To Gangadhar. Sit properly, or you will roll off. I warn you. This frame can bear the weight of great day animals, yet it could not bear the weight of a little boy like you. Why is that, hero? Because it also matters how a thing is placed. It is not enough simply to say, this frame has the strength to bear so much weight. That old sage-jotter keeps muttering things like that, that one should understand before one speaks. What else does sage jhata say? Many things. He says that we feel the weight of a mango, but the mango tree does not feel the weight of the mangoes growing upon it. What else does he say? He says the sky divides this world into two parts. Two parts. The sky divides it in two. But the sky itself keeps receding before us. Where, then, does the other part begin? The sky is glass. Through this sight, we look to the other. Truly. What else does he say? He says words are pearls, words are the light of rubies. But if words remain merely words, and speech and action drift apart, what use are those pearls? What use is that ruby light? A word that never reaches the poor man's mouth becomes an ornament in the royal court. Then, HIRU, it becomes theft. Yes. Then, HIRU, it becomes the murder of words. Yes. Then, HIRU, it becomes a lie. Yes. Then, HIRU, it becomes hatred of truth. Yes. Then, HIRU, it becomes an arrogant word. Yes. Then it becomes an unword. It becomes blaming another person, blaming that person because we ourselves fail to understand the meaning of our own words. Yes. They rise. Hiro assumes a pose from the Tandova dance and, overwhelmed, begins to sing. At mother's doorway stands a hibiscus tree, mother, its branches bend beneath fruit and flower. From the south-west a parrot comes, mother, it settles upon the hibiscus tree. Some smear the courtyard in front, some the courtyard behind, I, unfortunate, stand holding the doorway. Some gather Bella flowers, some Hibiscus, I, unfortunate, dig up the sacred dub grass. Some ask for grain and wealth, some for a sun, I, unfortunate, stand with folded hands. The parrot eats neither fruit nor flower, mother, from leaf to leaf to leaf he plays at autumn. Where has Dior Tokugong gone? What has happened? What has happened? Mother, Mother, suit and call your parrot home. Has such a thing ever happened, refusing the sacred thread ceremony? Have I ever stopped you? Though born a Brahman's child, you went to Hiru's quarter to hear and learn songs. Did I ever forbid you? I have already taken this upon myself, Father, this Okamuki amulet given by Sage Jata. Look! He holds it up. Why should one who wears Okamuk require any further right of initiation? Do not speak like that, Gungadar. Such a thing has never happened. What will people say? What will the pundits say? Give up this stubbornness. You are no longer a baby, you are eight years old. Look! Were you not the one who said that as he grew older, his stubbornness would lessen? Instead, I see it increasing day by day. His schoolmaster also says that when he gives a lesson to memorize, all the children learn it, but this boy finds a hundred faults in it. Father, I do not like the rote learning taught at school. When I ask questions, the teacher does not explain. He says, memorize it exactly so, because his own teacher made him memorize it in exactly the same way. I think none of them fully understands the subject. How can it be a crime to ask why a frog jumps into water? There! Now what new argument is this? To Sohego! Ask Gungadar where we are to build a new school specially for him. Son, does anyone speak so about his teacher? Mother, I recognize only Sage Jada, touching the amulet, who placed this amulet on me, and his disciple Hiru the Leatherworker as my teachers. What is so special about Hiru the Leatherworker? He possesses art. He knows how to cure the hides of dead cattle and turn them into many kinds of sandals, Mundar drums, and merdengas. When a problem arises, he changes his method and applies his knowledge afresh. He sings songs in which the wisdom of many sacred texts can be learned from a single song. And what is special about Sage Jhata? He never tells us merely to memorize. When questioned, he explains. When someone interprets a sacred text, he does not grow angry, instead, he corrects a mistaken interpretation. Yes, yes, that is why he was expelled from the school and took the road into the forests of Saptari. Mother, father, this is my final decision. I shall not undergo the sacred thread ceremony. HIRU says the pundits misinterpret the scriptures. Religion has been reduced to the sacrifice of goats. HIRU says, in every matter, HIRU says. And who told HIRU all these things? SAGE JADA told him. And who told SAGE JADA? Sage Jata's teacher told him, and his teacher's teacher told that teacher, and, and, there is some mystery within this alchamuk, a mystery no one yet understands. In other words, no one understands it yet upon that ignorance you have based your final decision. But do you truly value complicated ritual? I find more principle in Hiru's songs. And yes, you have understood my final decision. You will make your final decision, remain in this house, and after you remain here, the villagers will allow me to remain in this village? Do you imagine all that is possible? Mother, father, I do not think Gangadhar will move from his position. Yes. I understand everything. He has found his proper place, Sage Jhata, Hiru the leather worker, and a school in the forests of Saptari. Sage Jhada and Hiru can find no disciple and my Gangadhar can find no teacher of their kind. Mother, father, do not indirectly force Gangadhar to leave home. But do you not see what is happening here? He refuses the sacred thread ceremony. Can stubbornness go this far? Leave aside what people here think. I myself cannot accept it. it. Gungadar, my final decision is that we will not leave this village. Who is asking you to leave the village? Mother, he means that if I do not leave the house, he will be forced to leave the village. Father, I shall set out for the forests of Saptari today. My final decision and yours cannot be reconciled. Gungadar, you are only eight years old, and alone. I shall not be alone. I have a certain refuge in the Saptari Forest, with my teachers, Sage Jata and Hiru the Leatherworker. Give me your permission to go. No. We cannot simply let Gungadar go alone. We shall go with him. To Ananda. Will we not, Ananda? Yes. We cannot abandon him. Mother, you remain with father. I promise that Gangadhar will complete his education, and... And Okamak is already with me. Sage Jata, Hyru, Gangadhar's quick-mind had become a problem for him at school. The teacher could not answer his questions and therefore kept making complaints against Gangadhar instead. Only the fortunate receive such a disciple, ananda. But if a diamond never reaches a jeweler, it remains only a stone. Yes. And we too have learned so many kinds of knowledge here. The plants and animals of this forest have become our teachers. If every school in Mithila had teachers like sage Jata and Hiru, our fortune would rise. Instead, they appoint people who... HIRU, describe how much knowledge we have gained in these five years. What can I possibly describe? The forest, the creatures of the forest, teaching us something new at every moment. Snakes to the left, snakes to the right, wearing garments of wondrous pattern. Where shall I bring arms from every day? Turn back, wanderer, and leave this courtyard. The yogi takes no arms, nor will he turn back. Come out into the courtyard. Oho! I shall not go, I shall not go, I shall not go from your courtyard. The Bihira snake has built the marriage pavilion, the Thilea snake has tied its bindings. The dormant snake has made the bridal lap, the python has laid the foundation. From the horror snake come anklets and ornaments, from the kereitkum bracelets. From the pennyederer comes the amlut, from the derber comes the drum. The sagua snake brings the celebration, the moon and stars bring the mirror, the fisheagle brings the jewellery. I shall not go, I shall not go, I shall not go from your courtyard." You must go, Gangadhar. You have much work to do. My heart is content now that I have found a disciple like you. Such good fortune was granted neither to my teacher, nor to his teacher, nor to the teacher before him. The inner fulfillment I found while teaching you was extraordinary. In this age of rote learning, your hunger to understand every subject was astonishing. I am content. Whether this is the power of Okamuk, or whether your power has made Okamuk come true, I do not know. Go. Go to the court of Kirti Singh. Let us see what this Okamuk makes possible. Finance Minister Narayan. Had the accounts been reconciled yet, or not? How can they be? Every student emerging from the schools has been trained by rote and becomes lost when faced with a new mathematical problem. Ask such a student anything from the book and he will recite it in a rush without looking, yet none of them can calculate an account or reconcile the ledges and lend records. Finance Minister Narayan, what am I hearing? Yes, yes, I was just having one of my disciples add 1 plus 2 plus 3 all the way to 100. I told him to finish the sum within an hour, but before he could, this man, pointing to Cordier 2, dragged me here. Finance Minister, you could not reconcile the sum yesterday either, sum upon sum. My Lord, for a whole year no one has been able to discover whether the accounts and land registers show a profit or a loss. Your Majesty, I found this boy there. He said he could reconcile all the accounts. There was little time, so I brought him with me. Your Majesty, with your permission, may I speak? Adding the numbers from 1 to 100 must take time, Your Majesty. Thank you, Your Majesty. Facing Finance Minister Narayan. To add 1 through 100, first consider how many numbers there are. 100. How many else could there be? Write 1 to 100 and beneath them 100 to 1. Pair 1 with 100, 2 with 99, 3 with 98. What does each pair equal? 101. What else? Each pair contains two numbers. How many pairs are there among 100 numbers? 50. What else? There are 50 pairs of 101. multiply 100 and 1 by 50. Or multiply 50 by 100, then add 50. What does that make? 50 times 100 is 5,000. Plus 50 makes 5,050. 5,050, your majesty. Yes, that is correct. Your pupil is exceptionally capable. To Gangadhar. What is your name, my child? No, Your Majesty, he is not my pupil. He came to ask me for employment. When I asked which school he attended, he said he had studied in Saptari with Sage Jata and his disciple Hiru the Leatherworker, and had attended no formal school. Therefore I refused him employment. I am ashamed, Your Majesty. His name is Gangadhar. Astonishing. He attended no school, but studied with Sage Jata and his disciple Hiru the Leatherworker. Your Majesty, with your permission, shall I appoint Gungadar to a post? Appoint him. If you do not, your own post will be in danger. For here no one is known whether the kingdom's accounts and registers show profit or loss. Never mind. Gesturing to courtiers one and two. Go and summon Commander Harikar. Gungadar, are you willing to serve in the Royal Court? Your Majesty, I am ready to work anywhere. If I serve in the royal court, others will benefit from my education, and I may also prove that this kind of learning can be practiced elsewhere. Finance Minister, Gungador, sit in the reception chamber. I have an urgent matter to discuss. Remain seated, do not go anywhere. Yes, Your Majesty. Your Majesty. You summoned me, Your Majesty. Yes, Commander. Today I met a boy named Gungudar, extraordinarily clever, extraordinarily gifted. The Finance Minister is useless, he cannot produce an account or submit a ledger on time. Yet one merit remains, he never disobeys an order. Yes, Your Majesty. A thought has occurred to me. The marriage of my sworn sister Kumar Suta. Your Majesty, you are not thinking of Gungodaw, are you? I am, Commander. But your Majesty stands for High Lineage, and Gungodaw is? Yes, that is precisely why he must be raised to noble rank. I shall arrange Gungodaw's marriage to my sworn sister, Kumar Suta, and appoint him Prime Minister of this kingdom. Commander Harikha, that young man who just passed before you, he is extraordinarily gifted. Yes, Your Majesty. Gesturing towards Quartia 1 and Quartia 2. These two were only just discussing his brilliance. He would be an entirely suitable husband for Kuma Souter. Finance Minister Narayan has been unable to manage the additional charge of Prime Minister. Then make every arrangement for the wedding, Commander. Certainly, Your Majesty, certainly. Everything will be arranged at once. In the new schools, students are thinking for themselves and working with their own hands. Women's education has begun again. Cast divisions have been abolished, education is for everyone. Welcome to this meeting of the Experience Council. We are eager to hear your thoughts, Sage Jata. Education through understanding, not rote repetition, has begun, something absent in the time of my teacher, his teacher, and his teacher before him. Learning memorized without understanding is merely a burden loaded on a donkey. Is that not so, Mansook? Indeed it is. To his son Jive. Arrange refreshments for all our guests, Jive. To Harriker. Erika, would you also like to speak? Daughter, go and help Jive. I do, Mansukh, but in a little while. First I would like to hear more from Gangadha. The Experience Council honors labor, not wealth. A rich man's riches are like a hen's milk. They may nourish only the hen's own chicks, but they can never make sweets for everyone. everyone. Yes. I keep telling my sworn brother, Kirti Singh, the same thing. Finance Minister Narayan continues to believe that every welfare measure of the experience council is being paid for from the Royal Treasury. Narayan does not understand economics. He understands only how money may be collected. He does not understand how wealth is created. Dungadar has explained the accounts to Keeti Singh many times. Every welfare program of the experience council is funded by the wealth it earns itself. In Dungadar's presence, Narayan accepts that. Behind his back, he calls Dungadar's accounts evasive and ulkamukh maize figures and spreads the illusion that they cannot be trusted. You may question someone bitten by a snake or someone tormented by ghosts and spirits, And what can you ask of one possessed by the ghost called money? The experience council schools teach people to earn through their own work, they teach self-reliance." Well said, Gungdidar. At the experience council school, my son never once felt that his people had ever been treated as untouchable. Looking at me too. Is that not so me too? Do not call them untouchable, Monsuk. The experience council has named them Alkamookies. Looking at Madov. Madov has organized the Alkamookie schools so well that words cannot do them justice. Yes, Alkamookies emerge from those schools. Turning to Associate 1 and Associate 2. Tell everyone how the Alkamookie schools meet their financial needs. Everywhere. Alkamookie members support the teachers and students through their own labour. where, all Kamuki members meet the cost of land and buildings for the all Kamuki schools. People say the all Kamuki schools have brought them immense benefit. The experiments carried out by the students and teachers of those schools have transformed their lives. They also say that former and present students and teachers come to their aid whenever needed. Therefore, however much the people give these schools, the schools return even more to them. Looking at Ananda. Commander herself was present when this was being discussed in one place. Yes, that is true. But much more remains to be done. Shall we conclude today's meeting now? No. I have something to say. What is it, Commander Harikar? Madhav, Gangadhar is leaving for Saptary. You will therefore have to undertake this I wish my daughter Metta to marry Jive. I shall attend to the wedding arrangements, and because you and I both serve in the royal court, we shall obtain the king's formal permission for it. I place that responsibility upon you. This is joyful news. He rises. Everyone stands and begins congratulating Mansukh and Harakir. Jive and Metha enter carrying trays and other refreshments. darkness spreads. And outrage has occurred, Your Majesty. News has arrived of the marriage between the prominent commander Harika's daughter and the son of the leatherwork Amansukh. Such a Pratiloma marriage can in no way be called proper, especially when it had not received royal assent. And this when the commander is a member of this court, and model belongs to the experience council that arranged the marriage. When I had not granted permission for jive and mediter marry, how did this wedding take place, mod of? Your Majesty, the permission was only a formality. No one in the experience council opposed a marriage. The experience council. The experience council. Has it grown greater than this royal court? I raised objections as well, Your Majesty. This experience council wonders about dispensing endless charity and draining the royal treasury. Everyone in the experience council eats what they earn through labour, finance minister Narayan. From time to time you repeat this charge against Gangadhar, but he has answered it thoroughly, and you yourself declared that you were satisfied. How could he be satisfied? Kandadas Lebranten accounts never entail his understanding. Those were minor matters. This time the king's command has been defied. The king never obstructed any work of the experience council. And wrote learning, they said, and it was ended. But the finance minister's accounts could never add up without wrote learning. Once wrote learning ended, people began to think with their own minds. This is only the beginning, your majesty. The marriage of Mansukh, the leather worker's son to the Brahmin commander-harriker's daughter will bring revolution. What do they call it? Thinking. All Komuki. All Komuki. Modov, go and tell Haruka that he is no longer commander of this kingdom. Inform the Experience Council, HMPH, the Experience Council, that Gungodot is no longer prime minister of this kingdom. When an idea begins to rise above the royal command, the walls of the palace begin to tremble. Narayan will now assume both offices. Modov, you may go. Commander Narayan, I want for eyes, medders two and jives two. When both pairs have been gouged out, throw the two of them before the Madanerivata. Have them crushed, but first I want those for eyes. Eyes that dared to look beyond cast cannot be endured by the throne. Let the new spread to the farthest horizon for Pratiloma. Is this your final decision? All together, yes. Yes. It is final, Gungadar, whether you accept it or not. I too accept this decision. The experience council has always honoured the will of the majority. But think it over. Maudove. How is it that the royal order for the brutal killing of Meda and Jive was kept secret from you? Brutal, the utmost brutality. Oh! Such a murder, the daughter of the royal commander's own house, and his son-in-law. An order for such a death, and you court not even the faintest hint of it, Mottorv. Gungadar, and members of the Experience Council, I demand justice. Justice against the injustice of the royal court. I demand a justice turner, even in the court's injustice. Very well. Let it be so. Who shall be entrusted with it? I shall take this burden, Gungudok, gladly, gladly. I shall stand against the royal court that committed this monstrous sin. I shall conduct a secret campaign against the court that concealed this conspiracy from me. That shall be my penance. But this must not become mere revenge, it must defend memory. If only revenge remains, I too shall burn in the same fire." Modov comes to the front of the stage with his two associates. Modov, you must be cautious. Everyone in the royal court knows that you are a member of the experience council. Modov, Hiru, and I shall prepare the ground. Such a convincing pretense that the royal court will believe you have been expelled from the experience council. And I shall spread the story through Song, so the court will believe that the experience council collapse after Maudave was cast out. Then let it be so. Every member of the experience council must leave for Sceptari. Maudave, you and your two associates must return to the royal court. Sage Jata and Hiru, do not take long, complete your task quickly and reach the forests of Sceptari. Mother Rudramati, bless your son Modov and both of us, so that we may complete the task entrusted to us by the Experience Council. Mother Rudramati, after the monstrous murder of Meda and Jive, silence would be cowardice. The Experience Council has resolved that we must punish the king for his date. Has the Experience Council's decision been carried out, Modov? No, mother. We are about to leave. I thought I should come home first and seek my mother's blessing before setting out. How did you dare enter this house before carrying out the experience council's decision, Madov? Medda and Jive were killed, their eyes gouged out, their bodies crushed beneath an elephant. You are fortunate, Madov, that you have been entrusted with punishing the criminal responsible. But do you understand the gravity of that charge? I do, mother. What do you understand, Modove? How dare you enter this house without carrying out the experience council's decision, my son? Until you fulfill it, you shall live in the form of a chicken, and a chicken has no right to eat from a plate. Eat. Eat the rice I have thrown on the ground. Bangles for the hens, a bracelet of flowers, where shall I find them now, my beloved? A girdle for the waist, a chain of gold, none of them delights my hut, my beloved. Mada and Jive have been slain, yet Mordeth remains silent, that does not please my hut, my beloved. The king tore out their eyes and had the elephant crush them, where shall I find Mada and Jive now, my beloved? I will not eat the Sathura, O King, it tastes bitter. Madhav's conduct tastes bitter to Gangadhar. The mother comes to bless the sixth day right, Madhav's conduct tastes bitter to Gangadhar. The sister comes to prepare the coal, Madhav's conduct tastes bitter to Gangadhar. What are you saying? Everyone at court knows that Madhav and Gangadhar trust each other without limit. Not trust. trusted. What do you mean? The murder of Jive and Meadow. But Modov knew nothing about that. You may know that. Everyone in the experience council, however, kept asking how Modov could have known nothing of the conspiracy and how he could have made no attempt to stop it. And so the experience council broke apart. The experience council has broken apart. Mordov either left the experience council or was expelled from it. In either case, that means the council has split, does it not? This is useful news. The king has been needlessly suspicious of Mordov. Yes. These mendicants have no idea how great a favour they have done us. Well, we must go now. We shall meet again one day over a drink of pain. Very well, brothers. We shall certainly meet again. Come, hero. Our work is done. We too must now set out for the forests of Saptari. Ghosts and spirits play the symbols. I make the Yoganese dance. I destroy the demons. I bind the world together. Victory to your majesty. I bring welcome news. Modov has been expelled from the Experience Council. The council suspected that Modov had concealed from it his knowledge of the royal order to kill Jive and Mehta. But Modov knew nothing of it. V did not know, how could he have hidden it from anyone? Who in the Experience Council would believe that? When the royal order was issued, Modov was present in the royal court. Yes, that is true. But how did you learn this? I have placed informants everywhere. The experience council could hardly escape their reach. Victory to your majesty. Modov and his two associates seek permission to enter the royal court. Permission is granted. Bring all three in with honor. Come, Modov. I had thought that you too had abandoned the royal court, like Gungodaw and Harikah. How could I abandon the royal court, your majesty? Gungodaw and Harikah have the experience council, if not the royal court, then the experience council. For me, only the royal court remains. Softly. Sometimes, to enter within, one must appear a traitor from without. The decision to execute Jive and Mehta was taken without warning. That is why you could not be informed. Even had I been told, Finance Minister Narayan, I could not have altered the royal decree. Modav, if I had borne any hatred towards Gangadhar, would I have arranged his marriage to my sworn sister Kuma Suta? I made him Prime Minister so that he might be raised a noble rank. How was I to know that he was a patron of the lowborn, and that he would colour Kuma-suter in his own colors as well. Yes. He colored all of us in his own colors, Keetising. The time has come to take leave. The experience council brought every cast closer and abolished cast, but... No, Gangadhar. Nothing will happen to you. Everything is being set right, Gangadhar. Keetising is dead. Now everything will be right again. But Madhavan both his associates died with him. Hirdi Singh's death had become necessary. No human being could order the monstrous murder of Mitha and Jive. Hirdi Singh became surrounded by people who turned him from a human being into an animal. Gangadhar, nothing will happen to you. No, Khmer Sutta. Everyone's time must come. I have certain fears about the experience council. Gangadhar, the experience council will continue exactly as you wish. I am afraid. Afraid of what, Gangadhar? Afraid of what? Every caste may enter the experience council, and women face no discrimination there. That is true today, HIRU. I want it to remain true tomorrow, sage jhata. My only fear is that the fire of vengeance may turn the experience council itself into an ulkamuki caste, sage jhata. That is my one fear. He begins to cough. My one fear is that, in resisting the attack certain to be made upon it, the experience council may enclose itself within a wall and bar the entry of every other caste. The door we open must not be shut again after I am gone. Do not let that happen after I am gone, kumarsuta. But the fire of revenge may make it happen. That alone is my fear.

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