Psychological Lens Specifically Through Kama

by Kadiann Butler

Act 5 – The Day of Reckoning

Sakuntala is brought to King Dusyanta’s home where he lives with his wife and servants, to be with her new husband. She and the king had just been married and she is now pregnant with his child. The king had left the hermitage to go back to his city to perform his duties, meanwhile Sakuntala was left worried that he would forget about her and never return. Her worries soon became reality when a royal sage placed a curse on her for not acknowledging his presence. “That man, though prompted, shall not remember you at all, like a drunken sot who cannot recall what he said in his cups the night before” the sage uttered. Sakuntala’s only hope of recognition was rest solely on the ring king Dusyanta gave her with his name engraved on it. When a woman gets married she must leave home to live with her husband, so Sakuntala’s situation was no different.

This was the turning of the play. Up to this point, there was a vast majority of love, lust, desire and happiness, that was felt and shown throughout, but this scene brought about a range of emotions that excluded the four mentioned previously.

Sakuntala enters the king’s home with two ascetics and Mother Guatami as her support. Upon entering she mumbled – “ah, why does my right eyelid tremble so?” in a worried tone sensing evil and the feeling that something is about to go wrong. She kneels before the king with her head down, while the ascetics are doing the talking for her. Only Sakuntala’s friends, Anasuya and Priyamvada knows about the curse, so no one in this very moment knows what is about to happen. “Who is she, this veiled creature her beauty almost buried, surrounded by ascetics, like a bud by withered leaves?” King Dusyanta questions. Immediately he notices her beauty but no recollection of who she is. His question has Sakuntala’s heart fluttering but deep down she knows he loves her so she remains calm and says nothing. Her father, Kanva, had given Sarngarava (one of the ascetics) a message for the king. After receiving the message, the king is puzzled and confused as to what they’re proposing. The ascetics try to explain what the message means but it still is unclear to the king because he believes he didn’t marry her and worse get her pregnant.

Sakuntala’s heart is pounding after hearing the king, the man she loves so deeply, the man she betrayed her elders for by going behind their backs to have a secret marriage with, the man who she’s desired since she first met, the man she trusted, the man who promised to never break her trust and love another, denies knowing her.  She feels betrayed, hurt, angry and disappointed that the king just rejected her.  The ascetics and king Dusyanta are all getting flustered and upset. The ascetics are starting to get frustrated because everyone in their hermitage knows of the secret marriage that took place between king Dusyanta and Sakuntala, and to have that knowledge and look at someone who is involved say this never happened is outrageous. At the same time the king is irritated because the ascetics are trying to force “another man’s wife” on him when he has no knowledge of Sakuntala, meeting her, having a secret marriage or even more far-reaching, getting her pregnant. The back and forth goes on for a while, then Sakuntala decides to prove herself with the only proof she knows he couldn’t deny and based on the conditions of the curse, the only thing that will make the king recognize her.  “No! It can’t be! The ring has gone from my finger!” said Sakuntala shockingly, as she tries to shake the king’s memory. The ring given to her by her husband on their wedding day is gone, the one piece of evidence to shake the situation. Sakuntala figures if she shares an experience they had it might drag his memory but even then she’s hopeless. The king is now even more furious after her story, “These are the kinds of lying, honeyed words that women use for their own ends to lure over-excited youths” he yelled.  He feels as though he’s being deceived by Sakuntala and the ascetics because of his status, but when he sees how seriously angry Sakuntala is, he silently starts to doubt himself. She too raging and regretfully begins to blame herself. Saying that it’s her fault she trusted and gave herself to a “man with honey in his mouth but poison in his heart.” Sakuntala and the ascetics are now ranting on about the secret marriage and that it should have never taken place because this is what happens when people act on impulse.

After all the arguing, the back and forth, the hurt, pain, shame, deceit, regrets, anger and all the failed attempts at convincing the king; the ascetics decide to go back to their hermitage. Sakuntala tries to leave with them but is told to stay as she now belongs to her husband. “Here’s your wife, take her or forsake her as you see fit, a husband’s power is absolute” says Saradvata calmly. Sakuntala is now feeling abandoned by her own people and is left with a man who blatantly refused her.