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The King of the Dark Chamber

Chapter 8: VI
By Rabindranath Tagore
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Plays/Films/Dramas

About This Book

The play presents a realm where the sovereign remains unseen and everyday life is filled with festivals, gossip, and ritual while citizens speculate about his absence. A devoted subject forges a deeply personal bond with the hidden ruler through trials of faith and symbolic encounters, shifting the action from public bustle to intimate, shadowed interiors. Using songs, allegory, and staged ceremonies, the drama probes longing, surrender, and the paradoxical authority of a presence that governs without display, asking whether devotion and power rest on outward visibility or on inward knowing.

VI

ROHINI.
What is the matter? I cannot make out what is all this! (To the gardeners.) Where are you all going away in such a hurry?

First Gardener.
We are going out of the garden.

ROHINI.
Where?

Second Gardener.
We do not know where—the King has called us.

ROHINI.
Why, the King is in the garden. Which King has called you?

First Gardener.
We cannot say.

Second Gardener.
The King we have been serving all our life, of course.

ROHINI.
Will you all go?

First Gardener.
Yes, all—we have to go instantly. Otherwise we might get into trouble. [They go out.]

ROHINI.
I cannot understand their words. . . . I am afraid. They are scampering off like wild animals that fly just before the bank of a river breaks down into the water.

[Enter KING OF KOSHALA]

KOSHALA.
Rohini, do you know where your King and Kanchi have gone?

ROHINI.
They are somewhere in the garden, but I could not tell you where.

KOSHALA.
I cannot really understand their intentions. I have not done well to put my trust in Kanchi. [Exit.]

ROHINI.
What is this dark affair going on amongst these kings? Something dreadful is going to happen soon. Shall I too be drawn into this affair? [Enter AVANTI]

AVANTI.
Rohini, do you know where the other princes are?

ROHINI.
It is difficult to say which of them is where. The King of Koshala just passed by in this direction.

AVANTI.
I am not thinking of Koshala. Where are your King and Kanchi?

ROHINI.
I have not seen them for a long time.

AVANTI.
Kanchi is always avoiding us. He is certainly planning to deceive us all. I have not done well to put my hand in this imbroglio. Friend, could you kindly tell me any way out of this garden?

ROHINI.
I have none.

AVANTI.
Is there no man here who will show me the way out?

ROHINI.
The servants have all left the garden.

AVANTI.
Why did they do so?

ROHINI.
I could not exactly understand what they meant. They said the King had commanded them to leave the garden at once.

AVANTI.
King? Which King? Rohini They could not say exactly.

AVANTI.
This does not sound well. I shall have to find a way out at any cost. I cannot stay here a single moment more.[Goes out hurriedly.]

ROHINI.
Where shall I find the King? When I gave him the flowers the Queen had sent, he did not seem much interested in me at the time; but ever since that hour he has been showering gifts and presents on me. This causeless generosity makes me more afraid. . . . Where are the birds flying at such an hour of the night? What has frightened them all on a sudden? This is not the usual time of their flight, certainly, . . . Why is the Queen’s pet deer running that way? Chapata! Chapata! She does not even hear my call. I have never seen a night like this! The horizon on every side suddenly becomes red, like a madman’s eye! The sun seems to be setting at this untimely hour on all sides at the same time. What madness of the Almighty is this! . . . Oh, I am frightened! . . . Where shall I find the King?