Chapter 11Scene 5

In the forest. Ichalgurh, Ruttan and Rajpoots.

OUTSIDE Bappa! Bappa! Ho, Sheva Ekling!

An arrow descends and a Rajpoot falls.

RUTTAN Still upwards!

ICHALGURH

Upwards still! Death on the height Sits crowned to meet us; downwards is to dishonour And that’s no Rajpoot movement. Brother Ruttan, We’re strangled with a noose intangible. O my brave Rajpoots, by my headlong folly Led to an evil death!

RUTTAN

What is this weakness, Chouhan of famous Ichalgurh? Remember Thyself, my brother. But a little more And we have reached their wasps’-nest on the hills.

ICHALGURH Not one alive.

Another arrow. A Rajpoot falls.

RUTTAN

I ask no better fate, Brother, than at thy side however slain, Victorious or defeated.

ICHALGURH

We have acted Like heedless children, thinking we had to stamp Our armoured heel on a mere swarm and rabble, But find ourselves at grips with skilful fighters And a great brain of war. Safe under cover They pick us off; we battle blindly forwards Without objective, smiting at the wind, Stumbling as in a nightmare and transfixed Ignobly by a foe invisible Our falchions cannot reach, — like crows, like jackals, Not like brave men and battle-famous warriors.

RUTTAN Still on!

ICHALGURH

Yes, on, till the last man falls pierced Upon the threshold that immures the sweetness We could not save. Forward the Chouhan!

Enter Kodal.

KODAL

Halt! A parley!

ICHALGURH

Speak, but talk not of surrender.

KODAL ’Tis that I’ll talk of. I am Bappa’s mouthpiece. Rajpoots, you’re quite surrounded. If we choose, Our arrows buzzing through your brains can end you In five swift minutes. Lay then at Bappa’s feet Your humble heads; else like mad dogs be skewered And yelp your lives out.

ICHALGURH

Return unpunished; the name Of envoy guards thy barbarous insolence.

Enter Sungram.

SUNGRAM You speak too insolently your message, Kodal. Chouhan of Ichalgurh, thou art too great To die thus butchered. We demand a parley For courteous equal terms, not base surrender.

ICHALGURH Thou art a Rajpoot; dost thou lead these arrows?

SUNGRAM I lead the shafts that wear thee out; another Surrounds the Scythian; but we are the hands Of one more godlike brain.

ICHALGURH

With him I’ll parley.

SUNGRAM ’Tis well. Go, Kodal, learn our chieftain’s will.

Exit Kodal.

ICHALGURH Young man, thou hast a Rajpoot form and bearing, Yet herdst with the wild forest tribes, remote From arms and culture. Dost thou hide thy name too?

SUNGRAM I am a Chouhan like thyself, of birth As princely. Ask the warriors of Ajmere Who valiant Martund was; his sons are we, Sungram and Prithuraj.

ICHALGURH

O youth, thy father Was my great pattern and my guide in war. Brother and enemy, embrace me.

They embrace.

Sungram, Who is thy captain? For the sons of Martund Serve not a Bheel.

SUNGRAM

Thine eyes shall answer thee.

Enter Bappa and Kodal.

ICHALGURH A noble-featured youth! What son of Kings Lives secret in these rugged hills?

BAPPA

Chouhan Of famous Ichalgurh, now if I’m slain In battle, I can tell the dead I’ve seen thee, Thou god of war. O let there be no hatred, Hero, between us, but only faith.

ICHALGURH

Young chieftain, Thou bearst a godlike semblance, but thy deeds Are less than noble. Hast thou not seized a princess By robber violence, forced her with thee To thy rude lair and threatenest her sweet body With shameful mastery?

BAPPA

We are warriors, Rajpoot; Two ways of mating only fit for us, By mutual sweet attraction undenied To grow to oneness as they do in heaven, Or else with lion leap to seize our bride And pluck her from the strong protecting spears Taking her heart by violence. We mate not Like castes unwarlike, from a father’s hand Drawing an innocent wide-eyed wondering child Like cattle given or sold. This was the way Of Rajpoots long before the earth grew aged; And shall a Rajpoot blame it? Wherefore then rod’st thou Clanging last morn from Ichalgurh in arms, Pratap the Chouhan?

ICHALGURH

Chieftain, I am pledged To save the girl from thee.

BAPPA

But canst redeem The vow with thy dead body only. Hero, I too am sworn to keep her ’gainst the world. Let us in the high knightly way decide it. Deign to cross swords with me and let the victor Possess the maiden.

ICHALGURH

O thou springing stem That surely yet wilt rise to meet the sun! Agreed. Let no man intervene betwixt us.

BAPPA Kodal, restrain thy Bheels.

Exit Kodal. They fight.

RUTTAN

Bold is thy chieftain To match his boyish arm against my brother!

SUNGRAM He is a mighty warrior, but not age Nor bulk can measure strength; the exultant spirit Pressing towards glory gives the arm a force Mightier than physical. He’s down.

Ichalgurh falls wounded.

RUTTAN

Great Ichalgurh! Who is this godlike combatant?

BAPPA

Surrender My princess, Chouhan.

ICHALGURH

Thou hast her who deserv’st Much more than her.

He rises. Young hero who in thy first battle o’erbearst Maturer victors! know Pratap the Chouhan Unalterably thy friend. When thou shalt ask My sword, ’tis thine.

BAPPA

Thou’rt wounded?

ICHALGURH (binding his wound)

I have been worse And ridden far to meet the foe. Another day We’ll share one rocky pillow on the hills And talk of battles.

BAPPA

Pratap, I could but offer A rude and hillside hospitality. But when I hold my court in mighty Edur I will absolve this morning’s debt.

Enter Captain.

ICHALGURH

Farewell.

BAPPA Escort him, friend.

Exeunt Sungram, Ichalgurh, Ruttan and Rajpoots.

How speeds the battle, comrade, There with the Scythians?

CAPTAIN

It is finished, prince. They fell in slaughtered heaps.

BAPPA

Prince Toraman?

CAPTAIN Lay flat and bellowed. We’ld have taken him, But Prithuraj, mad for the joy of battle, Leaped on their foremost; while he hewed them down, Like an untiring woodman, one giant Scythian Crashing through bush and boulder hurled himself Out of thy net; with him a loyal handful Carried this Toraman.

Enter Prithuraj.

PRITHURAJ

Pardon my error, Bappa.

BAPPA It was a noble fault, my soldier. We have done all we hoped. The amorous Scythian Will not return in haste mid our green hills To woo a Rajpoot maiden. Let us go. I wonder when great Edur moves upon us. I long to hear his war assail our mountains.

Exeunt.