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Love Stories from The Mahabharata  
Parikshit and Sushobhana – 5

Again, shattering the foolish maid’s advice by the sound of her scornful laughter, Sushobhana says,

“Being a wife means becoming man’s slave. Despite being a servant, why can’t you imagine the agony of that petty existence, Subinita? Do not give me the advice to follow the path to death, maid.”
“Listen to my prayer, maiden. Discard this callous indulgence in playacting at love to destroy male hearts. Become the lover’s beloved, his bride, his wife.”

Looking up scornfully, Sushobhana asks again,

“How does one become beloved-bride-wife, maid? Is there any prescribed rule for that?”
“There is.”
“What?”
“Surrender your heart to the lover. Be true to the beloved.”

Sushobhana laughs,

“In my life there is no burden called the heart, Subinita. Tell me, how shall I give away what I do not have?”

The maid’s eyes mist over. In a pained voice she says,

“I do not wish to say anything more, princess. I only pray that in your life may the heart appear.”
Annoyed, Sushobhana asks, “What do you gain by that?”
“Even in this maid’s life, then, a desire will be fulfilled.”
“What desire?”
“The desire to decorate you as a bride. Handing over the wedding garland to those beautiful hands, at the moment of sending you away to your beloved’s home, this foolish maid’s joy will, one day, resound as a conch-shell’s sound. It is because this hope exists that I am still here, princess. Otherwise I would have left even before having heard your rebuke.”

Sushobhana is angered.

“This cursed hope of yours shall surely be frustrated, maid! That is why I am not punishing you. Otherwise, for the crime of having entertained that frightful desire, I would have driven you away right now forever.”

Sushobhana is grim. Her companion Subinita is also silent. In the calm summer noon, within the creeper-covered hut, her lovely body perfumed with unguents, sits the Manduka princess Sushobhana. With a peculiar thirsty gaze she stares at the end of blue garden-path. And, Subinita silently performs a maid’s duty by fanning her.

Suddenly Sushobhana grows agitated. Her two eyes fixed on the garden-path look like the eyes of a huntress. Noticing something, the pupils of her eyes, graced with black eyelashes, have become restless.  Curious, Subinita, too, glances once at the garden and immediately turns away her face in apprehension. The whisk in her hand trembles with fear.

– Continued

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