Mira - XV RadhaKrishna

RADHAKRISHNA

Haridas brings in Mira, into the circle of the gopis. Mira is now in a resplendent white dress with pearls.

Haridas: Mira, your presence here is like Krishna's flute song that comes upon the gentle breeze from the Yamuna. Brindavan is aflame with colour, filled with the sweetest bird song and aglow with joy. Your destiny has come. Our beloved Hari brought you here because your heart was yearning for him. I, too, am yearning for him but alas, is there anyone else whose love and yearning is greater and purer than yours...?

Mira: O Haridas, my breath and my life belong to him... I know no other life, no other way. I know I have him in my heart but I also know that there is more. I want to be in his heart... my body and soul in his heart... a sob catches in her throat. When will be that day?

Haridas: O Mira, I had a vision today of our beloved Krishna. While chanting his beautiful, bliss-giving name, our supreme lord blessed me with a revelation; that he has been waiting for you, his Radha incarnate, his supreme beloved. [Mira gazes at him.] He told me to bring you here to this garden of kadamba trees. [She is visibly excited about meeting Krishna at last.] And he said, "Perform the precious duty of the go-between, O gentle sakhi, bring us together, my beloved and I, as you have always done."

Mira: Lalitha! [Realizing her divine destiny. They embrace, overcome by the divine revelation given to them.] My loving friend... for ages you listened to my sighs, soothed the sorrow of my separation from my beloved, persuaded me of his love...

Haridas: O Radharani... too soon he took you unto him, too eager were you to melt into him. When you left us, spring was less colourful, love was not as sweet, and laughter was not as joyful. The eternal sages had been drinking deep from the divine ecstasy of RadhaKrishna; they awoke from bliss that lasted a thousand years, thirsting for more. Now you have come, and they are here... [Mira looks around her at the gopis.] Brindavan is Brindavan again. And your beloved is waiting. [Haridas touches her face and leaves. The seated gopis all face Mira standing in the center of their circle.]

Mira, softly: Mere to giridhara gopala, dusara na koi
Ja ke sira mora mukuta, mero pati soi
Mine is the mountain holder, no one else but he
With his peacock-feather crown, he's the husband for me
Mere to giridhara gopala, dusara na koi
Ja ke sira mora mukuta, mero pati soi

She sings this line several times to reveal the many layers of her love for Krishna, and reenacts their first meeting and falling in love with each other, their subsequent secret meetings, the joy of being together, their separation, her pining, her longing turning to despair, and their coming together again.

The rhythm of the song develops and she begins to dance. She is joined by the gopis who have been watching her with ecstasy. They all dance in a great swirl of joy and abandon until they come to a sudden stop - all fall down, delirious and happy. Then the song of Krishna's flute is heard. They listen to it with bated breath. Mira is filled with joy, expecting to see him any moment. She looks around, trying to determine the source of the music. Then it stops. Only silence. She waits, holding her breath.

She gets up, turns this way that way to see him coming to her. The silence seems eternal. Her senses surge out frantically for a glimpse, a touch, a whiff, a taste, and a sound of him. So intensely near and yet so excruciatingly far away. She begins to crumble, going mad in her mind that Krishna may not come to her, and sobs. Then, all of a sudden, the sound of ankle bells... and that sound is like the rumbling of thunder foretelling rain to the parched earth. Mira and the gopis look downstage left with great expectation.

The flute song comes again. Krishna enters downstage left, playing his flute, looking at Mira. His face is partially seen. He pauses, and allows the girls to look at him, to drink in his glorious form. He goes towards Mira. The rhythm of the drums reflects the beating of her heart. All of a sudden, she is shy, and covers her face. When Krishna reaches her, the moment of truth cannot be denied - she looks into his face and his eyes with inexpressible joy. The drums have increased in intensity.

All of a sudden, he stamps his foot, startling Mira, and then twirls her with a flourish. A new rhythm is begun, and Krishna dances his love dance with Mira. The speed of the dance increases with every line of the refrain. The gopis dance in ecstasy. They circle the divine couple. Krishna releases Mira from his embrace. The gopis gather around her and removes her white dress to reveal a sheer dark blue dress she wears underneath. Mira twirls with joy and she sings, her voice above the frenetic drum rhythms: "Mere to giridhara gopala, dusara na koi..." Krishna holds her again and they dance, so fast, as if they will be released from their bodies. The gopis raise their voices in exultation as they exit all sides. A huge piece of dark blue silk flutters down from above. It falls over Krishna and Mira and covers them. But then it falls flat on the ground - Krishna and Mira have disappeared. There is a short silence.

The flute, soft and low, is heard. The lights begin to dim. Slowly. In the auditorium, we can smell the fragrance of sandalwood. And then, we hear Mira's voice in the darkness: "Mere to giridhara gopala..."

[THE END]