Hearts Revealed All precious things, discovered late, To those that speak them issue forth; For love in sequel works with fate, And draws the veil from hidden worth.³⁹⁹ Vaster in being free from toils of sense— Was wisest stooping to the weaker heart; And so the feet of sweet Yashodhara Passed into peace and bliss, being softly led.⁴⁰⁰ ‘S arasvatichandra! Sarasvatichandra! It is I, Kumud, calling out to you!’ Her soft voice entered Sarasvatichandra’s ears despite the roaring winds. Emerging from his contemplative sleep, he opened his eyes and looked at his lap. The one who had lain in his lap was now seated beside him. Sarasvatichandra: ‘Kumud Sundari, I have given you immense sorrow.’ Kumud: ‘What had to happen has happened. You made an attempt to give wings to my fate, but it had no capacity to take flight. It was destined to fall and it did. I see no fault of yours. When a man like Dushyanta forgets Shakuntala’s love, the reason has to be traced back to Rishi Durvasa’s curse. Chandravali behn has spoken to you about my heartfelt emotion. Please rid your heart of all pain on my account.’

Sarasvatichandra: ‘My stupidity and evildoing cannot be erased from my conscience.’ Kumud: ‘What are you saying? You might have made a mistake, but you are certainly not evil. If there was even a trace of evil in you, you would not wander around to save this evil body of mine. Moreover, in that moment of great attraction, you would have succumbed to desire and made this body go through a different experience.’ Sarasvatichandra: ‘I did nothing that has not been done previously.’ Kumud: ‘You are greater than me in every respect. But I have been hardened by the sorrows of this world and I, too, have experienced the condition that you went through. I have greater experience of pain.’ Sarasvatichandra: ‘Don’t you think that by talking about these base feelings, we strengthen them? Wouldn’t it be better not to speak of them at all?’ Kumud: ‘That is supported by experience.’ She trembled as she said this. It did not go unnoticed by him. Sarasvatichandra: ‘As I see your condition I ask myself, where does evil lie? In talking of these things or in not talking of them?’ Kumud: ‘The source of evil is this face of mine which gives so much pain to a renunciate like you. The eyes of women are filled with such poison.’ Sarasvatichandra: ‘Oh God! Oh God! If the eyes of women are filled with poison, then words of men are poisonous, too. It is the words of men which pushed you into the fiery ordeal.’ Kumud felt abashed and looked down. After a pause she said, ‘Now I realise that when my companions left me, I sang the song I had composed which expressed my pain. I must have continued to sing even when I lost consciousness. It must have entered your ears and pained you like a centipede that crawls into