A Curtain Breached Some force whole regions, in despite, Of geography, to change their site; Make former times shake hands with latter, And that which was before, come after.⁵³⁷ Of the four tents one was meant for women, the second for Manchatura, the third for receiving ascetics and the fourth was for other male guests. It was decided to house Chandrakant there. After Mohini left, Gunasundari accompanied by Sundargauri and Kusum slowly walked towards her tent. Manchatura came and inquired, ‘Gunasundari, did you learn anything new from Mohini?’ Gunasundari: ‘Chandravali will bring her here shortly; only then shall we know if our noses are to be cut or they are to remain.’ Manchatura: ‘You grieve and fret unnecessarily. If there is someone powerful enough to swing society one way or another, society swings. Our noses and honour will both remain intact; do not unnecessarily brand your daughter with your harsh words. She survived the outlaws and emerged alive from water. She will merge with the ascetics, and there is no need to announce it to the world. Do not worry. I will straighten everything out.’ Gunasundari: ‘We can make a show of having our noses intact, but the wounds in our hearts will never heal. What is immoral for us is supreme duty for the ascetics. They have done many mad things and will do more such things. We have no means to prevent them. Truly speaking, I do not like to even utter Kumud’s name, I now detest her face and would not like her words in my ears. My heart tells me that my worst fears are about to come true. This girl, who shall bring shame to my womb, did not die nor did she turn to stone!’ Manchatura: ‘You are naïve and do not understand the mysterious ways of the world. You want that girl dead—what are we to do with you women! Her heart was given to one and her body to another, and he turned out to be one such fateless man. Gunasundari, it is easier said than done. Now God has willed that Kumud should lead her life with the man of her heart; if we hold tight to our honour there would be none as foolish as us. Think about it; the outlaws, river Subhadra, the island of the Mother Goddess temple, Sundargiri and Sarasvatichandra—all these are unrelated to each other. So many wheels had to move in unison to get this clock ticking. And now you, her mother, want to break its spring? People set fire to other people’s homes and clap and dance with joy at the spectacle. Should we also stand by and watch our house go up in flames and join the spectacle? Come, gather yourself now and give up this insane insistence. Your daughter has passed through a great and fiery ordeal; her fires have now been doused. Do not singe her when she comes to you, do not scold her, do not keep quiet or speak