A VOICE [behind the scenes].—­O hermits, be ready to protect the
animals belonging to our hermitage.  King Dushyanta, amusing himself with
hunting, is near at hand. 
    Lo! by the feet of prancing horses raised,
    Thick clouds of moving dust, like glittering swarms
    Of locusts in the glow of eventide,
    Fall on the branches of our sacred trees;
    Where hang the dripping vests of woven bark,
    Bleached by the waters of the cleansing fountain. 
And see! 
    Scared by the royal chariot in its course,
    With headlong haste an elephant invades
    The hallowed precincts of our sacred grove;
    Himself the terror of the startled deer,
    And an embodied hindrance to our rites. 
    The hedge of creepers clinging to his feet,
    Feeble obstruction to his mad career,
    Is dragged behind him in a tangled chain;
    And with terrific shock one tusk he drives
    Into the riven body of a tree,
    Sweeping before him all impediments.

KING [aside].—­Out upon it! my retinue are looking for me, and are disturbing this holy retreat.  Well! there is no help for it; I must go and meet them.

PRIYAMVADA AND ANASUYA.—­Noble Sir, we are terrified by the accidental disturbance caused by the wild elephant.  Permit us to return into the cottage.

KING [hastily].—­Go, gentle maidens.  It shall be our care that no injury happen to the hermitage. [All rise up.

PRIYAMVADA AND ANASUYA.—­After such poor hospitality we are ashamed to request the honor of a second visit from you.

KING.—­Say not so.  The mere sight of you, sweet maidens, has been to me the best entertainment.

SAKOONTALA.—­Anasuya, a pointed blade of Kusa-grass[35] has pricked my foot; and my bark-mantle is caught in the branch of a Kuruvaka-bush.  Be so good as to wait for me until I have disentangled it. [Exit with her two companions, after making pretexts for delay, that she may steal glances at the King.

KING.—­I have no longer any desire to return to the city.  I will therefore rejoin my attendants, and make them encamp somewhere in the vicinity of this sacred grove.  In good truth, Sakoontala has taken such possession of my thoughts, that I cannot turn myself in any other direction. 
    My limbs drawn onward leave my heart behind,
    Like silken pennon borne against the wind.

[33] The speed of the chariot resembled that of the wind and the sun.  Indra was the god of the firmament or atmosphere.  The sun, in Hindoo mythology, is represented as seated in a chariot drawn by seven green horses, having before him a lovely youth without legs, who acts as charioteer, and who is Aruna, or the Dawn personified.

[34] The Matron or Superior of the female part of the society of hermits.  Their authority resembled that of an abbess in a convent of nuns.