Page 12 - GALIET LOVE, FATE AND REMORSE: Sakuntala IV

Galiet & Galiet
Dushyanta’s ring, infinite, oracular and purified by fire, becomes the jewel by which he, magically, recovers his lost memory, his oath and his very being: his thoughts flow again transparent, pure and clear 3⁄4 like Indra’s waters and Ford. Sakuntala of the forest is his true beloved wife. She is as true as the initials on his ring, it seems that just by reading his name on the ring, he were spelling hers,Sakuntala,engravingeachvoweland consonant permanently is his heart as if sharing the same essence; even if such spelling were engraved with the needle of misfortune and remorse. Moreover, to retrieve the ring and to look at it not only means to know the universal truth (gift of certainty) from the false particulars (doubt) but it is also akin to receiving a precious gift from Indra; it is a compass that points King Dushyanta’s heart to his true north. Only Indra, in Panikkar’s words, full of compassion for his worshipers, chases away evil and ensures that friends are not overcome by violence.9 The fisherman becomes the innocent agent that helps avert evil and, thus, is favored by the King. Just as King Dushyanta is rewarded by finding Sakuntala’s infinite fragrant bracelet of lotus
9 Panikkar, Raimundo. The Vedic Experience. Dawn and Birth. 144
fibre 3⁄4 a trace of her essence after she hides in the grove (III), the fisherman is rewarded with an eternal bracelet for finding the King’s ring 3⁄4 a fragrant trace of truth hidden in the carp’s dark belly. Both bracelets symbolize the “twiceness” of hope, love and recognition. Sakuntala’s bracelet represents the accident of finding love and the hope of requited love while the King’s bracelet represents his intentional gratitude to fate and destiny for bringing Sakuntala twice back to him. Similarly, by the gesture of rescuing the fisherman, the King kindly commiserates with his suffering and misery: just as Sakuntala had rescued him from the fearful stake of rejected love by encouraging him to feast on the elephant of requited love, the King favors the fisherman by rescuing him “from the stake and set[ting] him on an elephant” (VI, I) as suggested by Januka.
Indra’s Waters and Ford. It is equally florescent that the ring is found in Indra’s waters, Sakuntala’s river and Ford of devotion and love, for where else “can a great river flow except to the ocean” (III, 13). Just as Sakuntala’s love shall flow like a river to reach its destiny, King Dushyanta’s oceanic love shall await for the incoming current of Sakuntala’s river to flood his spirit. To find the infinite
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