Sakuntala’s house was a small two bedroom cottage, it was
surrounded by a lush garden full of many-colored flowers that just gushed with
fragrance. Small animals seemed to
appear within the small spaces between the plants, undisturbed by the fast
paced city that was only five miles from Sakuntala’s front door. This was a peaceful place; the house was of a
sturdy build made decades before, that was obviously meant to house Sakuntala
and her young boy.
I loved visiting this place not just for the appeal to the
eye, but because I felt Sakuntala had become a good friend of mine. I met her not long after she had given birth
to her son and since then I had visited her twice a week to help her with her
son. It didn’t take long for me to learn
her story and wonder at how happy she was despite it. How could any man forget her? She’s so beautiful and she just seems to emit
a glow from within that sparkles in her eyes and her smile. It’s unfathomable that any man, no matter his
status, could forget Sakuntala!
She had told me how when she was eight months through her
pregnancy she had gone to find her husband.
That when she and her adopted mother had found him, he denied their life
together; he denied knowing anything of her, he wouldn’t acknowledge their
marriage, their love, nor their not long in coming child. Now it seemed like she waited for him, as if
she thought that one day he would magically remember that he had married her,
that they had a child together.
However the child concerned me. Although he was young, he ran around like a
dervish and it seemed as though he could speak to the animals he encountered
and that they understood him. I took him
for walks when I came to give Sakuntala a break and when we walked he would greet
the birds, squirrels, and rabbits, but then he would also greet the wolves
hiding in the dark corners and the tigers in the low-lying branches of the
trees. He never failed to boggle my
mind!
It was on one of these walks that I met a man whose eyes
were only for the child, I could see the recognition in those eyes. He was a handsome and powerfully built man
with dark hair and a dark complexion. I
knew exactly who this man was the moment I met him and I allowed him to play
with the child when we walked together and when it was time Sakuntala’s son and
I took the man to meet Sakuntala. When
he saw her he fell at her feet and that glow that radiated from her seemed to
grow somehow and I could not but be happy that he husband had finally
remembered her. That somehow the magic
really did exist!
At her feet, Sakuntala’s husband cried out to her, “My love,
my angel! How could you ever find it in
you to forgive me?! How could I have ever forgotten you?! These last four years I have searched for
you! Only the thought that you were still out here kept me alive because I am
dead without you!” His shoulders heaved
with great broken sobs and the gracious and beautiful pulled him up off his
knees and embraced him as I knew only she could.
“My love, I gave myself to you and I am forever yours. I would have waited for you my whole life if
that is what was necessary. I knew that
one day your memory of us would return and it has. Now let us live the rest of our lives
together and rejoice in the love that we have!”
***
This was the last time I ever saw Sakuntala alone. She and her husband left the little cottage
and he took her to his people and showed her the love that she deserved. It wasn’t until years later that Sakuntala
and her husband returned to the quiet of that lush garden and small quarters so
that they could peacefully retire together for the rest of their lives.
Author’s note:
I really wanted to show Sakuntala’s story from another
person’s eyes to really show how graciously she accepted her fate. I’m sort of a romantic and I ‘d like to think
that someone who really loves me would wait for me for as long as I need. I didn’t really pick an era or anything but I
made it a little more modern with the wording. I wanted to remain fairly vague
so that the focus was really on the story and not on the setting.
Bibliography:
"Sakuntala" by Sunity Devee, from Nine Ideal Indian Women (1919). Web Source: Indian Epics: Reading Guides.
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