TwoPlaysbyKarnad excerpt

From The Dreams of Tipu Sultan by Girish Karnad

 MIR SADIQ (enters, excited): Your Majesty, Your Majesty, incredible news. I’m so excited I don’t know where to start. The heavens are smiling on us. TIPU: The Lord be praised! What is it, Mir Sadiq? MIR SADIQ: The Nizam has sent this dispatch – I’ll read it out – TIPU: Just tell me in a few words. We have no time to waste. MIR SADIQ: The Nizam says he has at last seen his folly in backing the English. He’s seen through their game. If Your Majesty loses, the next target will be the Nizam. TIPU: Of course, I’ve been trying to drum that into that moron for the last sixteen years. Still, it’s good he’s woken up – MIR SADIQ: The Marathas too have decided to throw in their lot with us. TIPU: You’re sure I am not dreaming all this! MIR SADIQ: Here’s the Qilledar, Nadeem Khan. What news, Nadeem Khan? NADEEM: News only of God’s smile. Your Majesty. Hari Pant Phadke is here, awaiting your audience. Shall I admit him? QAMARUDDIN (entering): Your Majesty – TIPU (angry): Yes, Commander-in-Chief? But you should not be here. You should – QAMARUDDIN: Sir, I’ve just seen with my eyes a sight even my grandchildren will narrate with pride! TIPU: What is it? Get to the point! QAMARUDDIN: The English are withdrawing. They’re in total disarray. Total confusion rules the ranks of the foreigners. I saw English generals squabbling like women in the market – (Cheers from those present) QAMARUDDIN: The English are withdrawing. They’re in total disarray. Total confusion rules the ranks of the foreigners. I saw English generals squabbling like women in the market – (Cheers from those present) …     KIRMANI: That was Tipu’s last dream. That afternoon he was killed in battle. …     Mir Sadiq’s conduct of the war was so openly treacherous that his own troops lynched him. Nadeem Khan, the Qilledar, had ordered a pay parade for his troops at the very moment of British assault, thus taking them away from the battlefront. Poornaiya slipped with alacrity into the post of Prime Minister under the new regime. Qamaruddin was by his side. The battle of Seringpatam was was lost before it had begun. (Roar of tigers in the background followed by gunfire and then silence.) MACKENZIE: The tigers of the palace were shot dead while the mechanical tiger was shipped off to London. (Richard Wellesley enters, followed by Arthur.) Richard Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, Governor General of the British possessions in the East Indies said in a letter to the Board of Directors of the Honourable East India company. MORNINGTON: While the dreadful fate of the fallen ruler could not be contemplated without pain and regret, it should show the Indian princes the danger of inviting foreign invasion – against the British power. MACKENZIE: Arthur Wellesley, the Commandant of Seringapatam, was launched on a spectacular career which culminated in his becoming the Duke of Wellington, the Conqueror of Napoleon, Prime Minister of England. (Richard congratulates Arthur. They exit entirely pleased with themselves.) Tipu Sultan’s sons were moved out of Seringapatam and ended up in Calcutta, where they could be kept under surveillance. (Pause.) Within twenty years, the British had annexed the Maratha empire. KIRMANI: It was not Tipu’s dreams but his predictions that came true. 

© Girish Karnad