SUDARSHANA. No, no--I cannot live without light--I am restless
in this stifling dark. Surangama, if you can bring a light into
this room, I shall give you this necklace of mine.

SURANGAMA. It is not in my power, O Queen. How can I bring
light to a place which he would have kept always dark!

SUDARSHANA. Strange devotion! And yet, is it not true that the
King punished your father?

SURANGAMA. Yes, that is true. My father used to gamble. All
the young men of the country used to gather at my father's
house-and they used to drink and gamble.

SUDARSHANA. And when the King sent away your father in exile,
did it not make you feel bitterly oppressed?

SURANGAMA. Oh, it made me quite furious. I was on the road to
ruin and destruction: when that path was closed for me, I seemed
left without any support, without any succour or shelter. I
raged and raved like a wild beast in a cage--how I wanted to tear
every one to pieces in my powerless anger!

SUDARSHANA. But how did you get this devotion towards that same
King?

SURANGAMA . How can I tell? Perhaps I could rely and depend on
him because he was so hard, so pitiless!

SUDARSHANA. When did this change of feeling take place?