LAWRENCE: For God’s sake, what do clothes have to do with it?
RANI: Nothing. Then why are you changing your clothes?
LAWRENCE: Only to be more effective.
RANI: Larins, you can do all the things you want—give Darbars in the countryside, mete justice to the people like a king. But don’t do it in Lahore. The Sardars will resent it. I don’t like it. In Lahore we must keep up appearances. The Resident in Lahore is an Agent of a friendly power to the South. No more.
(Pause.)
Larins, forget about the Lion. There’s so much you have done in the Punjab. And there’s so much you have to do before Dalip grows up.
LAWRENCE: But what about this land, will it wait for him to grow up?
RANI: Together we will make something of the Punjab. You as my Resident, and I as the Rani. We’ll make it strong and prosperous—just as in the days of the Lion.
LAWRENCE: (Excited.) Yes, yes, just as it was in the days of the Lion. We’ll make it rich and happy. We’ll build, build. Build roads, canals, and the land will sing with joy.
RANI: Oh Larins, I know you will do it too.
LAWRENCE: (Glowing.) Yes, they’ll say that the Lion has returned! The Lion has returned!
(Pause. Rani watches Lawrence’s glowing face.)
RANI: (Tenderly.) Oh Larins … Larins …
(Lawrence kisses her passionately.)
Where did you learn that, Larins?
LAWRENCE: I’m a soldier, remember?
RANI: (Sensually.) Again.
(Lawrence suddenly embarrassed. Moves back a little.)
LAWRENCE: No.
RANI: Why?
LAWRENCE: (Cold.) I don’t know. I’m sorry.
RANI: (Smiling) I order you.
LAWRENCE: No.
RANI: Oh Larins!
(Lights fade.)
Act Two Scene 4
The same. Late afternoon. Two sentries enter.
FIRST SENTRY: Has the fire in Shah’ alami Gate been put out?
SECOND SENTRY: They’re still fighting it. They’ve found twenty-four bodies so far. God knows how many more are trapped inside.
FIRST SENTRY: It’s the biggest fire I’ve seen.
SECOND SENTRY: They say that the same Angrez captain who killed the cow started the fire.
FIRST SENTRY: With the Angrez, it looks like bad times are coming.
SECOND SENTRY: (Spitting out betel.) What nonsense you talk! The Angrez has brought peace to our land. My brother says the Khalsa has never got its salary packet so regularly. The peasants worship him.
FIRST SENTRY: (Whispering.) Is it true that the Resident Sahib has been recalled to Calcutta?
SECOND SENTRY: (Confidentially.) The Wazir’s a powerful man.
FIRST SENTRY: And a jealous one.
SECOND SENTRY: Shh, someone’s coming.
(Enter Lawrence and Lumsden. The two sentries salaam and exit.)
LAWRENCE: I think I’m losing my temper.
(Pause.)
Do I understand that you burnt a whole street because you thought someone needed to be punished for firing on us. Is that right?
LUMSDEN: The filthy natives needed to be taught a lesson.
LAWRENCE: Didn’t you know that an investigation to find the culprits behind the firing was under way …
LUMSDEN: (Savagely) Investigation by that native, Sher Singh!
LAWRENCE: Before I lose my temper, it may be prudent for you to leave. I warned you once. You will return at once to Calcutta.
LUMSDEN: Mr Currie is not going to like this …
LAWRENCE: He is also not going to like your murdering twenty-four people.
LUMSDEN: (Shrugging his shoulders.) Twenty-four natives! I’d burn a thousand filthy natives! Mr Lawrence, I’ll tell you something: the entire English community here and in Calcutta will be on my side when the time comes.
LAWRENCE: (Losing his temper.) Get out! Get out, you insubordinate swine, before I kick you out!
LUMSDEN: Do I get a police escort?
LAWRENCE: (Shouting) Get out!
(Exit Lumsden.)
Ho Sipahi!
FIRST SENTRY: (Entering.) Hazur!
LAWRENCE: Send Sher Singh.
(Exit sentry. Lawrence takes the jewel from his pocket and looks at it admiringly. His anger slowly vanishes and gives way to another emotion. As Sher Singh enters, Lawrence quickly hides it.)
LAWRENCE: (Authoritatively.) Sher Singh, we need a velvet covering for this divan. Purple colour. (Goes near the divan and points to the covering.) This one looks like a rag.
(Proudly.)
This is the Residency. We must be dignified. We are going to hold Darbar today.
SHER SINGH: Darbar?
LAWRENCE: (A bit uncomfortable.) Yes, you know, the Council meeting.
SHER SINGH: But we’ve been having Council meetings here in the past. We haven’t needed coverings before?
LAWRENCE: We’re going to have them from now. It will be fitting!
SHER SINGH: (Dubiously.) I suppose so.
LAWRENCE: And some velvet cushions too. Same colour. Both the covering and the cushions must have gold work. That will improve the effect, won’t it?
SHER SINGH: (Dubiously.) I suppose so.
LAWRENCE: And have my initials, H.L., put in gold on them.
SHER SINGH: (With a mock flourish, bowing exaggeratedly.) Yes, Your Most Eminent Highness.
LAWRENCE: We’ll also need a mattress to put on the floor for the Sardars.
SHER SINGH: (Pointing to the divan.) They won’t sit here as usual?
LAWRENCE: No, I think they should sit below.
SHER SINGH: (Seriously.) The Sardars won’t like it, sir.
LAWRENCE: They’ll have to.
SHER SINGH: They only recognize His Highness Dalip Singh, sir.
LAWRENCE: (Softly.) I’m not asking them to recognize me as their ruler.
SHER SINGH: (Uncomfortably.) What does this Darbar mean then?
LAWRENCE: You don’t understand, Sher Singh. (Moving around the room, thinking aloud.)
… Now, let’s see. The divan should go over there. Perhaps a bit more to the right. That’s the way to rule India … with dignity. I must also get the Residency’s exterior lifted a bit. Yes, Indians like colour, pageant, style. They respect it. That’s authority for them. This place looks like a barrack—no wonder they think us odd. They like to be ruled through the heart; we rule through the head. They like to be dealt with at the personal level; our basis of administration is impersonal law. They respect tact; our laws and settlements are crudely blunt. You can’t change a people’s view of the world just like that: Particularly if they’ve just lost a war … You’ve got to be careful. You’ve got to make them forget they’ve lost a war …
(Long, dreamy pause. Sher Singh looks on uncomfortably.)
SHER SINGH: Larins, why have you had the Wazir arrested?
LAWRENCE: Because he was behind the firing at the Shah’ alami Gate.
SHER SINGH: Larins, you’re asking for trouble. Have him released at once. He’s a powerful man. He can make life difficult for you.
LAWRENCE: Sher Singh, are you afraid?
SHER SINGH: No.
LAWRENCE: Wasn’t he behind the incident?
SHER SINGH: Yes, he was. The firing was just to divert attention from the attempted kidnapping at the Palace. At the last minute, they lost track of Dalip.
LAWRENCE: How?
SHER SINGH: No one knows. When they found they’d failed they laid a bait for me. They offered to make me the Wazir if I’d hand over the Koh-i-noor.
LAWRENCE: How did they know?
SHER SINGH: The know.
LAWRENCE: (Smiling.) Don’t you want to be the Wazir?
SHER SINGH: What?
LAWRENCE: It’s a tempting thought.
SHER SINGH: I respect friendship more.
(Pause.)<
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Larins, please return the jewel to the Rani.
LAWRENCE: Why?
SHER SINGH: Because it will only bring trouble.
LAWRENCE: Are you afraid of trouble?
SHER SINGH: No. But I don’t seek it.
LAWRENCE: (Laughs.) Come on, let’s go. The people must be waiting. It’s time for Court.
(Lights fade. Lawrence and Sher Singh move across to stage right.)
Act Two Scene 5
As lights come on, Lawrence is found seated cross-legged on a divan. Sher Singh is at his side. The people are at a respectful distance. The ragged gathering includes peasants, beggars, crying children, brahmins, shopkeepers, etc. The assembly has the look of a Diwan-e-Am, the People’s Darbar, and Lawrence appears to be quite pleased with himself as he sits enjoying the role of a king dispensing justice. Sher Singh and his incongruously rich robes add to the baroque effect.
OLD WOMAN: (Pleading.) Hazur Sahib! Larins Sahib! I have a sick child in my arms. Can you help me? You will live a thousand years. Please help him!
FIRST BRAHMIN: Don’t push. I want to see what’s happening.
SECOND BRAHMIN: I’m not pushing.
OLD WOMAN: (Wailing.) Larins Sahib, help my sick child. May you walk on lakhs …
SHER SINGH: (Abruptly.) Bibi, this is a court of Law, not a hospital. Next case!
OLD WOMAN: (Pleading.) But what can I do, sir? My child—it will die.
SHER SINGH: (Annoyed.) Bibi, what can we do? Next case!
LAWRENCE: (Producing a small purse.) Her child’s sick, is it?
SHER SINGH: Yes.
LAWRENCE: Give her this and tell her to go to the doctor for medicine.
(Sher Singh does so. Speaks softly to her. She leaves, bowing low and shouting: ‘May you live a thousand years, Larins Sahib.’)
SHER SINGH: Next case! Are all you sons of swine asleep? Come on. Next case!
(The Prosecutor motions two saffron-robed brahmins to come forward. Then he digs into the crowd and comes out leading a lean, fair, young girl in a white sari. Her face is partially hidden by the end of her sari, which covers her head as well. Sher Singh nudges Lawrence.) That’s it! Let’s have more of this.
(Lawrence looks reproachfully at Sher Singh.)
Begin the case, fool! Do you think we’re waiting for your grandson to be conceived?
PROSECUTOR: (Authoritatively.) These brahmins, Your Excellency, (the brahmins bow) complain that this woman did not commit sati, according to tradition, when her husband died last month.
SHER SINGH: What punishment do you demand?
PROSECUTOR: Your Excellency, she should be burned alive, according to the custom.
SHER SINGH: Well, Larins Sahib, I think that’s fair.
LAWRENCE: What’s fair?
SHER SINGH: That she should be burned.
LAWRENCE: Why?
SHER SINGH: Because it’s the custom.
LAWRENCE: What does she have to say?
SHER SINGH: What do you have to say, Bibi?
(No answer. He speaks more gruffly.)
Speak, woman. What do you say, commands the Angrez Badshah.
(No answer. He speaks to the Prosecutor.)
Oi, you ask her.
LAWRENCE: (To Sher Singh.) Why did you call me the Angrez Badshah?
SHER SINGH: That’s a way of speaking. After all they’re peasants …
LAWRENCE: But I’m not a king.
SHER SINGH: (Defensive.) Should I address you differently?
LAWRENCE: (Embarrassed.) No, no. I like it. Say it again.
SHER SINGH: (Puzzled.) Angrez Badshah!
LAWRENCE: No, I mean the whole thing.
SHER SINGH: What?
LAWRENCE: What you just said. Something about ‘commands the …’
SHER SINGH: (Puzzled.) ‘What do you say, commands the Angrez Badshah.’
LAWRENCE: Yes. Now say it with style.
SHER SINGH: (Concerned.) Larins Sahib, are you all right?
LAWRENCE: (Embarrassed.) Yes.
SHER SINGH: (Still concerned.) Maybe it’s the heat. Let’s go in.
LAWRENCE: No. Go on.
SHER SINGH: (To the Court.) Next case.
PROSECUTOR: But, Your Excellency, we have not finished with the present case.
SHER SINGH: (More confused.) All right, same case, then. You sons of swine, do you think we have the whole day?
PROSECUTOR: She doesn’t speak, Your Excellency. She hasn’t spoken since her husband died.
SHER SINGH: How can we deliver justice to …
LAWRENCE: (Correcting him.) Natural justice.
SHER SINGH: (Puzzled.) How can we deliver natural justice to the defendant, fool, if she can’t speak?
PROSECUTOR: (Apologetically.) Your Excellency, what can we do?
LAWRENCE: No wonder she doesn’t speak. What do you expect her to say when the whole village is ready to burn her. What do the brahmins have to say?
FIRST BRAHMIN: Maharaj, it’s the custom of our land that a holy-wedded wife perform sati on the pyre of her Lord and Master, her holy-wedded husband.
SECOND BRAHMIN: Yes, Your Highness. It’s the custom. And this irreligious, immoral woman refuses to abide by the custom by which her ancestors have conducted themselves.
LAWRENCE: My nation also has a custom. When men burn women alive, we hang them. Let us each act according to our national customs.
FIRST BRAHMIN: This is not justice. A man has a perfect right to do whatever he wants with his wife. She is his property. If he is angry with her, he can throw her in the well.
(Laughs. Others join in.)
LAWRENCE: Well, I’m angry. Why shouldn’t I throw you in the well?
(Shouts.)
Ho Sipahi throw these two brahmins into the well.
(Sepoy comes forward and leads them away.)
Sher Singh, we are issuing a proclamation: sati is with immediate effect abolished in all provinces and districts of the Punjab. And the Hindu Reform Bill is with immediate effect extended to all parts of the Punjab. Next case!
(Applause from the crowd. Shouts of ‘Larins Sahib zindabad.’)
SHER SINGH: Next case, fools.
PROSECUTOR: Time for recess, sir.
LAWRENCE: Call the Wazir and the Commander of the Khalsa.
SHER SINGH: The Wazir?
PROSECUTOR: The Wazir?
CROWD: The Wazir?
(Confused sounds.)
SHER SINGH: You can’t call the Wazir here, Larins.
LAWRENCE: Why not?
SHER SINGH: (Uncomfortable.) You can’t. He’s too big a man.
LAWRENCE: Call the Wazir!
SHER SINGH: Larins, don’t. It’s bad enough to have arrested him. Don’t disgrace him. You’re asking for trouble. Besides the Wazir only answers to the Regent. Please don’t. Let’s go in. The sun’s too hot.
LAWRENCE: Call the Wazir.
(Lal Singh and Tej Singh are brought in. The latter spits in contempt.)
Sher Singh, what are the charges?
SHER SINGH: (Automatically.) What are the charges, owl?
PROSECUTOR: What are the charges, sir?
LAWRENCE: All right. I shall speak the charges. One, you are charged with an attempt to abduct His Highness Maharaja Dalip Singh and subvert his Raj.
(Pandemonium among the crowd. Cries, confusion.)
Two, you are charged with the creation of a conspiracy which resulted in the firing at Shah’ alami Gate on the English officers.
(Confusion again.)
Three, you are charged with exploiting the war against the English, specifically, the Sobraon battle, to subvert the Raj.
(More confusion.)
Speak! What do you have to say in your defence?
(They spit simultaneously.)
Is that all you have to say? All right, when you’re in a better mood to talk, then we’ll talk. Ho, Sipahi! Put them in lock-up.
(Sepoy conducts them out. Crowd applauds loudly. Approving shouts, whistles. ‘Larins S
ahib zindabad,’ ‘Angrez Badshah zindabad,’ ‘Resident Sahib zindabad.’)
LAWRENCE: (To Sher Singh.) Why are they shouting?
SHER SINGH: (Smiling.) They’re happy!
LAWRENCE: What are they saying?
SHER SINGH: ‘Long live Larins Sahib!’
LAWRENCE:—What else?
SHER SINGH: ‘Long live the Angrez Badshah!’
LAWRENCE: (Glowing.) Yes, yes, the Angrez Badshah. I’m ahero, Sher Singh.
SHER SINGH: You’re a hero, Larins Sahib!
(Lights slowly fade. Spot on Lawrence’s glowing face. Sound becomes louder. Drums. Triumphant music. Shouting becomes softer, ceases. Music and drums continue.)
Act Three Scene 1
The Governor-General’s headquarters at Fort William, Calcutta—seat of the Government of India. Two weeks later. A map room. Hardinge, Currie, and Elliot are standing before a huge map of North-West India, absorbed in the excitement of Empire-building.
ELLIOT: (Pointing.) What about a penetration from the East?
(Winking.)
I’m sure the Nawab should be agreeable.
CURRIE: Militarily, out of the question. Our hill strategy must be Punjab-based. We must secure the Punjab before we can think of the hills. This is precisely what Lord Ellenborough wrote to Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington a few months before he left India.
HARDINGE: (Sarcastically.) Oh, did he?
CURRIE: Yes.
HARDINGE: And would it be expecting too much, Currie, to have you make a point, without naming all the important people you know?
ELLIOT: The hill people are good fighters. It may not be possible, sir, to follow …
CURRIE: Of course it’s possible. Didn’t Sir Charles Napier do it in Sind in ’43? And the Baluchis were no mean fighters.
HARDINGE: Napier. Good God man, can’t you tell it straight. Napier—can’t stand the man myself.
CURRIE: Yes, sir. The Commander-in-Chief thought that the surprise-attack policy of Napier’s would be best suited to the hills. Without even Headquarters knowing Napier had Sind.
ELLIOT: It was a magnificent victory, sir.
CURRIE: (Excited.) He surprised the Baluchis at Khairpur with such artistry. And a handful of English soldiers—that’s all he had when he marched to Imamgarh. A splendid fight.
ELLIOT: (Excited.) You know the despatch that he sent to your predecessor, sir?
HARDINGE: (Caught in the excitement.) Yes, yes. What was it now?
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