329. THE TECHNIQUE OF SANSKRIT DRAMA 365

THE TECHNIQUE OF SANSKRIT DRAMA 365

Sāgarikā comes to know of the discovery and of the manner, in which the queen has taken it. Her life loses all its charm for her. She decides to commit suicide by hanging herself and goes to a tree to do so. The king in the meantime decides to go to the queen to reconcile her. As he is proceeding towards her residence, the fool catches sight of Sagarika, in the guise of the queen, and thinking that she, in anger, is putting an end to her life, asks the king to rush to save her life. The king rushes forward, removes the noose from her neck, discovers her to be Sāgarikā, and, therefore, naturally throws his arms round her neck. Thus the lovers meet once again and the cause of the heroine advances. In the meantime, the queen, thinking that she was too rude to the king, feels repentant and starts to reconcile him. She hears the voice of the king from a little distance and makes up her mind to spring a pleasant surprise on him by throwing her arms round him from behind. As she steps forward, she hears the name of Sagarika and, therefore, decides to overhear the king and Sāgarika from behind The love-talk between them enrages her and she goes forward and remonstrates. He attempts to placate her, but she does not listen to him. She gets Sāgarikā arrested and leaves the scene. Thus the opposition once again asserts itself and the cause of the heroine gets a set-back. Thus, the third stage of action can be viewed from two points of view, (i) the action and (ii) the mental state. From the point of view of action it is a struggle between the two opposite parties, in which the success of one alternates with the failure of the other. And from the point of view of the mental state, it is a stage, in which there arises the hope of success in the mind of the central