Act One

(Then enter the King, bow and arrow in hand, with Suta the Charioteer, pursuing a deer.)

Suta the Charioteer: My Lord, looking at the fawn being pursued by your majesty, holding a bow and arrow, me thinks I am seeing the Pinaka-holder* in a visible form. *[Pinaka-holder: other name for the god Shiva]

King: We have been lured far by this swift deer, yet I must say it's a delight to look at the animal. Look how it bends its neck in a graceful arch and flings a glance at the pursuing chariot. Look how its hind legs enter its fore legs as it bounds ahead through fear of an arrow. Look how the half-chewed darbha grass drops from its gaping mouth. Isn't it amazing that in spite of the long chase and the exhaustion, the deer still covers greater distance in the air than on the ground, through its lofty leaps? (With surprise) How is it that suddenly it is nearly out of sight, though I have been pursuing him?

Suta: Excuse me Sire, it is my fault. As the ground was uneven, I slowed down the chariot, that's why the animal has gone so far ahead. Now that we are on firm and level ground, I reckon you'll catch up with it.

King: Then loosen the reins... and hurry man! Hurry.

Suta: Yes Sire! As you command. (Observing the speed of the chariot) Look, your majesty, look! Look how the steeds gallop at full stretch, as if to out- pace the bounding fawn. How motionless stand the plumes on their heads, as still as the steady and erect ears. We are going so fast now, that even this dust won't settle on those plumes.

King: Yes, indeed! These white stallions seem to out-shine those of the Sun and of Indra.

This is the opening scene from the play Abhijnana Shakuntala, more usually just called the "Shakuntala", by the great Indian playwright Kalidasa who lived about 1500 yeas ago. The story, about the maiden Shakuntala and King Dushyanta, is itself taken from a much earlier, semi-mythical time of Indian history, a time of heroes and magic. Perhaps it was just coincidence, but much of the settled world at this time was looking for heroes. While the Maya and Tiahuanaco civilizations in the Americas had a golden age, the older civilizations of Rome, Persia, Nubia, India and China were all troubled by invaders. German tribes conquered the Western Roman Empire. The Eastern Empire was plagued by Germans, Huns and Slavs. The ancient Nubian kingdom was destroyed by desert nomads. The Sassanids of Persia and the Guptas of India barely fended off repeated attacks by various groups of Huns and Turks, while the great Han Empire of China dissolved into civil war under attacks by Turkish and Mongolian tribes. What historians usually do not talk about is that for generations, these German, Turkish and Mongol peoples had been attacked by the great empires, their villages burnt, their wealth stolen and their people murdered or enslaved. And this is not surprising since the nomads did not write their history, and our viewpoint is based only on the one-sided written accounts of people who saw the new comers as destroyers. But the invaders also breathed new life into societies already in decline. The fusion of old and new would see the birth of new ideas, art forms and technology.