Early morning. Golden sunlight falls across lush green fields and blooming mustard crops. Birds chirp merrily in the lush spring trees. Dewdrops glisten on young leaves.
Haldhar: If no unforeseen calamity strikes now, this harvest will yield plentifully! Look at how thick and healthy these ears of wheat are.
Rajeshwari: It is the fruit of your hard labor and unceasing devotion.
Haldhar: My labor alone was never this successful. It is the blessing of your good fortune and presence in this house.
Rajeshwari: You ought to hire a farmhand for the season. Working alone exhausts you completely.
Haldhar: There isn't enough land to warrant a hand. If I could get more land, I could plow twice as much single-handedly!
Rajeshwari: I am determined to buy a cow. A farmer's home feels hollow without a milk cow.
Haldhar: I will get gold bangles made for you first before anything else. I'll take a loan from the money-lender and pay it back when we weigh the grain harvest.
Rajeshwari: Why rush for bangles by going into debt? We haven't even cleared our previous loans.
Haldhar: How is it not urgent? A summons will eventually come from your father's home. If you visit your village without new jewelry, won't the villagers mock me?
Rajeshwari: Then decline the invitation! I will not have bangles made on credit. But raising a cow is essential—what kind of farmer has no milk or butter in the house? I want to bring you warm milk and bread in the fields. Buy a fine cow, even if it costs a bit extra.
Haldhar: I don't want you to toil endlessly. Rest for a few days while you can, before the grinding daily chores catch up.
Rajeshwari: If leisure was in my destiny, why would my parents-in-law have departed so soon? I am unfortunate to have lost them so shortly after arriving. If Providence grants us prosperity, we must perform their death anniversary feast grandly.
Haldhar: Yes, I have already planned for that. But your bangles are also necessary. If people mock you, what will you say?
Rajeshwari: Don't worry about that, I can give them a fitting reply! Besides, I have no desire to visit my village anyway. I don't know how other brides yearn for their parents' homes; I wouldn't feel at peace away from here even for a day. One's own home is best. But do get a sacred Tulsi altar built in our courtyard—I will plant jasmine, rose, and marigold flowers around it.
Haldhar: Look there! A flock of parrots has swooped down on the pea crop!
Rajeshwari: I've always wanted to raise a pet parrot and teach it to speak.
(Haldhar raises his slingshot and shoots at the parrots.)
Rajeshwari: Don't hurt them! Just scare them away.
Haldhar: Got one! It fell!
Rajeshwari: Good heavens, what have you done? Taking a innocent bird's life over a few grains of peas? What kind of gentleness is this?
Haldhar: (Ashamed) I didn't mean to kill it!
Rajeshwari: Then break that slingshot right now! I cannot bear to witness such cruelty. Seeing any living creature suffer makes my skin crawl. Once when I saw my father twist an ox's tail, I broke into tears until he promised never to strike an ox again. From today, vow never to harm an animal!
Haldhar: I pledge right now that I will never strike any creature again.
(Enter Fattu Miyan.)
Fattu: Haldhar, I don't mean to cast an evil eye, but your crop looks better than anyone else's in the entire village this season! And your mango trees are blooming splendidly too.
Haldhar: Uncle, it is all thanks to your blessings. If this crop hadn't flourished, how could I have performed my father's annual memorial feast?
Fattu: Yes, son, perform your father's rites with an open heart.
Haldhar: Do you know the current price of silver, Uncle? I wanted to get bangles made for Rajeshwari.
Fattu: I hear silver is selling rupee for rupee weight. How much silver do you need?
Haldhar: Around forty or forty-five rupees' worth.
Fattu: Let me know when you're ready; I'll accompany you to the market. But tell me, do you still have the money from selling the jaggery?
Haldhar: Oh Uncle, I had to pay all of that to Kanchan Singh! We barely had an acre, so the earnings weren't huge.
Fattu: One can never escape the clutches of the money-lender.
Haldhar: When harvests fail two years in a row, how can anyone escape?
Fattu: Who is that riding towards us on horseback? Is it a government officer?
Haldhar: No, that is Thakur Sabal Singh! Don't you recognize his thoroughbred horse? You won't find a steed like that for twenty miles around. He won the grand horse race recently against contenders from far and wide. Look at how proudly it steps!
Fattu: A noble leader deserves a noble steed. God has blessed him with wealth, yet he doesn't have a grain of arrogance. He speaks to even a child with genuine warmth. If he hadn't run around helping people during the recent plague, hundreds would have perished.
Haldhar: He doesn't fear for his own safety at all. He is heading right toward us!
Fattu: He must be a saint from his past life. Otherwise, nowadays anyone who gathers four pennies immediately thinks of grinding the poor into dust. He has abolished forced labor (begar) entirely in our village. There are no ruthless estate bailiffs or constables harassing us, yet everyone pays their rent on time out of respect. I have seen many villages, but never a landlord like Thakur Sahib.
(Sabal Singh arrives on horseback and halts. Both men bow respectfully. Rajeshwari pulls her veil down.)
Sabal: Tell me, elder, is everything peaceful in the village?
Fattu: By your grace, Huzoor, all is well.
Sabal: There you go again! Why credit my fortune? Say rather that by God's grace all is well. The crops look exceptionally good this year!
Fattu: Yes, Huzoor, God's mercy is upon us.
Sabal: That's right! Speak like that. Never flatter any man, even if he is the district collector! Tell me, has any government official visited on an inspection tour recently?
Fattu: No, Huzoor, no officer has come so far.
Sabal: And hopefully none will. But if anyone arrives, remember: no forced labor (begar) or free provisions will be given by this village! Tell them clearly that without the landlord's explicit order, you will provide nothing. If they question me, I will handle them. (Smiling at Haldhar) Haldhar! You brought your new bride home recently, yet you sent no feast invitation to my house?
Haldhar: Huzoor, I am just a poor peasant; what standing do I have?
Sabal: You would say that if I asked for rich sweets or expensive delicacies! If you affectionately sent simple coarse grain rotis and roasted peas, I would consider myself blessed. Don't think we wealthy folks only enjoy clarified butter and fine flour. I often prefer millet rotis, sesame sweets, and roasted peas to elaborate feasts! Host a dinner for me one day—I want to taste the food prepared by your new bride's hands and see what culinary skills she brought from her parents' home. But remember: keep the food strictly rustic and traditional!
Haldhar: Would Huzoor really enjoy our humble peasant food?
Sabal: Yes, very much so!
Haldhar: Whenever you command, Huzoor!
Sabal: A guest doesn't command a host; the host decides the date. Ask your wife when I may come. Fattu, tell me, is his bride skilled in household work?
Fattu: Huzoor, why praise her to her face? There isn't a harder-working woman in the entire village! She understands agriculture better than Haldhar himself, and she is so gentle that in the eight months she has been here, no neighbor has ever heard her raise her voice.
Sabal: Excellent! Then I shall take my leave now. Guide me back to the main path so my horse doesn't trample your crops. Haldhar, do not forget your promise of a feast!
(Sabal Singh and Fattu depart.)
Rajeshwari: He doesn't seem like an ordinary man; he talks like a saint! I could listen to his gentle voice for hours. The landlord of my home village never lets his tenants live in peace—endless forced labor, illegal evictions, extortion, and his guards seize our vegetables right off the roof. But Thakur Sahib is truly a protector!
Haldhar: Should we really prepare a feast for him, or was he just joking?
Rajeshwari: He wasn't joking; we must host him! Didn't you see how earnestly he asked? Great men say such things to honor the humble, but he will definitely come. I will prepare roasted barley rotis, wild greens, spiced pea lentils, and country vegetables. Will he really eat food cooked by my hands?
Haldhar: He doesn't care about caste barriers when it comes to food. People say he even dines alongside Englishmen at clubs!
Rajeshwari: Then let us invite him on the coming Ekadashi!
Significance & Themes
- Feudal Benevolence vs. Hidden Intentions: Scene 1 introduces Thakur Sabal Singh as an ideal landlord who abolishes forced labor (begar), yet his fascination with Rajeshwari sets up the play's moral conflict.
- Peasant Idealism & Morality: Haldhar and Rajeshwari represent the purity, ecological harmony, and moral dignity of rural Indian peasant life.