Scene 1
(Sunda and Upasunda, two most beautiful Asura brothers, are at their palace.)SUNDA: Upasunda, today, I don’t know why or how, I am in a most powerful mood to sing.
UPASUNDA: Strangely enough, Sunda, I too am deeply inspired to sing.
SUNDA: Wonderful, then let us both sing.
UPASUNDA: You sing first, and then I shall sing.
SUNDA: Thank you, Brother.
(Sunda sings.)
What can I do?
Heaven is afraid of me.
What can I do?
I fly beyond its glee
Piercing the Blue.
UPASUNDA (cannot resist the temptation to interrupt Sunda): Marvellous!
(Upasunda sings.)
What can I do?
Earth is afraid of me.
What can I do?
I fell its ignorance-tree
To plant the True.
SUNDA: Marvellous! Let me continue, Brother.
(Sunda sings.)
What can I do?
Hell is afraid of me.
What can I do?
My compassion frees its pangs
From the racking screw.
UPASUNDA: Marvellous! Let me complete the song.
(Upasunda sings.)
What can I do?
My soul is afraid of me.
What can I do?
Body’s eternity
I know is due.
SUNDA: Marvellous, marvellous! No matter who composed the song, it was undoubtedly composed for us to sing. Brother, our love for each other is invincible; our beauty, unfathomable; and our power, immeasurable.
UPASUNDA: In us the world can see the supreme incarnations of authority and power. All we need now is the Life of Immortality. We have to be immortal like Indra. That’s all.
SUNDA: Indra! Don’t use that filthy name! He is our worst enemy. We must dethrone him. We must destroy him. We must prove to the world that he is but a speck of dust, doomed to nothingness.
UPASUNDA: Alas, he is a cosmic god. Hence he is immortal.
SUNDA: God, god? What kind of god is he? He has no sense of morality. His wild vital does not have even an iota of purity. He is a shameless creature. His life can never love the breath of Truth. It can only love the physical beauty of women.
UPASUNDA: You are not an inch from the truth. But we have to become immortal like Indra.
SUNDA: Indeed! Indeed!
UPASUNDA: We must start worshipping one of the principal gods in order to get a boon which will grant us Immortality.
SUNDA: Indeed! Indeed!
UPASUNDA: I personally don’t care for Shiva.
SUNDA: Neither do I.
UPASUNDA: I don’t care for Vishnu, either.
SUNDA: I also don’t care for Vishnu.
UPASUNDA: But I love Brahma.
SUNDA: I, too.
UPASUNDA: Let us then pray to Brahma day in and day out. Let us practise austerities. Brahma’s transcendental Blessing will grant us Immortality.
SUNDA: I am sure it will.
UPASUNDA: Let us leave our palace tomorrow and go to the forest to pray to and meditate on Brahma. Let us sacrifice everything for an immortal life.
SUNDA: A splendid idea, indeed!
UPASUNDA: From tomorrow on we must lead the life of true ascetics in the thick of the forest.
SUNDA: We must, without fail, we must.
