The World of Courtesans c10.4

c10.4

The scene suddenly changes. On the road there appears the great courtesan, Vasantasena, followed by a courtier, Samsthanaka (Shakara), and by a servant. The courtier asks her to stop and to shed her fears. Shakara repeats the request "My tortured heart is burning, as on a heap of coals a piece of meat." The servant follows suit and says that she is fleeing from him "as a summer peahen" and adds, "but my lord and master struts fast and faster, like a woodcock in the wood " The courtier gives a charming description of Vasantasena: