CHARACTERS
| Vishwamya | A Renowned Ascetic |
| Rishyas | His Son, a Young Saint |
| Sunandi | An Old Woman of the Court of the Rajah of Anga |
| Koïl | A Young Girl of the Court |
THE IMMORTAL LURE
Time: The antiquity of India.
Scene: Before the hermitage of Vishwamya and Rishyas, in a forest near the Ganges. It is an open space spread with kusa-grass and over-hung with trees—the hermitage itself being a cell constructed of earth and of hanging roots of the banyan, and having by it an altar before which lies a deer-skin. Glimmering lights and running water penetrate the shades, whose sacredness is soon disturbed by the appearance of Sunandi, wantonly compelling Koïl, with alternate harshness and wheedling, to enter with her.
Sunandi (peering about). The place, my jewel-bird! the place for it!
Under these boughs of peepul and asoka
The young saint dwells
With his restraining sire,
Singing the Vedas morning, eve and noon,
And they are gone somewhither now in the wood
To gather fruit for sacrifice, and flowers.