Summary
In a twilight where saffron robes dissolve into Parisian spotlights, Bavahari—born of temple incense and colonial rifle-smoke—turns her anklet bells into weapons of apostasy. Renouncing her devadasi covenant, she trades lotus petals for Montmartre’s absinthe glare, her body once consecrated to the Enlightened One now auctioned to gawling boulevardiers. The High Priest, a Brahmin whose suppressed hunger for the girl curdles into vengeful theomachy, pursues her across continents like a monsoon of concealed daggers. Marriage to a porcelain-skinned officer promises escape, yet the union collapses under the weight of orientalist fantasy; his suicide—gunpowder on tulle—becomes her first curtain call. When the priest materializes inside a gilt Buddha automaton, the proscenium morphs into an altar of cosmic retribution: her final dance is a bleeding mudra, the knife an irreversible sutra slicing through reincarnation itself.
Synopsis
Bavahari, a half caste Indian girl, renounces her oath as a sacred dancer to the worship of Buddha. The High Priest, who secretly loves the girl, is enraged and vows vengeance. Bavahari marries an English army officer, and they move to Paris where she becomes a sensation as a dancer. After she deserts her husband, he kills himself at her feet. The High Priest, discovering that Bavahari is in Paris, announces his presence by marking the "Sign of Death" on her dressing room door. He then disguises himself as a Buddha idol. As Bavahari dances on stage, the High Priest kills her in front of the audience.
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