The Scene: a public square in an Indian city
The many kinds of activity in the Eastern bazaar make this scene one of the most splendid scenes in all opera. There are Chinese and Indian shops filled with carpets, perfumes, and Oriental jewels. The crowding is intense, and everyone seems to be keeping holiday — soldiers, tourists, fortune-tellers, and fruit-sellers... And soon the party of English people whom we saw break through the fence of the sacred garden in the first act appears amid this crowded, many-colored scene.
A bell is rung, and the vendors are driven from their places, which are taken by a troupe of sacred dancing girls who present a series of Oriental dances as part of a religious festival. The English visitors admire the spectacle greatly. In the course of their comments Gérald tells them that he has seen the goddess Lakmé. His betrothed, Ellen, questions him about her, and he answers only that she is a "mysterious" woman. From a dialogue between Rose and Frederic we learn that the British military detachment has been ordered to put down a revolt against English rule conducted by the Hindu inhabitants.
Nilakantha and his daughter Lakmé arrive, dressed in beggars' clothes. The priest is resolved to take revenge upon the English who violated the sanctity of his garden, and he senses in his heart of hearts that they are present among the great throng in the bazaar. So he bids his daughter — against her will — to sing, in the hope that Gérald may betray himself. She sings the famous Bell Song, which begins "There, in the forest." And what Nilakantha expected comes to pass, after he has forced his daughter to go on singing: Gérald falls into the trap when the voice of poor Lakmé, seized by utter despair, begins to
tremble, and he hurries to her. Thus Nilakantha learns who broke the sanctity of the sacred garden. Gérald and Lakmé are
left alone for a few minutes, during which they express in a short song their love in spite of the difference of
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