Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 63

Meaning

Having woken from sleep after an hour or so, the said King Daśaratha, whose mind was obscured through grief, now fell a prey to anxiety. (1)

Meaning

Consequent on the banishment of Śrī Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, grief had seized the king, who vied in might and splendour with Indra, the ruler of gods, even as obscurity, which is attributed to the demon Rāhu (also recognized as a planet), seizes the sun at the time of a solar eclipse. (2)

Meaning

Recollecting his misdeed as responsible for his present misfortune in the shape of separation from his sons and daughter-in-law, when Śrī Rāma had actually departed for the forest with his wife and Lakṣmaṇa, Daśaratha (the king of Kosala) felt inclined to tell Kausalyā, the corners of whose eyes were noted for their dark colour, all about it. (3)

Meaning

On the sixth night after Śrī Rāma had been sent into exile the celebrated King Daśaratha remembered at midnight the misdeed perpetrated by him. (4)

Meaning

Recollecting his misdeed, the aforesaid monarch, who was stricken with grief caused by separation from his son, spoke as follows to Kausalyā, who was equally stricken with grief born of separation from her son : (5)

Meaning

“A doer surely reaps, O blessed lady, the fruit of his own deeds, corresponding to the nature, good or evil, of that which he does, O gracious one ! (6)

Meaning

“He who does not reckon, while undertaking actions, the relative importance of their fruits as well as the advantages or disadvantages accruing from them is surely dubbed as a fool. (7)

Meaning

“Anyone who, cutting down a whole mango grove (because of its unattractive and tiny blossoms) nourishes a cluster of Palāśa trees expecting large and luscious fruits on seeing their charming and big flowers repents at the time of their fruition. (8)

Meaning

“Indeed, like the man who nourishes a Kiṁśuka tree, he who embarks on action alone, not minding the consequences, is sure to repent when the action bears fruit. (9)

Meaning

“Cutting down a mango grove, I have accordingly watered Palāśa trees and sending away Rāma to the forest at a time when the said mango grove was going to bear fruit, I repent, a fool that I am ! (10)

Meaning

“The sin which I am going to describe now was perpetrated by me, O Kausalyā, while I was yet a prince wielding a bow and arrows and had won the title of a prince expert in hitting an invisible mark with the help of the sound made by it. (11)

Meaning

“This disaster, which was earned by myself, has been reaped by me, O godly lady, in the same way as poison may be swallowed by a child through excessive folly. (12)

Meaning

“Even as a common man would be deluded by the charming red blossoms of a Palāśa tree and misled to think that it would yield equally large and delicious fruits, so it was never suspected by me that the dexterity acquired by me in hitting an invisible mark with the help of its sound would yield such a disastrous result. (13)

Meaning

“You were not married with me till then, O pious lady, and I was only Prince Regent at that time. Then set in the monsoon, which keenly enhanced my passion for hunting. (14)

Meaning

“Sucking the moisture of the earth and scorching the world with its rays, the sun had begun to course through the southern quarter haunted by spirits and, therefore, exciting fear. (15)

Meaning

“Clouds laden with moisture appeared in the sky and the heat vanished all of a sudden. Frogs, the Cātaka birds and peacocks all rejoiced in consequence. (16)

Meaning

“Birds, which had the upper part of their wings drenched and which, therefore, looked as though bathed, could reach with difficulty the trees on which they had nestled and, whose ends were shaken by rain and the winds. (17)

Meaning

“Covered by the rain water already fallen and still repeatedly falling on it, the mountain with elephants in rut looked like a waveless ocean and a drenched mountain. (18)

Meaning

“Cascades carrying transparent waters ran in a serpentine course assuming a white, ruddy and ashy colour on the way due to contact with mountain-minerals of those colours. (19)

Meaning

“Having made up my mind to take some exercise by way of hunting, and with my senses uncontrolled, I drove at that most agreeable period in a chariot to the river Sarayū, equipped with a bow and arrows and wishing to hunt at night a wild buffalo, an elephant or any other beast of prey or deer, accidentally arrived at some ford in the river. (20-21)

Meaning

“Presently in the darkness I, for my part, heard the sound of a pitcher being filled in with water of the river, resembling the sound of a trumpeting elephant, at a place which was not before my eyes. (22)

Meaning

“Taking out from my quiver an effulgent arrow, resembling a snake in its deadly effect, I then discharged it in the direction of the sound in the hope of hitting the mark, as I wished to bag the elephant after killing it. (23)

Meaning

“In the quarter where I hurled my sharp arrow, resembling a snake in its deadly effect, there emerged in the dawn the clear wail of a dweller in the forest dropping down in water, his vital part tormented with pain caused by the arrow. On his having dropped down to the ground issued forth on that very spot a human voice saying : (24-25)

Meaning

“ ‘How could a weapon descend on an ascetic like myself, who can have no enemy? I came at the close of night to this exceedingly lonely river bank with the intention of drawing water. (26)

Meaning

“ ‘By whom have I been hit with an arrow? Or, to whom could offence have been given by me, a seer who has forsworn every form of violence and who was living in a forest on the produce of the forest? (27)

Meaning

“ ‘How can the killing by means of a weapon of an ascetic like me, wearing a mass of matted hair on his head and clad in the bark of trees and deerskin, be enjoined by the scriptures? (28)

Meaning

“ ‘Who can have any interest in killing me or what offence has been given by me to the man who has hit me with an arrow? In this way a futile act has been done by him, and an act which will be attended with evil consequences alone. (29)

Meaning

“ ‘Nowhere will anyone admire him any more than one would admire a man seeking the bed of his preceptor’s wife. I do not grieve for this loss of my life so much as for the fate of my father and mother both on my expiry. By what means of subsistence will this aged couple, maintained for long by me, support themselves when I have met my end? My aged parents as well as myself stand killed with a single arrow. By what ignorant fool of an uncontrolled mind have we all been done to death?’ “The bow with an arrow which I held in my hands at the moment dropped from my hands to the ground, distressed as I was to hear that plaintive cry, and sought only to do what was right. Hearing the piteous lament of the seer, who was wailing during the close of the night, I lost my consciousness again and again, utterly confounded as I was due to the outburst of grief. Reaching the place where he lay, distressed in mind and extremely sad at heart, as I was, I beheld the ascetic lying on the bank of the Sarayū, struck with an arrow and pierced with its point, the mass of matted hair on his head put out of order, the water of his pitcher run out and his limbs besmeared with dust and blood. Staring at me, who stood alarmed and sick in mind, with his blood shot eyes as if going to consume me with his glory of austerity, he addressed the following harsh words to me : ‘What wrong was done by me to you, O king, living as I did in the forest, that while intending to take water for my parents, I was hit by you? On my being hit in a vital part with a single arrow, my blind and aged mother and father both have been virtually killed. Feeble, blind and thirsty, they must be anxiously waiting for me and will be cherishing since long the hope of getting water placed in me, and enduring their painful thirst. Surely askesis or learning has not yet borne fruit in my case or in the case of my father; for my father does not know anything about myself having fallen down, mortally wounded, and lying on the ground. Even if he knew, what could he do, feeble and unable as he is to move, and in this way is incapable of protecting me as any tree is incapable of protecting a neighbouring tree which is going to be rent asunder. Seeking the presence of my father, O scion of Raghu, speak you alone to him speedily about me. (30—43)

Meaning

“ ‘If you take courage in both hands and confess your guilt before him, I am sure he will not burn you in his wrath as a swollen fire would consume a forest. Here is the track by which my father’s hermitage can be reached. (44)

Meaning

“ ‘Approaching him, seek his forgiveness lest he should get enraged and execrate you. Render me free from pain by extracting the shaft from my body, O king, since your sharp-pointed arrow torments my vital part in the same way as a river current corrodes a high sandy bank.’ “While I was going to extract the arrow from his body, the following thought entered my mind: ‘With the arrow still rankling in his body the hermit boy will continue to suffer, even though he will survive, while he will surely expire the moment the shaft is removed from his body.’ That sage, son of a hermit, immediately perceived my anxiety, distressed, miserable and stricken with grief as I was. The hermit boy, who knew the essence of the scriptures, spoke with difficulty as follows to me, who was feeling perplexed in mind : (45—48)

Meaning

“ ‘Though getting faint and motionless, with my eyes turned round, since I have approached my end, I am trying to compose my mind, restraining my grief by recourse to firmness. (49)

Meaning

“ ‘Let agony caused by the thought of your having killed a Brāhmaṇa be driven away from your heart. I am not a Brāhmaṇa, O king; hence let there be no anguish in your mind on that score. (50)

Meaning

“ ‘I was procreated by a Vaiśya through a Śūdra woman, O ruler of the foremost of men !’ “While he was speaking as aforesaid with difficulty, his vital part having been smitten with the arrow, and was now rolling on the ground, now tossing about, now quivering and now fainting, I took out that arrow from his body. Looking dismayed (due to anxiety on the score of his parents) at me, the boy, whose only wealth was his asceticism, gave up the ghost. (51-52)

Meaning

“I felt extremely sad, O blessed lady, to behold him sighing again and again after speaking out his mind with difficulty, his vital part having been injured, and then lying dead on the bank of the Sarayū, drenched all over his body with water.” (53)