Starting in a moment from sleep, king Dacaratha deprived (almost) of his
consciousness by grief, (again) became a prey to thought. And in
consequence of the exile of Rama and Lakshmana, the king resembling
Vasava was overpowered by grief, like the darkness of Rahu enveloping
the sun. Then on Rama's having gone along with his wife, the lord of the
Kocalas, remembering his own misdeed, felt anxious to communicate
himself to that lady having her eyes furnished with dark outer corners.
And on the sixth night after Rama had repaired to the forest, the king
Dacaratha, when it was midnight, remembered his own unrighteous act. And
then unto Kaucalya aggrieved on account of her son, he spoke these
words, "As are the actions of one, O auspicious one--whether good or
otherwise-- are the consequences, O gentle lady, reaped by the doer of
them. He that on the eve of beginning an action either relating to this
world or the next, does not take into consideration the fact that
actions entail consequences light or grave, disagreeable (or otherwise),
is styled a child. He that cutting down a mango grove, waters Palasa
trees, beholding the flowers (blooming), will covet fruits; and grieve
when their season arrives. The person that without apprehending (the
principle of causation) rushes to action, grieves at the season of
fruits, even like him that watereth _kinsuka_ trees (hewing down his
mango grove). And in this way, I fool that I am having hewn down my
grove of mangos and watered Palacas,--having renounced Rama in the
season of fruit, is grieving in the end. Having, O Kaucalya, earned the
expression--'The Prince can pierce his aim by sound alone,'--I, a prince
and bowman, did this offence. Therefore, O noble dame, I have myself
brought this misfortune on me. like a child who has eaten poison through
ignorance. And even like another person fascinated by the sight of some
Palasa trees (and doing as mentioned above), I (did this act) not
foreknowing the consequence that would follow my shooting by sound. O
lady, thou wert then unwedded; and I was a youthful prince. And it was
at this time that the rainy season increasing my desire set in. Drawing
moisture from the ground and heated the earth by his rays, the Sun goes
to the dreadful quarter whither repair the dead. The heat was
immediately dispelled, and the gelid clouds showed themselves; and frogs
and Sarangas and peacocks began to rejoice; and, finding it unpleasant,
the feathered ones bathed and with the surface of their plumage shrunk
up from the wet, took refuge in trees shaken by the wind and rain. And
the hill graced by maddened Sarangas, covered by showers falling
simultaneously looked like a mass of waters. And the waters although
unstained, being mixed up with mineral substances and ashes from the
mountain, flowed in serpentine torrents black and red. At such a sweet
hour, I intent upon taking excercise, taking my bow and arrows and
mounted on my car, sallied out for the river Sarayu, with the intention
that I with my senses under control, should in the watery expense slay
any bufifelo, elephant, or any other beast that might have come there in
the night. And (coming there) while it was so dark that nothing could be
discovered, I heard sounds of a filling pitcher proceeding from the
waters; resembling the roars of an elephant. Thereupon raising up my
shaft flaming and like unto a serpent of virulent poison, I desirous of
hunting the (imaginary) elephant, let fly my shaft in the direction of
the sound. Thereupon from the spot whereto the sharpened shaft
resembling a poisonous snake had been discharged by me in the twilight,
proceeded cries of 'Oh' and 'Alas' uttered by a forester pierced to the
quick by the arrow, and falling into the water. And when he had dropped
down, words spoken by a human being became audible. 'Why doth the weapon
light upon me? I had come to this lone stream for procuring water. By
whom have I been wounded by this arrow? To whom have I done wrong? And
how can the slaying of one like me bearing a load of matted locks, and
wearing bark and deer-skin, who subsists on what the forest yields and
never injures others, be sanctioned by the scriptures? Who can serve any
purpose by slaying me? And how can I have injured such an one? Such a
purposeless act cannot but end in evil. This can never be reckoned as
righteous; even like unto violating the chastity of a preceptor's wife.
I do not so much lament my end as I lament it on account of my father
and mother. To what will the old couple, who have ever been maintained
by me, betake themselves when I am gone? My father and mother are old,
and I their only son am slain. What boy is it of uncontrolled senses
that has killed us all?"
"Hearing his piteous words, I ever anxious to follow virtue, was
exceedingly pained, and the bow with its arrow fixed fell down from my
hand to the earth. Hearing in the night, the pathetic words of the saint
thus lamenting, I became frightened, and was deprived of my senses
through excess of grief. And coming to the quarter, I exceedingly
unnerved and with an excited mind, discovered on the banks of the Sarayu
an ascetic wounded with a shaft, with his matted locks scattered about,
his pitcher of water lying by, his body smeared with blood and dust and
afflicted by the dart. Gazing with his eyes at me who was extremely
agitated and ill at ease, he said these words sternly, as if consuming
me with his energy, 'What wrong, O monarch, had I residing in the woods
done thee, that coming to procure water for my parents, I have been thus
afflicted by thee? By piercing my marrow with a shaft, thou hast slain
both my aged and blind father and mother. Surely, they feeble and blind,
who afflicted by thirst are remaining in expectation of me, will now
bear (the stress and tension of) the expectation as well as the parching
thirst. Surely asceticism and study carry no fruit with them, since I
lying low on the ground, my father knows nothing about it. And what
could he do, even if he knew it, being as he is incapable and unable to
go about? One tree cannot rescue another that is being batttered (by the
winds). Do thou, O descendant of Raghu, thyself going to my father,
speedily inform of him this that has occurred. But take care that like a
fire waxing furious consuming a wood, he in his ire do not burn thee.
This narrow way, O king, will lead thee unto my father's dwelling. Do
thou going there, pacify him, so that getting wroth he may not curse
thee. Do thou (now), O king, take out the arrow. Thy sharpened shaft
afflicts my marrow, like the tide of a river wearing away a
hollow-heaving sand bank.' But touching the extracting of the arrow,
this thought perplexed me: 'If the arrow is left alone, it pains; if
extracted, death ensues.' As I was distressed, aggrieved and inflicted
with sorrow, the son of the ascetic perceived my anxiety. Thereupon that
one well versed in the scriptures sinking motionless, with his eyes
rolling upwards, and waxing extremely weak, said with difficulty,
'Restraining sorrow, I by dint of patience become calm. Do thou remove
from thy mind the grief caused by the consciousness of having slain a
Brahmana. O king, I belong not to the twice-born race: let not thy mind
be pained. O lord of the foremost men, I was begot by a Vaicya on a
Sudra woman.' As he, his vitals afflicted with the shaft, his eyes
rolling, inert and trembling on the ground, with his limbs drawn in, was
speaking with difficulty, I drew out the arrow. Thereupon, looking at
me, the ascetic, growing affrighted, gave up the ghost. On beholding him
with his body dripping with water, and mortally wounded, and breathing
hard without respite, after he had bewailed his mortal wound, lying on
the banks of the Sarayu, I lamented him and was, O gentle lady, greatly
aggrieved."