जय श्रीराम!
राजापि तद्वियोगार्तः स्मृत्वा शापं स्वकर्मजम् ।
शरीरत्यागमात्रेण शुद्धिलाभमन्यत ॥ १२.१०॥
Notes: It is now left to Daśaratha to grieve uncontrollably seeing the developments. His dear son, Śrī Rāma, the scion of the dynasty, whose imminent coronation was averted by the artifice of Kaikeyī, has been banished to suffer a life in the forest. Śrī Rāma's dutiful wife and loyal brother have accompanied him. This is an unfathomable tragedy. The famed kingdom of Ayodhyā, the envy of the gods, is in disarray. Is this what he had lived all his life to witness at his end?
Daśaratha now remembers the curse on him pronounced by the aged father of a young mendicant, Śravaṇa Kumāra. The story of something that had happened long ago plays out in his mind.
It was a dark evening when a young Daśaratha was out hunting in the forest. He was proud of his prowess of shooting at targets by their very sound while hunting without clear visibility. Such an adept was called शब्दवेधिन् (can shoot by spotting the target by its sound). Hearing the gurgling sound produced ostensibly by an elephant drinking water, the king had shot an arrow at that sound, and it surely found its target. But alas, this was no elephant but a young mendicant! Daśaratha had mortally wounded Śravaṇa Kumāra, a devoted son serving his old, blind, parents who were living as ascetics in the forest. Hearing his scream of pain, an incredibly shocked and distressed Daśaratha rushed to the spot and found the young man dying, bathed in blood. Śravaṇa spoke haltingly, telling his own story, and asked Daśaratha to take the water to his thirsty parents in the hermitage nearby, and also inform them of his death.Daśaratha met the parents, gave them water, and told them this heart-rending story of his accidentally killing their son. The parents too gave up their bodies in unbearable sorrow, after cursing Daśaratha that he too would meet his end while bewailing his own son. This was long before the days of Daśaratha's glory as the Emperor and the birth of his sons.
The moment had come for Daśaratha's end. He could see that the curse was taking effect now. He took a somewhat positive view. "I committed the great, unpardonable, sin of killing Śravaṇa Kumāra and causing the end of his blind, old, parents in sorrow! I can clearly see that Śravaṇa's father's curse is now taking effect, as I see myself dying now bewailing my son exiled by my own order! But indeed, on reflection, is this not a small punishment to atone for my great sin? Existence has been somewhat lenient to me!"
Kālidāsa conveys not only the Emperor's last thoughts but also the fact of Daśaratha's end.
***
जय श्रीराम!
