Valmiki Ramayana 2.64.19: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 64, Shloka 19
शब्दवेध्य-अनर्थः, ऋषिशापः, दशरथस्य प्राणत्यागः
The Sound-Target Tragedy, the Sage’s Curse, and Dasaratha’s Death
Spoken by DasharathaSetting: Forest spot where the youth falls (near hermitage environs)
स चोधृतेन बाणेन तत्रैव स्वर्गमास्थितः ।
भवन्तौ पितरौ शोचन्नन्धाविति विलप्य च ॥१९॥
sa codhṛtena bāṇena tatraiva svargam āsthitaḥ |
bhavantau pitarau śocann andhāv iti vilapya ca ||19||
బాణం తీసివేయగానే అతడు అక్కడికక్కడే స్వర్గాన్ని పొందాడు; మీ ఇద్దరు తల్లిదండ్రుల కోసం శోకిస్తూ ‘మీరు అంధులు!’ అని విలపించాడు।
Sandhi Notes
- सः + च + उद्धृतेन → ‘स चोधृतेन’ (च + उ → चो)
- स्वर्गम् + आस्थितः → ‘स्वर्गमास्थितः’
- शोचन् + अन्धौ + इति → ‘शोचन्नन्धाविति’ (न् + अ → न्न)
Grieving for both of you and crying you are blind he died as soon as the arrow was pulled out.
The teaching
Atonement cannot erase the suffering caused; the victim's last grief becomes the seed of future retribution.
Duties in tension
- Responsibility to protect innocents vs. royal sport/hunting
- Truthful confession and restitution vs. fear of blame
- Ethical theme
- Consequence ethics; filial suffering; karmic retribution
- How it resolves
- Cosmic consequence unfolds; moral debt intensifies toward seeking expiation
For your practice
Meditation on mortality and compassion; prompts care for parents/elders and awareness of collateral harm.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Shanta (peace)
- Mood
- Heart-rending, final, lamenting
Themes
- Dharma
- Satya
- FilialDuty
- Pathos
- Karma
- Ethics
- Itihasa
The departing jīva's movement to higher loka yet bound by saṃskāra of attachment; liberation is not implied, only svarga-gati.
Bṛhadāraṇyaka/Chāndogya notions of gati by karma and knowledge; the poignancy of last utterance shaping remembrance.
Svargārohaŋa (attainment of heaven)
Mahābhārata: episodes where dying speech centers on parents/elders (e.g., Abhimanyu remembering kin); Rāmacaritamānasa: Daśaratha's account of the boy's last words and the parents' blindness motif
Dharmaśāstra and Itihāsa motifs: 'last words' as moral indictment
Ayodhyākāŋa 2.64 continuation: the blind parents' arrival and curse
Anuṣṭubh
Grieving
Karuŋa-rāga-bhāva (slow, plaintive)
FAQs
It reinforces the dharma of care for dependent parents: the son’s final grief is not for himself but for the helplessness of his blind parents, showing duty as love-in-action.
After the arrow is removed, Śravaṇa dies immediately, lamenting for his blind parents even as he departs.
Selfless filial devotion—concern for parents’ welfare at the moment of death.
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