Aug 18, 2007

Chapter 41: Curse on Dasharath

Meanwhile Shravan Kumar’s parents ask for water in the midst of woods. He places his blind parents in a hut and reaches a pond. The sound of his splashing in the water is heard by Dasharath Maharaja, who hits an arrow in that direction thinking he was hunting a deer or a bird. Upon hearing a human cry, Dasharath panics, only to see Shravan die.

D informs Shravan’s parents of the mishap, upon which they curse him that, like them, he too should not have any children near him at the time of his death. He is much grieved. The parents die with shock of the loss of their only son.

The King performs the final rites and confesses to the Sage administrators (Vasisht, Bharadwaj, Atri, Angeera, Pulak, etc.) about what happened and asks for punishment. The then sage admin is Vasisht but V refuses to take any decision. V asks king himself to appoint the sage admin. King chooses Sage Bharadwaj since he has great experience and has done lot of penance. The saint assures that it was just fate that it happened and that he doesnt deserve punishment but his atonement is that he should not shoot by hearing alone - which apparently is his strength.

He accepts and returns to his palace, to find his 2 wives Sumithra and Kausalya performing welcome-back ceremonies. He wonders how the curse is going to affect him when he had no child at all, though he had 2 wives. Then, a messenger from the neighboring town Kaikeyi arrives with a request to help them fight war against Ravana.

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