accorded to him, and by force and in defiance of all
resistance, seized and carried off from that hermitage the chief of the
cows whose milk supplied the sacred butter, not heeding the loud lowing
of the cow. And he wantonly pulled down the large trees of the wood. When
Rama came home, his father himself told him all that had happened. Then
when Rama saw how the cow was lowing for its calf, resentment arose in
his heart. And he rushed towards Kartavirya's son, whose last moments had
drawn nigh. Then the descendant of Bhrigu, the exterminator of hostile
heroes, put forth his valour on the field of battle, and with sharpened
arrows with flattened tips, which were shot from a beautiful bow, cut
down Arjuna's arms, which numbered a thousand, and were massive like
(wooden) bolts for barring the door. He, already touched by the hand of
death, was overpowered by Rama, his foe. Then the kinsmen of Arjuna,
their wrath excited against Rama, rushed at Jamadagni in his hermitage,
while Rama was away. And they slew him there; for although his strength
was great, yet being at the time engaged in penances, he would not fight.
And while thus attacked by his foes, he repeatedly shouted the name of
Rama in a helpless and piteous way. And, O Yudhishthira, the sons of
Kartavirya shot Jamadagni, with their arrows, and having thus chastised
their foe, went their way. And when they had gone away, and when
Jamadagni had breathed his last, Rama, the delight of Bhrigu's race,
returned to the hermitage, bearing in his arms, fuel for religious rites.
And the hero beheld his father who had been put to death. And grieved
exceedingly he began to bewail the unworthy fate that had laid his father
low."

SECTION CXVII

"Rama said, 'The blame is mine, O father, that like a stag in the wood,
thou hast been shot dead with arrows, by those mean and stupid
wretches--the sons of Kartavirya. And O father, virtuous and unswerving
from the path of righteousness and inoffensive to all animated beings as
thou wert, how came it to be permitted by Fate that thou shouldst die in
this way? What an awful sin must have been committed by them, who have
killed thee with hundreds of sharpened shafts, although thou wert an aged
man, and engaged in penances at the time and absolutely averse to
fighting with them. With what face will those shameless persons speak of
this deed of theirs to their friends and servants, viz., that they have
slain an unassisted and unresistin