adagni, whose penances were
the most rigid, granted all those desires of his son. Once, however, O
lord, when his sons had gone out as before, the valourous son of
Kartavirya, the lord of the country near the shore of the sea, came up
to the hermitage. And when he arrived at that hermitage, the wife of the
saint received him hospitably. He, however, intoxicated with a warrior's
pride, was not at all pleased with the reception 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 perm