Selections from Kālidāsa’s
Raghuvaṁśaḥ

Background.

This passage comes from one of Kālidāsa’s two long poems (mahākāvyam), the Dynasty of Raghu (Raghuvaṁśaḥ). The passage (9.72–82) relates a famous incident of manslaughter, in which Daśaratha, Rāma’s father, unwittingly kills a boy in the forest while hunting.

This selection is found in Father R. Antoine’s Sanskrit Manual (the whole book is downloadable here; this selection can be found in PDF format here).

Annotations.

For these reading passages, I have created some annotations on this webpage with hypothes.is. (You will only be able to see the annotations with the browser plugin: please feel free to add your own!) For technical reasons, it appears that the annotations are only visible in one of the script versions, so I will add my own annotations to the Dēvanāgarī text.

Useful links. M. R. Kale has put together a good student edition of the Raghuvaṁśaḥ, including an edition (with Mallinātha’s commentary), a translation, and very useful notes, and this is available on Internet Archive.

atha jātu rurōr gr̥hītavartmā vipinē pārśvacarair alakṣyamāṇaḥ | śramaphēnamucā tapasvigāḍhāṁ tamasāṁ prāpa nadīṁ turaṁgamēṇa ||
kumbhapūraṇabhavaḥ paṭur uccair uccacāra nandō ’mbhasi tasyāḥ | tatra sa dviradabr̥ṁhitaśaṅkī śabdapātinam iṣuṁ visasarja
nr̥patēḥ pratiṣiddham ēva tat kr̥tavān paṅktirathō vilaṅghya yat | apathē padam arpayanti hi śrutavantō ’pi rajōnimīlitāḥ ||
hā tātēti kranditam ākarṇya viṣaṇṇas tasyānviṣyan vētasagūḍhaṁ prabhavaṁ saḥ | śalyaprōtaṁ prēkṣya sakumbhaṁ muniputraṁ tāpād antaḥśalya ivāsīt kśitipō ’pi ||
tēnāvatīrya turagāt prathitāngvayēna pr̥ṣṭānvayaḥ sa jalakumbhaniṣaṇṇadēhaḥ | tasmai dvijētaratapasvisutaṁ skhaladbhir ātmānam akṣarapadaiḥ kathayāṁ babhūva ||
taccōditaḥ ca tam anuddhrr̥taśalyam ēva pitrōḥ sakāśam avasannadr̥śōr nināya | tābhyāṁ tathāgatam upētya tam ēkaputram ajñānataḥ svacaritaṁ nr̥patiḥ śaśaṁsa ||
tau daṁpatī bahu vilapya śiśōḥ prahartrā śalyaṁ nikhātam udahārayatām urastaḥ | sō ’bhūt parāsur atha bhūmipatiṁ śaśāpa hastārpitair nayanvāribhir ēva vr̥ddhaḥ ||
diṣṭāntam āpsyati bhavān api putraśōkād antē vayasy aham ivēti tam uktavantam | ākrāntapūrvam iva muktaviṣaṁ bhujaṁgaṁ prōvāca kōsalapatiḥ prathamāparāddhaḥ ||
śāpō ’py adr̥ṣṭatanayānanapadmaśōbhē sānugrahō bhagavatā mayi pātitō ’yam | kr̥ṣyāṁ dahann api khalu kṣitim indhanēddhō bījaprarōhajananīṁ jvalanaḥ karōti
itthaṁ gatē gataghr̥ṇaḥ kim ayaṁ vidhattāṁ vadhyas tavēty abhihitē vasudhādhipēna | ēdhān hutāśanavataḥ sa munir yayācē putraṁ parāsum anugantumanāḥ sadāraḥ
prātānugaḥ sapadi śāsanam asya rājā saṁpādya pātakaviluptadhr̥tir nivr̥ttaḥ | antarniviṣṭapadam ātmavināśahētuṁ śāpaṁ dadhaj jvalanam aurvam ivāmburāśiḥ ||