Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c6.157

v1.c6.157

The youthful penitent mortally wounded by Daçaratha through a mistake, bewails really only his old blind father and mother, whom up till now he has supported and cared for, and who without him are lost,¹ and then comes transfigured out of Indra's heaven, into which he, the son of the Vaiçya man and Çūdrā woman, has gone owing to his good deeds towards his parents, to the broken couple, and consoles them by telling them that they are soon to join him (Rām., ii, 63-64). One of the most pleasing figures in the Mahābh. is the dharma-vyādha, the pious butcher, to whom father and mother are the divinity, Brahman, Veda, and sacrifice, who lovingly honours and cares for them, and through his bearing towards them reaches the loftiest perfection. Although only a Çūdra, he brings a proud Brahman penitent, who has run away from his parents, back to his duty towards them, to that greatest form of piety (iii, 207 ff., especially 214 and 215).²