Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c7.14

v1.c7.14

eldest sons, as they came home in turn, to kill the mother. Overcome with confusion,¹ stunned, they answered not a word. Therefore did the angry man curse them, and at once they were bereft of reason, like unto dull beasts. When Rāma appeared, he called on him to slay the sinful woman. Rāma hewed her head off at once with his axe. Then of a sudden the old man’s rage passed away, and he left it to his son to wish anything he wanted for himself. The son asked first that his mother should wake again to life without remembering what had happened, and that his brothers should be roused to live once more like reasoning men; and this came about.²