Daśaratha woke up in the middle of the night. He remembered his former sinful act that now propelled him to his death in separation from his son, and he began to recount this to Kausalyā. When Daśaratha was a crown prince, he had once gone on hunting. At the end of the night, a son of a sage had dipped his vessel in the river to fetch water. Daśaratha mistook the sound of the water with the sound of an elephant and with the conceit of being a śabda-vedhī archer, released an arrow towards the source of that sound. Struck by the arrow, the ṛṣi’s son lamented in distress about his elderly mother and father. Upon hearing the lamentation of a human, Daśaratha became dejected and came before him. The sage’s son told him about himself and requested him to inform his parents about his condition. He then requested Daśaratha to remove the arrow from his body. When Daśaratha complied with his request, he left his body.