Canto 2: Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa ()Chapter 63: Daśaratha Remembering Killing a Sage’s Innocent SonText 2.63.52
Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 63: Daśaratha Remembering Killing a Sage’s Innocent Son
Text 2.63.52
न द्विजातिरहं राजन्माभूत्ते मनसो व्यथा।
शूद्रायामस्मि वैश्येन जातो जनपदाधिप।।
na dvijātir ahaṁ rājan mā bhūt te manaso vyathā
śūdrāyām asmi vaiśyena jāto janapadādhipa
na = not; dvijātiḥ = a twice-born; aham = I am; rājan = O king; mā bhūt = don’t; te manasaḥ = in heart; vyathā = be pained; śūdrāyām = and a śūdra mother; asmi vaiśyena jātaḥ = I am born to a vaiśya father; janapada-adhipa = O ruler of the country.
I am not a twice-born, O king. Don’t be pained in heart. O ruler of the country, I am born to a vaiśya father and a śūdra mother.
A son of a vaiśya man and a śūdra woman is called karaṇa 5.
NOTE. This and the previous text were spoken by the young ascetic out of extreme compassion which is itself one of the symptoms of a brāhmaṇa. The king was in a state of terror and so this young ascetic compassionately wanted to pacify him.
Actually Daśaratha was right: he had indeed killed a brāhmaṇa. But he had done so unknowingly. This was recognised by the father of this ascetic as we will find him telling Daśaratha the following in the next chapter:
ajñānāt tu hato yasmāt kṣatriyeṇa tvayā muniḥ
tasmāt tvāṁ nāviśaty āśu brahma-hatyā narādhipa
“O king, because you as a kṣatriya have quickly killed a sage unknowingly, the sinful reaction due to killing a brāhmaṇa will not enter you.” (Rāmāyaṇa 2.64.57)
Note that the young ascetic has been identified as a sage here and as a knower of the Supreme Soul in text 2.64.25. It is also stated there that because Daśaratha didn’t kill the young ascetic knowingly, Daśaratha is not considered to have killed a brāhmaṇa.
To pacify the terrified king, this young brāhmaṇa portrayed himself as not being a twice-born. He was right in the technical sense that he was not a jāti-brāhmaṇa and that his parents were not jāti-brāhmaṇas either. However, he and his parents were certainly brāhmaṇas by guṇa and karma since they were genuine ascetics residing in the forest.
This point about jāti-brāhmaṇa and brāhmaṇas by guṇa and karma was already brought up in the First Canto of Rāmāyaṇa.
The young ascetic was obviously brahminical in nature; why else would he try to pacify the one who had killed him?