प्रकृष्टा विस्मिता दीना भर्तृपुत्राधिपीडिता । वीक्षन्ती सा ततोऽपश्यद् भर्तृदण्डं जुगुप्सितम्॥८.
Overwhelmed, astonished, and afflicted by her husband and son's suffering, she then saw her husband's staff, which filled her with revulsion.
श्वपाकार्हमतो मोहं जगामायतलोचना । प्राप्य चेतश्च शनकैः सगद्गदमभाषत॥८.
Her wide eyes clouded by confusion, fit for an outcaste's fate, she slowly regained her senses and spoke in a choked voice.
धिक् त्वां दैवातिकरुणां निर्मर्यादं जुगुप्सितम् । येनायममरप्रख्यो नीतो राजा श्वपाकताम्॥८.
Shame on you, O merciless, lawless, and contemptible fate! By you, this king, equal to the immortals, has been reduced to the state of an outcaste.
राज्यनाशं सुहृत्त्यागं भार्या-तनयविक्रयम् । प्रापयित्वापि नो कुक्तश्चण्डालोऽयं कृतो नृपः॥८.
After causing us to lose the kingdom, abandon friends, and sell wife and son, you have made this king into a despised outcaste.
हा राजन् ! जातसन्तापामित्थं मां धरणीतलात् । उत्थाप्य नाद्य पर्यङ्कमारोहेति किमुच्यते॥८.
Alas, O King! Afflicted as I am, why does no one today lift me up from the ground and seat me upon the couch, as before?
नाद्य पश्यामि ते छत्रं भृङ्गारमथवा पुनः । चामरं व्यजनञ्चापि कोऽयं विधिविपर्ययः॥८.
Today I do not see your royal umbrella, nor the fly-whisk, nor even the yak-tail fan; what is this reversal of fate?
यस्याग्रे व्रजतः पूर्वं राजानो भृत्यतां गताः । स्वोत्तरीयैरकुर्वन्त नीरजस्कं महीतलम्॥८.
Before you, as you walked, even other kings became your attendants, and with their upper garments they swept the dust from the earth.
सोऽयं कपालसंलग्न-घटीघटनिरन्तरे । मृतनिर्माल्यसूत्रान्तर्गूग्केशे सुदारुणे॥८.
Now, with a skull fastened to his neck, with a string of broken pots, with hair matted with the remains of the dead, he is truly dreadful.
वसानिस्यन्दसंशुष्क-महीपुटकमण्डिते । भस्माङ्गारार्धदग्धास्थि-मज्जासङ्घट्टभीषणे॥८.
Adorned with a patch of earth dried by oozing fat, and terrifying with half-burnt bones, ashes, and marrow clinging together.
गृध्र-गोमायुनादार्तनष्टक्षुद्रविहङ्गमे । चिताधूमाततिरुचा नीलीकृतदिगन्तरे॥८.
Tormented by the cries of vultures and jackals, with small birds gone, and the horizon darkened by the smoke of the funeral pyre.
कुणपास्वादनमुदा सम्प्रहृष्टनिशाचरे । चरत्यमेध्ये राजेन्द्रः श्मशाने दुः खपीडितः॥८.
Delighting the night-wanderers by tasting corpses, the king, afflicted by sorrow, now roams in the impure cremation ground.
एवमुक्त्वा समाश्लिष्य कण्ठं राज्ञो नृपात्मजा । कष्टशोकशताधारा विललापार्तया गिरा॥८.
Having spoken thus, the king’s daughter embraced his neck and, overwhelmed by a hundred streams of grief, wailed in a voice full of pain.
; राजपत्न्युवाच राजन् ! स्वप्नोऽथ तथ्यं वा यदेतन्मन्यते भवान् । तत् कथ्यतां महाभाग मनो वै मुह्यते मम॥८.
The queen said: O King! Is this a dream, or is it reality? Please tell me, O blessed one, for my mind is bewildered.
यद्येतदेवं धर्मज्ञ नास्ति धर्मे सहायता । तथैव विप्रदेवादिपूजने पालने भुवः॥८.
If this is so, O knower of dharma, then there is no support in righteousness, nor in the worship and protection of Brahmins, gods, and the earth.
नास्ति धर्मः कुतः सत्यमार्जवं चानृशंसता । यत्र त्वं धर्मपरमः स्वराज्यादवरोपितः॥८.
There is no righteousness, nor truth, nor honesty, nor compassion, when you, devoted to dharma, have been cast down from your own kingdom.
इति तस्या वचः श्रुत्वा निश्वस्योष्णं सगद्गदम् । कथयामास तन्वङ्ग्या यथा प्राप्ता श्वपाकता॥८.
Hearing her words, he sighed hotly and, with a faltering voice, told his slender wife how he had come to this state among outcastes.
रुदित्वा सापि सुचिरं निश्वस्योष्णञ्च दुः खिता । स्वपुत्रमरणं भीरुर्यथावृत्तं न्यवेदयत्॥८.
She too, after weeping for a long time and sighing in distress, fearfully recounted the death of her son as it had happened.
; राजोवाच प्रिये ! न रोचये दीर्घं कालं क्लेशमुपासितुम् । नात्मायत्तश्च तन्वङ्गि पश्य मे मन्दभाग्यताम्॥८.
The king said: Beloved, I do not wish to endure suffering for a long time; my fate is not in my own hands, slender one—see my misfortune.
चण्डालेनाननुज्ञातः प्रवेक्ष्ये ज्वलनं यदि । चण्डालदासतां यास्ये पुनरप्यन्यजन्मनि॥८.
If I enter the fire without the permission of the outcaste, I will become a slave to the outcaste again in another birth.
नरके च तपिष्यामि कोटकः कृमिभोजनः । वैतरण्यां महापूय-वसासृक्-स्नायुपिच्छिले॥८.
In hell I will suffer, eaten by worms, in the Vaitarani river, thick with pus, blood, fat, and slippery with sinews.
असिपत्रवने प्राप्य छेदं प्राप्स्यामि दारुणम् । तापं प्राप्स्यामि वा प्राप्य महारौरवरौरवौ॥८.
In the forest of sword-leaves I will undergo terrible mutilation, or I will suffer torment in the great hells Raurava and Maharaurava.
मग्नस्य दुः खजलधौ पारः प्राणवियोजनम् । एकोऽपि बालको योऽयमासीद्वंशकरः सुतः॥८.
For one who is sunk in the ocean of sorrow, the only shore is death; and this one son, the perpetuator of the line, is gone.
मम दैवाम्बुवेगेन मग्नः सोऽपि बलीयसा । कथं प्राणान् विमुञ्चामि परायत्तोऽस्मि दुर्गतः॥८.
Even I, though strong, am overwhelmed by the force of my fate, like water; how can I give up my life, when I am helpless and afflicted?
अथवा नार्तिना क्लिष्टो नरः पापमवेक्षते । तिर्यक्त्वे नास्ति तद्दुः शं नासिपत्रवने तथा॥८.
Or perhaps, when tormented by suffering, a man considers sinful acts; but in the state of an animal, there is not such pain, nor in a forest of sword-leaves.
वैतरण्याङ्कुतस्तादृग् यादृशं पुत्रविप्लवे । सोऽहं सुतशिरीरेण दीप्यमाने हुताशने॥८.
Such is the torment of Vaitarani with its hooks, as is the grief of losing a son; thus I am, with my son's body burning in the sacrificial fire.
निपतिष्यामि तन्वङ्गि क्षन्तव्यं कुकृतं मम । अनुज्ञाता च गच्छ त्वं विप्रवेश्म सुछिस्मिते॥८.
I will fall, slender one; forgive my misdeeds. Having been permitted, you may go, lovely-smiling one, to the brahmin's house.
मम वाक्यञ्च तन्वङ्गि निबोधादृतमानसा । यदि दत्तं यदि हुतं गुरवो यदि तोषिताः॥८.
Hear my words, slender one, with a devoted mind: if I have given, if I have offered, if I have pleased the elders—
परत्र सङ्गमो भूयात् पुत्रेण सह च त्वया । इह लोके कुतस्त्वेतद् भविष्यति ममेङ्गितम्॥८.
May there be reunion in the next world with my son and with you; for in this world, how could such a wish of mine come to pass?
त्वया सह मम श्रेयो गमनं पुत्रमार्गणे । यन्मया हसता किञ्चिद्रहस्ये वा शुचिस्मिते॥८.
It is better for me to go with you, seeking our son; and if, smiling one, I have ever spoken anything improper, even in jest or in secret—
अश्लीलमुक्तं तत् सर्वं क्षन्तव्यं मम याचतः । राजपत्नीति गर्वेण नावज्ञेयः स ते द्विजः । सर्वयत्नेन ते तोष्यः स्वामिदैवतवच्छुभे॥८.
All that which was spoken improperly should be forgiven by you, as I ask. Do not, out of pride as a queen, disregard that brahmin; by every effort, you must please him, as you would your lord and deity, O auspicious one.