batch.motif.hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg-l19233-l19377
---
record_id: batch.motif.hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg-l19233-l19377
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
passage_locator:
label: Canto XXXVII. The Coats Of Bark. / Canto XLVI. The Halt. / Canto XLIX. The
Crossing Of The Rivers. / Canto LXII. Dasaratha Consoled.; lines 19233-19377
start: '19233'
end: '19377'
translation: The Ramayan of Valmiki
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: Daśaratha recounts accidentally shooting a young hermit at the Sarjú shore
after mistaking the sound of water for an animal. The dying youth asks that his
blind parents be told. Daśaratha brings water to the parents, confesses the killing,
and is told that because the act was unwitting and confessed, he lives. The blind
parents ask to be guided to their son's body and touch and mourn him.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A wounded hermit's son lies pierced by an arrow and speaks while near death.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The youth says he is not a twice-born Brāhman but was born of a Vaiśya father
and Śūdra mother.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Daśaratha draws the arrow from the youth's bleeding side, after which the
youth dies.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: Daśaratha takes a pitcher, fills it from a brook, and goes to the abode of
the youth's father.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The aged parents are blind, feeble, seated together, and waiting for their
returning child.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The father says that the parents' lives depend on their son and calls him
the eye of the eyeless couple.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: Daśaratha identifies himself as a warrior and says he shot toward a sound
at the Sarjú shore, thinking an animal was there.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: Daśaratha asks the father to pardon his heedless sin.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: The father says Daśaratha lives because the act was not planned, while a deliberate
attack on a devotee would bring destruction.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:10
text: The father asks Daśaratha to guide the parents to the place where their son
lies dead.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:11
text: Daśaratha leads the mourning pair to the body, and the parents place their
hands on the dead youth.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Daśaratha
description: A king and warrior of Raghu's line who recounts accidentally killing
the hermit's son with an arrow.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Hermit's son
description: A young hermit struck by Daśaratha's arrow near the water; he dies
after the arrow is drawn out.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Aged hermit father
description: A blind, venerable sage who waits for his son, hears Daśaratha's confession,
and asks to be led to the body.
role_refs:
- role:5
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Aged mother
description: The blind mother of the dead youth, thirsty and waiting with the father
for their son.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: king-warrior narrator
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Daśaratha names himself as a warrior and is addressed as king and monarch.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:2
label: unwitting killer seeking pardon
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He says he mistook a water sound for an animal, killed the son unaware, and
asks pardon.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:3
label: dying ascetic youth
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The youth is described as a hermit's son or wounded hermit pierced by an
arrow and near death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: dependent child of blind parents
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The father says the parents' lives depend on the son and calls him their
eye.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: blind bereaved parent
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
basis: The parents are described as aged, feeble, blind, and later mourning at the
dead body.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:7
- id: role:6
label: moral judge of the act
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The father declares the consequences of confession, accidental killing, and
deliberate killing of a devotee.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: water
literal_form: brook, Sarjú shore, water in a pitcher, drinking place
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:2
label: arrow
literal_form: shaft, dart, arrow that pierces the youth
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: blindness and sight
literal_form: blind parents and the son called their eye
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: dead body
literal_form: breathless clay and slain body touched by the parents
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Death of the wounded hermit's son
summary: The wounded youth speaks to Daśaratha, clarifies his birth, and dies after
the arrow is drawn from his side.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Approach to the blind parents
summary: Daśaratha fills the pitcher with water and reaches the abode where the
blind aged parents wait for their son.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Confession of the mistaken shot
summary: Daśaratha tells the father that he shot toward the sound of water at the
Sarjú shore, mistook it for an animal, found the youth wounded, drew out the arrow,
and asks pardon.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Judgment of unwitting guilt
summary: The father says Daśaratha's confession and lack of intent spare him, while
deliberate violence against a devotee would bring ruin.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: Parents led to the body
summary: Daśaratha leads the mourning blind parents to their son, and they touch
and mourn the body.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: fatal mistake at the water source
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The killing occurs after Daśaratha hears water being stirred at the Sarjú
shore and mistakes the sound for an animal at a drinking place.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents an accidental hunting error; no broader cross-cultural
comparison is asserted in the passage.
- id: motif:2
label: dependent blind parents lose their only guide
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The parents are blind and helpless, and the father says their son is the
eye of the eyeless couple and that their lives depend on him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level family-dependence motif, not linked to a supplied
taxonomy family.
- id: motif:3
label: confessed unwitting sin mitigates judgment
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The father says Daśaratha lives because he told the tale himself and because
the act was not planned; deliberate killing of a devotee would bring destruction.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The judgment is spoken by the hermit father; the passage does not show
an explicit divine court or deity rendering judgment.
- id: motif:4
label: mourning parents touch the slain child
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The parents are guided to the son's body and place their hands upon him as
the father mourns.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The passage ends during the father's lament and does not include the full
outcome.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 19233-19263
quote_or_summary: The wounded hermit's son speaks near death, says he is not a twice-born
Brāhman but born of a Vaiśya father and Śūdra mother, and dies after Daśaratha
draws the shaft from his side.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 19272-19282
quote_or_summary: Daśaratha takes the pitcher, fills it from the brook, reaches
the father's abode, and sees the aged blind pair seated together without anyone
to guide them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 19287-19301
quote_or_summary: "“On thee our lives, our all, depend... The eyeless couple’s eye
art thou.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 19302-19334
quote_or_summary: Daśaratha tells the sage he is a warrior; while hunting at the
Sarjú shore he heard a sound like a jar stirring water, thought it was an elephant,
shot an arrow, found a wounded hermit, drew the shaft as requested, and asks pardon
for killing the son unwittingly.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 19335-19357
quote_or_summary: The grieving father says Daśaratha's head would have burst if
he had not confessed; deliberate killing of a devotee would bring ruin, but Daśaratha
lives because the deed was unplanned.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 19358-19366
quote_or_summary: The father asks the king to guide the parents to the place where
their son lies dead, wearing a blood-stained hermit's skin, his soul in Yama's
domain.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 19367-19377
quote_or_summary: Daśaratha leads the mourning pair to the body; the mother and
hermit place their hands on the breathless clay, and the father presses the son
to his breast and cries out.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: The passage is clear for figures, actions, and local motifs. Broader taxonomy
mapping is limited because the supplied passage itself does not make comparative
claims.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
No comparison claims were added because the passage itself does not support a specific comparison beyond local motif identification.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg__l19233-l19377
passage_sha256=b4ae44e051ad57b7d193db4abe0a70ed771cc9584b90a9d689131c5c070ed876