Ayodhyākānda - Canto 63

Waking from sleep after a while and recalling his sinful deed, which spelt death to him, Daśaratha proceeds to tell Kausalyā how, while he was Prince Regent of Ayodhyā, he went out a-hunting in the forest one day and heard during the last watch of the night the sound of a hermit boy filling his pitcher with water by submerging into Sarayū river. Mistaking the gurgling sound for the trumpeting of an elephant, Daśaratha hit the boy with an arrow, which dug deep into his body and mortally wounded him. On approaching his quarry he discovered the fatal blunder and tendered his heartfelt apology to the hermit boy, who asked him to extract the arrow from his body and report the matter to his aged parents. The boy died immediately the arrow was taken out of his body.