Shloka 164

Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala

Sanskrit

स्वप्ने दुःखं महद्दृष्टं यस्यान्तो नोपलभ्यते ।

स्वप्ने दृष्टं मया यत्तु किं नु मे द्वादशाः समाः ॥

Transliteration

svapne duḥkhaṃ mahad dṛṣṭaṃ yasyānto nopalabhyate / svapne dṛṣṭaṃ mayā yat tu kiṃ nu me dvādaśāḥ samāḥ

Translation

في المنام رأيتُ حزنًا عظيمًا لا يُدرَك له منتهى. ولكن ما رأيتُه في ذلك المنام—أيعني أن اثنتي عشرة سنة ستنقضي عليّ؟

Word by Word

• svapne: in a dream
• svapne: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: svapna (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Locative (7th/सप्तमी), Singular (एकवचन)

• duḥkham: sorrow
• duḥkham: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: duḥkha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter (नपुंसकलिङ्ग), Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular (एकवचन)

• mahat: great
• mahat: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: mahat (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter (नपुंसकलिङ्ग), Accusative (2nd/द्वितीया), Singular (एकवचन); agrees with duḥkham

• dṛṣṭam: seen
• dṛṣṭam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Verb
• Root: dṛś (धातु) + kta (क्त)
• Form: Past passive participle (कर्मणि भूतकृदन्त/क्त), Neuter (नपुंसकलिङ्ग), Accusative (2nd), Singular; predicative with duḥkham

• yasya: whose
• yasya: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/Genitive relation)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Genitive (6th/षष्ठी), Singular (एकवचन); relative pronoun

• antaḥ: end
• antaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: anta (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine (पुंलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन)

• na: not
• na: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/negation marker)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: na (अव्यय)
• Form: Particle of negation (निषेध-अव्यय)

• upalabhyate: is obtained/known
• upalabhyate: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: upa+labh (धातु)
• Form: Present tense (लट्), Passive voice (कर्मणि प्रयोग), 3rd person (प्रथमपुरुष), Singular (एकवचन)

• svapne: in a dream
• svapne: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: svapna (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Locative (7th), Singular

• dṛṣṭam: seen
• dṛṣṭam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Verb
• Root: dṛś (धातु) + kta (क्त)
• Form: Past passive participle (क्त), Neuter, Accusative (2nd), Singular; object understood

• mayā: by me
• mayā: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: asmad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Instrumental (3rd/तृतीया), Singular (एकवचन)

• yat: what/that which
• yat: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Accusative (2nd), Singular; relative pronoun referring to the thing seen

• tu: but/indeed
• tu: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/discourse particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tu (अव्यय)
• Form: Particle (निपात), adversative/emphatic

• kim: what?
• kim: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kim (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative (1st/2nd), Singular; interrogative

• nu: indeed/then (in question)
• nu: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: nu (अव्यय)
• Form: Interrogative particle (प्रश्न-निपात)

• me: my
• me: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/possessor)
• Type: Noun
• Root: asmad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Genitive (6th) or Dative (4th), Singular; here Genitive sense

• dvādaśāḥ: twelve
• dvādaśāḥ: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: dvādaśan (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st), Plural (बहुवचन); numeral adjective qualifying samāḥ

• samāḥ: years
• samāḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sama (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine, Nominative (1st), Plural

Speakers

• Narrative voice (Purāṇic narrator describing the king’s thoughts; specific frame-speaker not identifiable from provided verses alone)

Verse Rasa

{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "karuna", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

Key Themes

• Dream-omens
• Suffering and uncertainty
• Time (twelve-year period)
• Karmic consequence (implicit)

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

Dreams here function as a mirror of impending distress and of the mind’s anxiety about duration; ethically, the verse foregrounds human helplessness before suffering and the need to seek refuge in dharma and the gods (explicitly developed in the following verses).

How does this fit the Pancalakshana (5 characteristics)?

Primarily within Vaṃśānucarita/Carita-style narration (dynastic/royal episode) rather than sarga/pratisarga; it is an ethical-historical exemplum embedded in the Purāṇic narrative stream.

What is the esoteric significance?

The ‘dream without visible end’ symbolizes saṃsāric duḥkha whose termination is unknown to the deluded mind; ‘twelve years’ can signify a full cycle of trial/purification, a conventional period for exile/penance motifs in Itihāsa-Purāṇa literature.