Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
लकुटी कालकल्पश्च धावंश्चापि ततस्ततः ।
अस्मिन् शव इदं मूल्यं प्राप्तं प्राप्स्यामि चाप्युत ॥
lakuṭī kāla-kalpaś ca dhāvaṃś cāpi tatas tataḥ /
asmin śava idaṃ mūlyaṃ prāptaṃ prāpsyāmi cāpy uta
হাতে লাঠি নিয়ে, মৃত্যুর মতো ভয়ংকর চেহারায়, সে এদিক-ওদিক দৌড়াতে দৌড়াতে (বলল)—“এই মৃতদেহের জন্য এই মূল্যই আমি পেয়েছি—এবং আমি তা নিশ্চয়ই আদায় করব।”
{ "primaryRasa": "bibhatsa", "secondaryRasa": "raudra", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
The verse critiques greed and moral collapse: even death becomes ‘commerce’ for the deluded; it warns that adharma turns sacred thresholds (death rites) into exploitation.
Ethical-narrative (ākhyāna) material used to evoke disgust and discrimination between dharma and adharma; not a pañcalakṣaṇa category passage.
‘Price of the corpse’ can symbolize the ego’s bargaining with impermanence—trying to extract gain from what is intrinsically transient.