Shloka 76
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
अन्यां दास्यामि भगवन् ! कालः कश्चित्प्रतीक्ष्यताम् ।
साम्प्रतं नास्ति विक्रीता पत्नी पुत्रश्च बालकः ॥
anyāṃ dāsyāmi bhagavan kālaḥ kaścit pratīkṣyatām | sāmprataṃ nāsti vikrītā patnī putraś ca bālakaḥ ||
„Ich werde eine andere Frau/Dienerin geben, o ehrwürdiger Herr; bitte warte noch ein wenig. Gegenwärtig sind meine Frau und mein kleiner Sohn (noch) nicht verkauft.“
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FAQs
The verse depicts an extreme ethical collapse driven by desperation—so severe that a person speaks of selling wife and child. In Purāṇic dharma discourse, such speech functions as a warning about how adharma can arise from greed, debt, famine, or social breakdown, and it implicitly underscores the duty to protect dependents (wife/child) rather than commodify them.
This verse is best classified under ancillary dharma-narrative material rather than the five hallmark topics (sarga, pratisarga, vaṃśa, manvantara, vaṃśānucarita). If mapped, it aligns most closely with vaṃśānucarita-style narrative/episode content used to teach dharma, but it is not itself genealogical.
Symbolically, ‘selling’ one’s wife and child can be read as the surrender of one’s śrī (prosperity/household order) and one’s future (progeny/continuity) to short-term expediency. The request to ‘wait a little’ highlights the mind’s procrastination in ethical decline—postponing wrongdoing while already moving toward it.