Shloka 93
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
दासोऽस्म्यार्तोऽस्मि भीतोऽस्मि त्वद्भक्तश्च विशेषतः ।
कुरु प्रसादं विप्रर्षे कष्टश्चण्डालसङ्करः ॥
dāso 'smy ārto 'smi bhīto 'smi tvadbhaktaś ca viśeṣataḥ /
kuru prasādaṃ viprarṣe kaṣṭaś caṇḍālasaṅkaraḥ //
„Ich bin dein Diener; ich bin bedrängt; ich fürchte mich; und vor allem bin ich dein Verehrer. O Weiser unter den Brāhmaṇas, erweise mir Gunst — denn mein Zustand ist unerquicklich, durch Umgang mit Vermischten und Außerkastigen.“
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FAQs
The verse models śaraṇāgati: the speaker presents humility (“I am your servant”), acknowledges existential vulnerability (“distressed” and “afraid”), and anchors the appeal in devotion (“especially your devotee”). Ethically, it highlights that compassion and guidance are sought (and implicitly should be offered) regardless of one’s degraded or socially stigmatized condition; suffering becomes a catalyst for surrender and transformation.
This verse is not a direct instance of sarga (creation), pratisarga (secondary creation), vaṃśa (genealogies), manvantara (Manu cycles), or vaṃśānucarita (dynastic histories). It belongs to narrative/dharma-śikṣā material embedded in the Purāṇic corpus—an interpersonal supplication within a larger religious episode (upākhyāna) rather than a pancalakṣaṇa datum.
On an inner-reading, the ‘servant, distressed, afraid’ triad expresses the jīva’s condition under saṃsāra—bondage, duḥkha, and bhaya. Declaring “I am especially your devotee” signals a turning from self-reliance to higher refuge. The mention of ‘mixture/outcaste condition’ can symbolize inner impurity or fragmented identity; grace (prasāda) is portrayed as the power that reconstitutes and uplifts the seeker beyond limiting labels.