Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 8, Shloka 170
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
नैव पुत्रो न भार्या तु तस्य वै स्मृतिगोचरे ।
नष्टोत्साहो राज्यनाशात् श्मशाने निवसंस्तदा ॥
naiva putro na bhāryā tu tasya vai smṛtigocare / naṣṭotsāho rājyanaśāt śmaśāne nivasaṃs tadā
Neither his son nor his wife came within the range of his memory. His spirit broken by the loss of his kingdom, he was then living in the cremation-ground.
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FAQs
The verse underscores how attachment to external power can hollow the inner self; when the outer structure collapses, one may lose even relational memory—hence the Purāṇic insistence on cultivating inner dharma and devotion.
Carita/didactic narrative; functions as moral illustration rather than pancalakṣaṇa enumeration.
Cremation-ground dwelling signals liminality: the ego-king is ‘dead’ though alive; the stripping away of family-memory suggests the dissolution of nāma-rūpa identity, preparing (in narrative logic) for a turning toward higher refuge.