Shloka 47
Adhyaya 7 — Harishchandra Tested by Vishvamitra: The Gift of the Kingdom and the Pandava Curse-Backstory
हानाथ किं जहास्यस्मान् नित्यार्तिपरिपीडितान् ।
त्वं धर्मतत्परो राजन् पौरानुग्रहकृत् तथा ॥
hānātha kiṃ jahāsyasmān nityārtiparipīḍitān / tvaṃ dharmatatparo rājan paurānugrahakṛt tathā
«Oh protector—¿por qué habrías de abandonarnos, a nosotros que estamos continuamente afligidos por el sufrimiento? Tú eres un rey consagrado al dharma, y también quien otorga favor y amparo a los habitantes de la ciudad».
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FAQs
The verse frames kingship as a moral trust: a dharmic ruler is defined not merely by power but by steadfast protection of subjects, especially those ‘nityārtiparipīḍita’—habitually afflicted. The appeal implies that abandoning dependents contradicts the king’s declared identity as dharma-oriented and benevolent to citizens.
This verse aligns more with ‘Vamśānucarita’/narrative conduct and dharma-instruction embedded in it, rather than the cosmological five (Sarga, Pratisarga, Vaṃśa, Manvantara, Vaṃśānucarita) strictly. It is best tagged as ethical instruction within Vaṃśānucarita-style storytelling (conduct of rulers and social order).
Symbolically, the ‘king’ functions as the principle of ordered intelligence (rājya/niyama) that must not desert the ‘citizens’—the faculties and living beings beset by recurring suffering. The plea suggests that when governing discernment remains aligned with dharma, it becomes ‘anugraha’ (sustaining grace) that stabilizes a distressed inner or outer polity.