Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 8, Shloka 198
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
प्रकृष्टा विस्मिता दीना भर्तृपुत्राधिपीडिता ।
वीक्षन्ती सा ततोऽपश्यद् भर्तृदण्डं जुगुप्सितम् ॥
prakṛṣṭā vismitā dīnā bhartṛ-putrādhi-pīḍitā |
vīkṣantī sā tato 'paśyad bhartṛ-daṇḍaṃ jugupsitam ||
वह चारों ओर देखते हुए अत्यन्त काँप उठी—आश्चर्यचकित, दीन और पति-पुत्र की विपत्ति से पीड़ित। तब उसने अपने पति का वह घृणित दण्ड (उसकी हीन अवस्था का चिह्न) देखा।
{ "primaryRasa": "karuna", "secondaryRasa": "bibhatsa", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The ‘loathsome staff’ embodies how external roles can invert; the verse invites discrimination between intrinsic worth and socially assigned occupation/status.
Outside pañcalakṣaṇa; serves the Purāṇic moral-narrative function of illustrating the fragility of worldly power.
Daṇḍa can symbolize ‘discipline’ or ‘fate’s rod’: the same sign that once implied authority now signifies abasement—showing the dual edge of power and karma.