Shloka 46
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
काण्डिग्भूतोऽधमो निःस्वो नृशंसधनिनार्दितः ।
भार्यास्य भूयः प्राहेदं क्रियतां वचनं मम ॥
kāṇḍigbhūto ’dhamo niḥsvo nṛśaṃsa-dhaninārdhitaḥ |
bhāryāsya bhūyaḥ prāhedaṃ kriyatāṃ vacanaṃ mama ||
「みじめな境遇に落ち—卑しく貧窮し—残酷な富者に苦しめられて、その男の妻は再びこう言った。『わたしの言葉を成就させよ。』」
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FAQs
The verse foregrounds adharma in social relations: cruelty backed by wealth reduces a person to misery. It also hints at how household influence (here, the wife’s repeated insistence) can reinforce wrongdoing—an implicit warning that domestic counsel should align with dharma, not intensify oppression.
This is best classified under ‘Vaṃśānucarita/Carita’ (narrative conduct/episode) rather than sarga or manvantara: it is a contextual story-moment illustrating ethical texture within the larger puranic narration.
On a symbolic level, ‘the cruel wealthy oppressor’ can represent the tyrannical ego empowered by accumulated ‘wealth’ (attachments), while the ‘destitute’ state signifies the soul’s impoverishment under oppression. The repeated command (‘kriyatāṃ vacanaṃ mama’) mirrors the compulsive force of habitual impulses that demand enactment until checked by dharmic awakening.