Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
विश्वामित्र उवाच एवमस्तु महाराज आगमिष्याम्यहं पुनः ।
शापं तव प्रदास्यामि न चेदद्य प्रदास्यसि ॥
viśvāmitra uvāca evam astu mahārāja āgamiṣyāmy ahaṃ punaḥ | śāpaṃ tava pradāsyāmi na ced adya pradāsyasi ||
ວິສວາມິດຣະ ກ່າວວ່າ: «ເຊັ່ນນັ້ນເຖີດ, ໂອ ພຣະຣາຊາຜູ້ຍິ່ງໃຫຍ່. ຂ້າຈະມາອີກ. ຖ້າທ່ານບໍ່ມອບໃນມື້ນີ້, ຂ້າຈະປະທານຄໍາສາບແຊ່ງແກ່ທ່ານ»។
{ "primaryRasa": "raudra", "secondaryRasa": "dharma", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
The verse stresses the binding moral weight of a righteous request from a realized sage and the king’s duty to respond without procrastination. Delay or refusal in a dharmic obligation—especially involving dāna or fulfillment of a pledged act—invites consequences, here expressed as the threat of śāpa (a punitive spiritual sanction).
This verse is primarily narrative-ethical instruction rather than cosmological enumeration. It aligns most closely with Vaṃśānucarita/Carita (accounts within royal-sage stories used to teach dharma), not with Sarga/Pratisarga/Manvantara/Vaṃśa as a direct doctrinal listing.
Esoterically, the ‘curse’ functions as the karmic recoil of obstructed dharma: when rightful giving is withheld, the obstruction crystallizes into a binding consequence. The sage’s return (‘I shall come again’) also symbolizes that unresolved obligations reappear until discharged; time does not dissolve dharma-debt, it matures it.