Shloka 60
Adhyaya 7 — Harishchandra Tested by Vishvamitra: The Gift of the Kingdom and the Pandava Curse-Backstory
कर्षतस्तां ततो भार्यां सुकुमारीं श्रमातुराम् ।
सहसा दण्डकाष्ठेन ताडयामास कौशिकः ॥
karṣatas tāṃ tato bhāryāṃ sukumārīṃ śramāturām / sahasā daṇḍakāṣṭhena tāḍayāmāsa kauśikaḥ //
അപ്പോൾ വലിച്ചുകൊണ്ടുപോകപ്പെടുന്ന—സുകുമാരിയും ക്ഷീണിതയുമായ അവന്റെ ഭാര്യയെ—കൗശികൻ പെട്ടെന്ന് ഒരു വടികൊണ്ട് അടിച്ചു।
{ "primaryRasa": "karuna", "secondaryRasa": "raudra", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The verse functions as a stark depiction of adharma: violence toward the vulnerable—especially one’s spouse—signals moral collapse and invites karmic retribution. The text frames such conduct as a breach of household dharma (gṛhastha-dharma), where protection and restraint are expected, not coercion and harm.
This verse is best categorized under ancillary narrative used for dharma-teaching rather than the core pañcalakṣaṇa topics (sarga, pratisarga, vaṃśa, manvantara, vaṃśānucarita). If mapped, it aligns most closely with vaṃśānucarita-style storytelling (character episode) employed to illustrate ethical consequences, though it is not a genealogical datum itself.
On a symbolic reading, Kauśika embodies ungoverned rajas/tamas—impulse and cruelty—while the “delicate, exhausted” wife represents the vulnerable inner order (dharma/śrī) that is harmed when the mind turns coercive. The ‘stick’ becomes the emblem of misused authority: discipline divorced from compassion degenerates into violence, precipitating inner and outer disorder.