Shloka 171
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
अथाजगाम स्वसुतं मृतमादाय लापिनी ।
भार्या तस्य नरेन्द्रस्य सर्पदष्टं हि बालकम् ॥
athājagāma svasutaṃ mṛtam ādāya lāpinī / bhāryā tasya narendrasya sarpadaṣṭaṃ hi bālakam
അപ്പോൾ ആ രാജാവിന്റെ ഭാര്യ വിലപിച്ചുകൊണ്ട് എത്തി; സ്വന്തം മകനെ ചുമന്നുകൊണ്ട്—പാമ്പുകടിയാൽ ആ കുട്ടി തീർച്ചയായും മരിച്ചിരുന്നു.
{ "primaryRasa": "karuna", "secondaryRasa": "shanta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The piling of misfortunes (loss of kingdom, then loss of child) dramatizes duḥkha’s unpredictability and intensifies the text’s push toward refuge, compassion, and a broader-than-personal understanding of fate and dharma.
Carita: a family-episode used for moral instruction; not sarga/pratisarga/manvantara/vaṃśa listing.
Snakebite often symbolizes sudden karmic fruition and the ‘sting’ of time; the mother bearing the dead child into the śmaśāna space externalizes the inner confrontation with mortality.