Shloka 49
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
प्राह भद्रे करोम्येष विक्रयं तव निर्घृणः ।
नृशंसैरपि यत् कर्तुं न शक्यं तत् करोम्यहम् ॥
यदि मे शक्यते वाणी वक्तुमीदृक् सुदुर्वचः ।
एवमुक्त्वा ततो भार्यां गत्वा नागरमातुरः ।
बाष्पापिहितकण्ठाक्षस्ततो वचनमब्रवीत् ॥
prāha bhadre karomyeṣa vikrayaṃ tava nirghṛṇaḥ |
nṛśaṃsair api yad kartuṃ na śakyaṃ tat karomy aham |
yadi me śakyate vāṇī vaktum īdṛk sudurvacaḥ |
evam uktvā tato bhāryāṃ gatvā nāgaram āturaḥ |
bāṣpāpihita-kaṇṭhākṣas tato vacanam abravīt ||
അവൻ പറഞ്ഞു—“ഭദ്രേ, ഞാൻ നിർദയനായി നിന്നെ വിറ്റുകളയാൻ പോകുന്നു. ക്രൂരന്മാർക്കും ചെയ്യാൻ മനസ്സുവരാത്ത പ്രവൃത്തിയാണ് ഞാൻ ചെയ്യുന്നത്. എന്റെ വാക്കിന് ഇത്തരമൊരു കഠിനവാക്യം ഉച്ചരിക്കാനും കഴിയുമെങ്കിൽ…” ഇങ്ങനെ പറഞ്ഞ ശേഷം അവൻ ഭാര്യയിലേക്കു ചെന്നു; കണ്ണീർ നിറഞ്ഞ് തൊണ്ടയും കണ്ണുകളും മുട്ടിയ നിലയിൽ, ദുഃഖാകുലനായി പിന്നെയും പറഞ്ഞു।
FAQs
The verse highlights the inner fracture that occurs when one violates fundamental dharma: the speaker recognizes the act (selling one’s wife) as beyond even the standard of the cruel, and his tears show conscience persisting despite moral failure. The ethical lesson is twofold—(1) adharma is self-tormenting even before it yields external consequences, and (2) speech itself becomes constrained when one attempts to rationalize grievous wrongdoing.
This passage is best classified under Vamśānucarita/Carita-like narrative and Dharma-śikṣā (ethical instruction through story), rather than Sarga (creation), Pratisarga, Manvantara, or Vaṃśa (genealogy). It functions as an illustrative episode within the Purana’s didactic narrative framework.
Symbolically, “selling the wife” can be read as the selling away of one’s śrī (fortune), gṛha-lakṣmī (the sanctity and prosperity of the household), and moral center for temporary gain. The tears choking throat and eyes suggest the blockage of both right speech (satya/vāk) and right vision (viveka). The narrative thus encodes a warning: when dharma is commodified, perception and expression themselves become impaired.