Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
हा कष्टं किं तवानॆन कृतं देव! महीक्षिताः |
यदिन्द्रोपेन्द्रतुल्योऽयं नीतः प्रस्वापनीं दशाम् ||
hā kaṣṭaṁ kiṁ tavānena kṛtaṁ deva! mahīkṣitāḥ /
yad indropendratulyo ’yaṁ nītaḥ prasvāpanīṁ daśām ||
«အို၊ ဘယ်လောက်ခက်ခဲသောဒုက္ခပါလဲ! အရှင်တော်ရေ၊ ဤမြေကြီး၏ အုပ်ချုပ်သူများက သင့်ကို ဘာလုပ်ခဲ့ကြသနည်း၊ အင်ဒြာနှင့် ဥပေန္ဒြာနှင့် တူညီသူဖြစ်သော သင်ကို အလွန်နက်ရှိုင်းသော အိပ်စက်ခြင်းအခြေအနေသို့ ရောက်စေသနည်း?»
Even the supreme protector (Viṣṇu) is shown as subject to a divinely-willed ‘state’ (yoganidrā), highlighting that cosmic functions operate through Śakti. Ethically, the verse models humility: the devas do not presume entitlement to rescue, but first acknowledge the gravity of the situation and seek the proper power through reverent address.
Primarily within ‘vaṁśānucarita/ākhyāna’ style mythic narrative used to teach dharma and theology; secondarily it supports ‘sarga/pratisarga’ worldview by explaining how cosmic stability depends on the coordination of Viṣṇu and Śakti (Māyā). It is not a manvantara or genealogical datum in itself.
‘Indropendratulya’ underscores that even the highest divine offices (Indra) and the cosmic preserver (Upendra/Viṣṇu) are, in manifestation, conditioned by Śakti’s modes. The ‘prasvāpanī daśā’ symbolizes tamasic withdrawal—when awareness is veiled, disorder rises—necessitating invocation of Mahāmāyā to reawaken luminous agency.