Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
श्मशानमागतः कस्मादद्यैष स नरेश्वरः ।
अपहाय पुत्रशोकं सापश्यत् पतितं पतिम् ॥
śmaśānam āgataḥ kasmād adyaiṣa sa nareśvaraḥ |
apahāya putra-śokaṃ sāpaśyat patitaṃ patim ||
“Por que veio hoje ao campo de cremação esse senhor dos homens?” Pondo de lado o luto pelo filho, ela viu o marido caído ao chão.
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The verse portrays compounded sorrow and the mind’s forced reprioritization in disaster—personal grief yields to a larger shock, illustrating how saṃsāra delivers layered trials.
Didactic narrative (ākhyāna) rather than cosmological or genealogical pañcalakṣaṇa content.
The cremation-ground symbolizes the truth of endings; meeting the ‘fallen king’ there dramatizes the stripping away of worldly sovereignty before mortality.