Shloka 14
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
किमु प्राणान् विमुञ्चामि कां दिशं याम्यकिञ्चनः ।
यदि नाशं गमिष्यामि अप्रदाय प्रतिश्रुतम् ॥
kimu prāṇān vimuñcāmi kāṃ diśaṃ yāmy akiñcanaḥ / yadi nāśaṃ gamiṣyāmi apradāya pratiśrutam //
किं नु अहं प्राणान् त्यजामि? अथवा सर्वथा निर्धनो भूत्वा कुत्र दिशं गमिष्यामि? यदि मम विनाशो नियतः, तर्हि प्रतिज्ञातं पूर्वं समाप्यैव, न तु तद्विना।
FAQs
Even in a hostile (asuric) character, the text foregrounds the power of satya/pledge: the fear is not merely death, but disgrace—perishing without honoring one’s declared word. The verse dramatizes how reputation, vow, and self-conception can bind a being as strongly as external fate.
Primarily within Vaṃśānucarita/Carita (narrative episode) rather than Sarga/Pratisarga/Manvantara/Vaṃśa. Devi Mahatmyam functions as a theological-heroic upākhyāna embedded in the Purana’s broader pancalakṣaṇa framework.
The “direction” (diś) and “destitution” (akiñcana) can be read symbolically: egoic power, when confronted by the Devī (supreme Śakti), finds no refuge in the quarters; the asura’s last ‘support’ becomes only his own vow/identity. The impending collapse of false sovereignty is shown as inevitable, yet the psyche clings to a final principle—its pledged self-image.