Shloka 161
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
पुत्रस्य ते मृत्युमपि प्रदास्यति स कौशिकः ।
गच्छ त्वं मानुषं लोकं दुःखशेषञ्च भुङ्क्ष्व वै ।
गतस्य तत्र राजेन्द्र श्रेयस्तव भविष्यति ॥
putrasya te mṛtyum api pradāsyati sa kauśikaḥ | gaccha tvaṃ mānuṣaṃ lokaṃ duḥkhaśeṣaṃ ca bhuṅkṣva vai | gatasya tatra rājendra śreyas tava bhaviṣyati ||
कौशिकः स तव प्राणान् पुत्रस्यापि ग्रहीष्यति। मानुष्यं गच्छ भोक्तुं त्वं शेषं दुःखस्य चापरम्॥
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FAQs
Suffering is framed as a ‘remainder’ to be exhausted, not as endless condemnation. The ethical lesson is twofold: actions and interpersonal transgressions can rebound upon one’s lineage; yet dharma also teaches that after the ordained consequence is borne, a path to welfare remains.
Carita; it concerns an individual king’s fate and the moral mechanics of curse and consequence, rather than sarga/pratisarga/manvantara/vaṃśa cataloguing.
‘Duḥkhaśeṣa’ suggests prārabdha karma—residual momentum that must be lived through. ‘Return to the human world’ indicates that certain karmas can only ripen in embodied, social existence where relational duties (including lineage) are operative.