Shloka 95
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
विश्वामित्र उवाच यदि प्रेष्यो मम भवान् चण्डालाय ततो मया ।
दासभावमनुप्राप्तो दत्तो वित्तार्बुदेन वै ॥
viśvāmitra uvāca yadi preṣyo mama bhavān caṇḍālāya tato mayā / dāsabhāvam anuprāpto datto vittārbudena vai //
Sinabi ni Viśvāmitra: “Kung ikaw ay aking lingkod, tunay ngang naipasa na kita sa isang Caṇḍāla. At nang ikaw ay napasailalim sa kalagayang pagkaalipin, ibinigay ka sa kanya kapalit ng isang arbuda ng yaman.”
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FAQs
The verse frames servitude as a legally/transactionally imposed condition (“given for an arbuda of wealth”) and highlights the dharmic tension between treating persons as commodities and the social stigma attached to being placed under a Caṇḍāla. In Purāṇic moral discourse, such statements typically serve to expose the gravity of coercion, the fragility of social standing, and the karmic/ethical weight borne by those who ‘give’ or ‘hand over’ another into degrading circumstances.
This verse is best classified under Vaṃśānucarita/Carita (narrative of persons and events), rather than Sarga/Pratisarga/Manvantara/Vaṃśa. It functions as a dialogue line within an episode, not as cosmology or genealogical enumeration.
Symbolically, ‘preṣya’ (one who is sent) and ‘dāsa-bhāva’ (bondage) can be read as metaphors for the jīva’s bondage under external forces (social, economic, or karmic). The transfer to a ‘Caṇḍāla’ underscores a descent into perceived impurity/alienation—an image often used in dharma literature to dramatize the loss of dignity and autonomy when one’s agency is surrendered to worldly valuation (“vitta”).