Shloka 122
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
लकुटी कालकल्पश्च धावंश्चापि ततस्ततः ।
अस्मिन् शव इदं मूल्यं प्राप्तं प्राप्स्यामि चाप्युत ॥
lakuṭī kāla-kalpaś ca dhāvaṃś cāpi tatas tataḥ /
asmin śava idaṃ mūlyaṃ prāptaṃ prāpsyāmi cāpy uta
ہاتھ میں ڈنڈا لیے، موت کی مانند ہیبت ناک صورت والا وہ اِدھر اُدھر دوڑتا (کہتا تھا)—“اس لاش کے بدلے یہی قیمت مجھے ملی ہے—اور میں اسے ضرور حاصل کروں گا۔”
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FAQs
The verse critiques greed and moral collapse: even death becomes ‘commerce’ for the deluded; it warns that adharma turns sacred thresholds (death rites) into exploitation.
Ethical-narrative (ākhyāna) material used to evoke disgust and discrimination between dharma and adharma; not a pañcalakṣaṇa category passage.
‘Price of the corpse’ can symbolize the ego’s bargaining with impermanence—trying to extract gain from what is intrinsically transient.