Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
प्रकृष्टा विस्मिता दीना भर्तृपुत्राधिपीडिता ।
वीक्षन्ती सा ततोऽपश्यद् भर्तृदण्डं जुगुप्सितम् ॥
prakṛṣṭā vismitā dīnā bhartṛ-putrādhi-pīḍitā |
vīkṣantī sā tato 'paśyad bhartṛ-daṇḍaṃ jugupsitam ||
وہ ادھر اُدھر دیکھتے ہوئے سخت لرز اٹھی—حیران، درماندہ، شوہر اور بیٹے کی مصیبت سے رنجیدہ۔ تب اس نے اپنے شوہر کا وہ مکروہ عصا (اس کی پست حالت کی علامت) دیکھا۔
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The ‘loathsome staff’ embodies how external roles can invert; the verse invites discrimination between intrinsic worth and socially assigned occupation/status.
Outside pañcalakṣaṇa; serves the Purāṇic moral-narrative function of illustrating the fragility of worldly power.
Daṇḍa can symbolize ‘discipline’ or ‘fate’s rod’: the same sign that once implied authority now signifies abasement—showing the dual edge of power and karma.