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 //
“Vậy ta phải từ bỏ mạng sống chăng? Hay khi đã hoàn toàn trắng tay, ta sẽ đi về phương nào? Nếu số phận ta định phải tiêu vong, thì xin đừng (để ta tiêu vong) trước khi hoàn thành điều ta đã hứa.”
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.