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 ||
“Kauśika (Viśvāmitra) ấy sẽ còn gây nên cái chết cho con trai của ngươi. Hãy trở về cõi người và thật sự nếm trải phần sầu khổ còn lại. Khi ngươi đã đến đó, hỡi bậc vương tối thượng, phúc lành của ngươi sẽ thành tựu.”
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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.