Hariśchandra

Early Life

Hariśchandra was a king of the Tretā-yuga whose unwavering commitment to satya (truth) and dharma (righteous order) is tested through extreme loss, humiliation and suffering. He falls from sovereign of a prosperous kingdom to servant of a caṇḍāla at a cremation ground, and is eventual restored and ascends to svarga (heaven) along with his subjects.

Though recounted in many Purāṇās, in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, his life is narrated as an upākhyāna (sub-narrative) addressed to the sage Jaimini by a group of wise divine birds. They were answering Jaimini’s questions about fate, merit, suffering and the extraordinary trials of Hariścandra, explaining how he came to face such hardships and how he ultimately attained a blessed state.

Ideal reign in Tretā-yuga

Hariścandra was a renowned, virtuous monarch, a protector of his people and a steadfast dhārmika. During his reign, the citizens experience no famine, disease or untimely death. People in his reign were described as free from serious adharma such as deceit and cruelty; they do not suffer from arrogance born of wealth, power, valor or austerity. Even women who had not yet reached youth were not deprived of progeny, and the entire realm lived in material and moral well-being under his rule.

Viśvāmitra’s concern

One day, Hariścandra goes hunting in the forest. While he is occupied with the hunt, he repeatedly hears the cry “Protect me, protect me,” as if from a woman in distress. The king immediately abandons the hunt, declares that no wrongdoing can occur while he rules the earth, and follows the voice to rescue the one crying for help.

At this time, the sage Viśvāmitra (also called Kauśika) is performing intense tapas (austerity) in that same forest. His ascetic practice is so powerful that the devas themselves are disturbed and fearful, as his tapas is directed toward mastering profound vidyās and attaining divine powers. The king boasts that he will destroy any evil-doer threatening his subjects. Hearing this, Viśvāmitra becomes furious. His wrath immediately causes the devas who had opposed him to become powerless, and the king himself trembles in fear when he suddenly beholds the radiant, enraged sage before him.

Hariścandra bows and offers a respectful defense: as a king, he explains, it is his dharma to protect his subjects, give charity and wage war when necessary. Viśvāmitra challenges him by asking to whom he will give, whom he will protect and with whom he will fight if he truly upholds this dharma. The king replies that charity should be offered especially to brāhmaṇa-s and others with no means of livelihood, that the fearful must always be protected, and that enemies are to be opposed in battle.

Satisfied that the king understands rāja-dharma, Viśvāmitra reveals that he is a brāhmaṇa preparing a rājasūya-yajña and demands dakṣiṇā (ritual fee). Hariścandra, overjoyed to honor a brāhmaṇa, promises to give whatever the sage desires: gold, wealth, his body, his life, his kingdom or his cities.

Gift of the kingdom and deadline for dakṣiṇā

Viśvāmitra asks not only for the kingdom but for the entire earth with its cities, villages, forts, armies, chariots, elephants and treasures as dakṣiṇā for his rājasūya-yajña. He further declares that all internal treasures, including the royal treasury and household riches, must also be given, leaving only Hariścandra’s bare body, his wife and son. Hariścandra hands over his kingdom and all possessions. From that very moment, Viśvāmitra asserts his sovereignty and commands Hariścandra, his wife and son to abandon royal ornaments, garments and pleasures, to put on bark or coarse cloth and to leave the city.

As Hariścandra departs with his wife and son, the citizens, ministers and attendants are heartbroken. They implore him not to abandon them, praising his justice and compassion and declaring that their only true wealth is his presence. The king, grieved by their words and under Viśvāmitra’s stern gaze, continues his departure.

Before he has gone far, Viśvāmitra reminds him that the full dakṣiṇā for the rājasūya-yajña is still unpaid. Hariścandra protests that he has already given his entire kingdom and wealth. Viśvāmitra responds that beyond the kingdom he requires additional dakṣiṇā in accordance with śāstra: sufficient wealth to satisfy the brāhmaṇas participating in the yajña and to fund gifts, protection and warfare. When Hariścandra explains that he currently has nothing, Viśvāmitra sets a strict deadline: the remaining dakṣiṇā must be paid within one month. Failing that, the sage threatens to curse the king. Hariścandra agrees to the condition.

Journey to Kāśī and renewed demand

Hariścandra, his wife Candramatī (also called Śaibyā as she was a descendant of King Śaibya) and their young son Lohitāśva set out on foot, stripped of wealth and royal status. They travel in sorrow and eventually reach Kāśī. As Kāśī is a city protected and ruled by Śiva, it is not considered to be the part of the kingdom that Hariścandra gave away to Viśvāmitra.

As soon as they enter Kāśī, Viśvāmitra appears again and reminds Hariścandra that the month’s grace is ending and the remaining dakṣiṇā is still unpaid. The king requests a little more time; the sage grants only half a day and warns that if the fee is not paid before sunset, he will pronounce a terrible curse.

Sale of wife and son

Hariścandra is tormented by the question of how to raise the dakṣiṇā. Having no wealth and unwilling to beg, he contemplates selling his own body or accepting a life of servitude as preferable to committing brahma-droha (offense against brāhmaṇa-s) by failing to honor his promise.

At this point Śaibyā speaks. She reminds the king that for a householder, caring for one’s spouse is itself a central aspect of dharma and that disregarding one’s wife brings the downfall of sacrifices, study and charity. She cites the example of a king who fell from heaven because of a single harsh word to his wife. She then makes a radical proposal: since she has at least been blessed with a son, she suggests that she herself, along with the child, be given as dakṣiṇā in order to uphold his vow.

Hariścandra faints on hearing this, but after regaining consciousness and lamenting his fate, he resolves to do whatever is necessary to fulfill his pledge. Returning to the city, he publicly announces that he is prepared to sell his wife into servitude for a fair price so that he may satisfy the brāhmaṇa’s demand.

An elderly brāhmaṇa appears and offers to buy Śaibyā as a maidservant, explaining that his own wife is frail and unable to manage household tasks. Despite intense grief, Hariścandra allows the sale. The brāhmaṇa takes both Śaibyā and Lohitāśva away, binding them. The child clings to his mother, crying out for both parents. Śaibyā begs for one last embrace of her son and husband before being led away.

Sale of the king to the caṇḍāla

Even after selling his wife and son, Hariścandra still lacks sufficient wealth to meet Viśvāmitra’s standard for dakṣiṇā. When Viśvāmitra returns and expresses anger at the meager amount raised, the king begs for more time, but the sage insists that only a small portion of the required fee has been paid.

Facing the threat of a curse, Hariścandra decides to sell himself. He publicly declares that anyone who pays the remaining amount may take him as a slave. A caṇḍāla, described as a fearsome man named Praveera who dwells in a settlement of outcastes, steps forward and offers a large sum.

Hariścandra initially recoils from becoming the servant of a caṇḍāla, thinking it worse than incurring Viśvāmitra’s curse. But the sage insists that the offer is more than sufficient and that refusing it will result in immediate destruction through his tapas. Under this pressure, Hariścandra agrees. Viśvāmitra accepts the payment, declares his yajña’s dakṣiṇā fully received, and departs satisfied.

The caṇḍāla binds Hariścandra, and drags him to his settlement. There the former king is ordered to serve as keeper of the cremation ground on the banks of the Gaṅgā near Vārāṇasī, collecting fees and performing menial tasks related to funerary rites.

Life in the cremation ground

Hariścandra’s new dwelling is described in stark detail. The cremation ground is filled with skulls, bones, half-burnt corpses and ashes. It is haunted by bhūtās, pretās, piśācās, vetālās and other frightening beings. Jackals and dogs howl and fight over flesh. The air is thick with smoke and foul odours. Relatives weep and wail over their dead, crying “Alas, father! Alas, mother! Alas, lord!” while funeral pyres crackle and flames consume bodies.

Hariścandra, clothed in rags, his body emaciated and covered in dust and ash, roams this place day and night. Armed with a staff, he measures out portions of corpses as “share” due to the king, keeps account of cremation fees, and enforces the caṇḍāla’s rules. His life of royal comfort is replaced by ceaseless contact with death and impurity.

The dream of hells and multiple births

After a long period of such service, Hariścandra, exhausted by sorrow and toil, lies down and falls into a deep sleep. In that sleep he experiences a vivid and terrifying dream.

In the dream, he sees himself reborn as a caṇḍāla boy, again serving in a cremation ground. When he demands cremation fees from the relatives of a dead brāhmaṇa, they curse him for his past sins, declaring that he once robbed a brāhmaṇa of his due and that he will fall into ghastly narakās (hells) as a result. Immediately he is seized by Yama’s messengers, bound and dragged to infernal realms such as Tilaḍoha and Andatāmasa. There he is boiled, cut, tormented by insects, plunged into rivers of blood and filth like Vaitaraṇī, and subjected to countless forms of agony.

Time stretches so that a single day in these narakās seems equivalent to hundreds of years. After long suffering he is reborn successively as a dog, donkey, elephant, monkey, goat, cat, bird, reptile, fish and many other creatures, experiencing pain and fear in each form. Finally, after what seems like a hundred years of such cycles, he is reborn again among humans and once more becomes a king, only to lose his kingdom through gambling and misfortune and return to the forest, where a lion prepares to devour him.

At the climactic moment, he awakens and realizes that all of these experiences were a dream. He wonders whether many years have passed and questions his companions about the time, discovering that in the waking world only a limited period has elapsed. The dream serves as an inner revelation of the consequences of adharma and the immense weight of his vows.

Śaibyā and Lohitāśva at the cremation ground

While Hariścandra continues his duties at the cremation ground, Śaibyā endures service in the brāhmaṇa’s house along with Lohitāśva. One day, while gathering flowers in the forest, Lohitāśva is bitten by a serpent and dies. Overwhelmed with grief, Śaibyā carries the boy’s body to the cremation ground to perform his last rites.

Her hair loose, garments torn, and body covered in dust, Śaibyā wails over her son, lamenting his fate and calling upon her absent husband, not recognizing that the cremation-ground keeper before her is Hariścandra himself, so transformed is he by hardship. When she attempts to place the child’s body on the pyre, Hariścandra stops her and asks for the cremation fee, as required by his duty. She replies that she has nothing left, having already been sold into servitude, and begs him to allow the cremation as an act of compassion. The king, torn by grief and obligation, insists that he cannot neglect the caṇḍāla’s orders, even in the face of such personal suffering.

Eventually, through their words and mutual recognition of distinctive marks and memories, husband and wife realize who the other is. Hariścandra learns that the dead boy is his own son Lohitāśva. Overcome, he laments that his adherence to truth and vow has led to the loss of his kingdom, his wife’s enslavement and now his son’s death.

Despite this, he refuses to abandon his duty. Śaibyā, sharing his resolve, declares that she will enter the fire with her son, preferring death to continued separation and dishonor. Hariścandra contemplates doing the same, thinking that there is no greater sorrow than the loss of one’s child and that even the worst narakās cannot exceed this grief.

Appearance of the deities and revelation of Dharma

As husband and wife prepare to enter the funeral fire, devas led by Dharma-deva and Indra descend, accompanied by Viśvāmitra and many other divine beings, including the Vasus, Rudras, Maruts, Siddhās, Gandharvās and Nāgās.

Dharma-deva addresses Hariścandra, praising his extraordinary kṣamā (forbearance), self-control and unwavering adherence to satya and dharma even in extreme distress. Indra likewise extols him, stating that through his conduct he has conquered all worlds and made svarga easily attainable not only for himself but for others.

Dharma-deva then reveals that the caṇḍāla who purchased Hariścandra was in truth Dharma himself, who had assumed that form to test the king. The apparent bondage and humiliation were thus part of a divine examination of his steadfastness.

Indra extinguishes the funeral fire by causing amṛta-like rain to fall and orders that Lohitāśva be restored to life. The boy rises, healthy and radiant, and is embraced by his parents. At the same moment, Hariścandra’s ragged garments vanish, and he, Śaibyā and Lohitāśva are adorned with celestial garments, ornaments and garlands. Their bodies become resplendent, free from the marks of suffering.

Ascent to heaven and concern for the citizens

Indra invites Hariścandra to ascend to svarga (heaven) along with his wife and son, promising him a high position among the devas as the fruit of his tapas and steadfastness.

Hariścandra, however, raises a crucial objection. He recalls the citizens of Ayodhyā, who had grieved deeply at his departure and remained devoted to him. He compares abandoning them to grave sins such as brahma-hatyā, go-hatyā and the killing of women, asserting that leaving loyal subjects without protection is a comparable offense. He declares that he would rather go to naraka with them than to svarga alone.

Indra initially argues that the citizens have their own mixture of puṇya and pāpa and cannot automatically share Hariścandra’s merit. The king responds that whatever great works he performed—yajña-s, dāna-s, construction of wells and ponds—were all accomplished through their support, and that his puṇya is inseparable from theirs. He therefore requests that at least for one day they be allowed to enjoy svarga with him, sharing the fruits of his merits.

Moved by this selfless concern, Indra agrees. Dharma-deva and Viśvāmitra accompany him to Ayodhyā. There, Indra announces to the four varṇās of the city that, by the grace of Dharma-deva, they are all granted access to svarga. Countless vimānās descend, and the citizens, along with their families, ascend joyously.

Before Hariścandra departs, Viśvāmitra enthrones Lohitāśva as king of Ayodhyā, performing abhiṣeka in the presence of devas and sages. Once the succession is secured, Hariścandra ascends to svarga with the citizens, where he eventually attains even the status of Indra through the power of his titīkṣā (forbearance) and dāna.

Religious significance and phala-śruti

At the conclusion of the narrative, the sage Śukrācārya praises Hariścandra as a unique king, declaring that there is none like him in the three worlds and that no other ruler has ever taken an entire city of subjects to svarga through the force of his own puṇya.

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa extols the merit gained by listening to or reciting the Hariścandra-upākhyāna. Hearing it with bhakti and faith is said to grant the fruits of studying Vedās and Purāṇās, performing great yajñās, visiting sacred tīrthās such as Puṣkara, Prayāga, Sindhu-sāgara-saṅgama, Kurukṣetra and Kāśī, and undertaking vratas during auspicious times such as eclipses and equinoxes. It is also stated that one who hears this story with controlled senses and devotion attains multiplied merit and prosperity.

In this way, the life of Hariścandra, as presented in this Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, becomes both an exemplar of extreme fidelity to satya (truth) and dharma (righteousness) and a theological illustration of how steadfast righteousness, even amidst unbearable suffering, leads not only to personal liberation but also to the uplift of an entire community.