Markandeya Purana

तात ! तातेति मधुरं ब्रुवाणं स्वयमागतम् । उपगुह्य वदिष्ये कं वत्स ! वत्सेति सौहृदात्॥८.

'My child! My child!'—when you would sweetly call out and come to me, whom shall I now embrace and affectionately call, 'My son! My son!'?

कस्य जानुप्रणीतेन पिङ्गेन क्षितिरेणुना । ममोत्तरीयमुत्सङ्गं तथाङ्गं मलमेष्यति॥८.

Whose knees, dusted with the earth's yellow soil, will now soil my upper garment and limbs as you once did?

अङ्गप्रत्यङ्गसम्भूतो मनोहृदयनन्दनः । मया कुपित्रा हा वत्स ! विक्रीतो येन वस्तुवत्॥८.

Born from my own body, delight of my heart and mind—alas, my son!—in anger I sold you as if you were a mere object.

हृत्वा राज्यमशेषं मे ससाधनधनं महत् । दैवाहिना नृशंसेन दष्टो मे तनयस्ततः॥८.

Having lost my entire kingdom, with all its great wealth and resources, my son has now been struck down by the cruel serpent of fate.

अहं दैवाहिदष्टस्य पुत्रस्याननपङ्कजम् । निरीक्षन्नपि घोरेण विषेणान्धीकृतोऽधुना॥८.

Now, as I look upon the lotus-face of my son, bitten by the serpent of fate, I am blinded by its dreadful poison.

एकमुक्त्तवा तमादाय बालकं बाष्पगद्गदः । परिष्वज्य च निश्चेष्टो मूर्च्छया निपपात ह॥८.

Taking up the boy, his only pearl, the king, his voice choked with tears, embraced him and, overcome by faintness, fell motionless.

; राजपत्न्युवाच अयं स पुरुषव्याघ्रः स्वरेणैवोपलक्ष्यते । विद्वज्जनमनश्चन्द्रो हरिश्चन्द्रो न संशयः॥८.

The queen said: 'This is indeed that tiger among men—by his very voice he is recognized. He is Harishchandra, the moon among the wise—there is no doubt.'

तथास्य नासिका तुङ्गा अग्रतोऽधोमुखं गता । दन्ताश्च मुकुलप्रख्याः ख्यातकीर्तेर्महात्मनः॥८.

His nose is high and prominent, his teeth like buds—such are the marks of that great-souled one, famed for his renown.

श्मशानमागतः कस्मादद्यैष स नरेश्वरः । अपहाय पुत्रशोकं सापश्यत् पतितं पतिम्॥८.

Why has this lord of men come to the cremation ground today? Setting aside her grief for her son, she saw her husband fallen.

प्रकृष्टा विस्मिता दीना भर्तृपुत्राधिपीडिता । वीक्षन्ती सा ततोऽपश्यद् भर्तृदण्डं जुगुप्सितम्॥८.

Overwhelmed, astonished, and afflicted by her husband and son's suffering, she then saw her husband's staff, which filled her with revulsion.

श्वपाकार्हमतो मोहं जगामायतलोचना । प्राप्य चेतश्च शनकैः सगद्गदमभाषत॥८.

Her wide eyes clouded by confusion, fit for an outcaste's fate, she slowly regained her senses and spoke in a choked voice.

धिक् त्वां दैवातिकरुणां निर्मर्यादं जुगुप्सितम् । येनायममरप्रख्यो नीतो राजा श्वपाकताम्॥८.

Shame on you, O merciless, lawless, and contemptible fate! By you, this king, equal to the immortals, has been reduced to the state of an outcaste.

राज्यनाशं सुहृत्त्यागं भार्या-तनयविक्रयम् । प्रापयित्वापि नो कुक्तश्चण्डालोऽयं कृतो नृपः॥८.

After causing us to lose the kingdom, abandon friends, and sell wife and son, you have made this king into a despised outcaste.

हा राजन् ! जातसन्तापामित्थं मां धरणीतलात् । उत्थाप्य नाद्य पर्यङ्कमारोहेति किमुच्यते॥८.

Alas, O King! Afflicted as I am, why does no one today lift me up from the ground and seat me upon the couch, as before?

नाद्य पश्यामि ते छत्रं भृङ्गारमथवा पुनः । चामरं व्यजनञ्चापि कोऽयं विधिविपर्ययः॥८.

Today I do not see your royal umbrella, nor the fly-whisk, nor even the yak-tail fan; what is this reversal of fate?

यस्याग्रे व्रजतः पूर्वं राजानो भृत्यतां गताः । स्वोत्तरीयैरकुर्वन्त नीरजस्कं महीतलम्॥८.

Before you, as you walked, even other kings became your attendants, and with their upper garments they swept the dust from the earth.

सोऽयं कपालसंलग्न-घटीघटनिरन्तरे । मृतनिर्माल्यसूत्रान्तर्गूग्केशे सुदारुणे॥८.

Now, with a skull fastened to his neck, with a string of broken pots, with hair matted with the remains of the dead, he is truly dreadful.

वसानिस्यन्दसंशुष्क-महीपुटकमण्डिते । भस्माङ्गारार्धदग्धास्थि-मज्जासङ्घट्टभीषणे॥८.

Adorned with a patch of earth dried by oozing fat, and terrifying with half-burnt bones, ashes, and marrow clinging together.

गृध्र-गोमायुनादार्तनष्टक्षुद्रविहङ्गमे । चिताधूमाततिरुचा नीलीकृतदिगन्तरे॥८.

Tormented by the cries of vultures and jackals, with small birds gone, and the horizon darkened by the smoke of the funeral pyre.

कुणपास्वादनमुदा सम्प्रहृष्टनिशाचरे । चरत्यमेध्ये राजेन्द्रः श्मशाने दुः खपीडितः॥८.

Delighting the night-wanderers by tasting corpses, the king, afflicted by sorrow, now roams in the impure cremation ground.

एवमुक्त्वा समाश्लिष्य कण्ठं राज्ञो नृपात्मजा । कष्टशोकशताधारा विललापार्तया गिरा॥८.

Having spoken thus, the king’s daughter embraced his neck and, overwhelmed by a hundred streams of grief, wailed in a voice full of pain.

; राजपत्न्युवाच राजन् ! स्वप्नोऽथ तथ्यं वा यदेतन्मन्यते भवान् । तत् कथ्यतां महाभाग मनो वै मुह्यते मम॥८.

The queen said: O King! Is this a dream, or is it reality? Please tell me, O blessed one, for my mind is bewildered.

यद्येतदेवं धर्मज्ञ नास्ति धर्मे सहायता । तथैव विप्रदेवादिपूजने पालने भुवः॥८.

If this is so, O knower of dharma, then there is no support in righteousness, nor in the worship and protection of Brahmins, gods, and the earth.

नास्ति धर्मः कुतः सत्यमार्जवं चानृशंसता । यत्र त्वं धर्मपरमः स्वराज्यादवरोपितः॥८.

There is no righteousness, nor truth, nor honesty, nor compassion, when you, devoted to dharma, have been cast down from your own kingdom.

इति तस्या वचः श्रुत्वा निश्वस्योष्णं सगद्गदम् । कथयामास तन्वङ्ग्या यथा प्राप्ता श्वपाकता॥८.

Hearing her words, he sighed hotly and, with a faltering voice, told his slender wife how he had come to this state among outcastes.

रुदित्वा सापि सुचिरं निश्वस्योष्णञ्च दुः खिता । स्वपुत्रमरणं भीरुर्यथावृत्तं न्यवेदयत्॥८.

She too, after weeping for a long time and sighing in distress, fearfully recounted the death of her son as it had happened.

; राजोवाच प्रिये ! न रोचये दीर्घं कालं क्लेशमुपासितुम् । नात्मायत्तश्च तन्वङ्गि पश्य मे मन्दभाग्यताम्॥८.

The king said: Beloved, I do not wish to endure suffering for a long time; my fate is not in my own hands, slender one—see my misfortune.

चण्डालेनाननुज्ञातः प्रवेक्ष्ये ज्वलनं यदि । चण्डालदासतां यास्ये पुनरप्यन्यजन्मनि॥८.

If I enter the fire without the permission of the outcaste, I will become a slave to the outcaste again in another birth.

नरके च तपिष्यामि कोटकः कृमिभोजनः । वैतरण्यां महापूय-वसासृक्-स्नायुपिच्छिले॥८.

In hell I will suffer, eaten by worms, in the Vaitarani river, thick with pus, blood, fat, and slippery with sinews.