Reading Notes: Harischandra, The King who Chose Rags Over Riches

This is an interesting story of trials and temptations. Harischandra, the king of Ayodhya, loses everything after he interrupts Sage Vishwamitra in the forest. He is forced to give the sage his kingdom as well as a dakshina (a concept I still don't completely understand) which causes him to sell his wife, son, and himself as slaves. Later, his son dies and he even denies his own wife the right to cremate their son without payment.

Well, it turns out this is all a test of Indra and the gods so everything is given back to Hirschandra. This is a very harsh test of devotion, but it's testing the man's devotion to his promises than any spiritual or moral values which I think is interesting. It appears that this story claims it is not only right, but expected to sell your wife and child if it means paying back your debts.

There have been similar stories that we have common across in the assigned readings with this themes as well. Each time I compare them to the testing of poor Job in the bible.

Bibliography: Harischandra, The King who Chose Rags Over Riches (Vol 577)
Image: Harischandra, Wikimedia Commons