A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.643

c5.643

HARIS-CHANDRA. Twenty-eighth king of the Solar race, and son of Tri-sanku. He was celebrated for his piety and justice. There are several legends about him. The Aitareya Brāhmana tells the story of his purchasing Sunah-sephas to be offered up as a vicarious sacrifice for his own son. (See Sunah-sephas.) The Mahā-bhārata relates that he was raised to the heaven of Indra for his performance of the Rāja-sūya sacrifice and for his unbounded liberality. The Mārkandeya Purāna expands the story at considerable length. One day while Haris-chandra was hunting he heard female lamentations, which proceeded "from the Sciences, who were being mastered by the austerely fervid sage Viswāmitra, and were crying out in alarm at his superiority." Haris-chandra, as defender of the distressed, went to the rescue, but Viswāmitra was so provoked by his interference that the Sciences instantly perished, and Haris-chandra was reduced to a state of abject helplessness. Viswāmitra demanded the sacrificial gift due to him as a Brāhman, and the king offered him whatever he might choose to ask, "gold, his own son, wife, body, life, kingdom, good fortune," whatever was dearest. Viswāmitra stripped him of wealth and kingdom, leaving him nothing but a garment of bark and his wife and son. In a state of destitution he left his kingdom, and Viswāmitra struck Saibyā, the queen, with his staff to hasten her reluctant departure. To escape from his oppressor he proceeded to the holy city of Benares, but the relentless sage was waiting for him and demanded the completion of the gift. With bitter grief wife and child were sold, and there remained only himself. Dharma, the god of justice, appeared in the form of a hideous and offensive Chandāla, and offered to buy him. Notwithstanding the exile's repugnance and horror, Viswāmitra insisted upon the sale, and Haris-chandra was carried off "bound, beaten, confused, and afflicted," to the abode of the Chandāla. He was sent by his master to steal grave-clothes from a cemetery. In this horrid place and degrading work he spent twelve months. His wife then came to the cemetery to perform the obsequies of her son, who had died from the bite of a serpent. They recognised each other, and Haris-chandra and his wife resolved to die upon the funeral pyre of their son, though he hesitated to take away his own life without the consent of his master. After all was prepared, he gave himself up to meditation on Vishnu. The gods then arrived, headed by Dharma and accompanied by Viswāmitra. Dharma entreated him to refrain from his intention, and Indra informed him “that he, his wife, and son, had conquered heaven by their good works.” Haris-chandra declared that he could not go to heaven without the permission of his master the Chandāla. Dharma then revealed himself. When this difficulty was removed, Haris-chandra objected to go to heaven without his faithful subjects. “This request was granted by Indra, and after Viswāmitra had inaugurated Rohitāswa, the king’s son, to be his successor, Haris-chandra, his friends, and followers, all ascended in company to heaven.” There he was induced by the sage Nārada to boast of his merits, and this led to his expulsion from heaven. As he was falling he repented of his fault and was forgiven. His downward course was arrested, and he and his followers dwell in an aerial city, which, according to popular belief, is still visible occasionally in mid-air.