Harishchandra () is a legendary king of the Solar dynasty, who appears in several legends in texts such as the Aitareya Brahmana, Mahabharata, the Markandeya Purana, and the Devi Bhagavata Purana. The most famous of these stories is the one mentioned in the Markandeya Purana. According to this legend, Harishchandra gave away his kingdom, sold his family, and agreed to be a slave – all to fulfill a promise he had made to the sage Vishwamitra.
A similar story is narrated in the Ramayana, but the king's name is Ambarisha instead of Harishchandra.
King Harishchandra lived in the Treta Yuga. He was an honest, noble king. His subjects enjoyed prosperity and peace. He had a queen named Shaivya (also called Taramati) and a son named Rohitashva. Once, while on a hunting expedition, he heard the cries of a woman asking for help. Armed with a bow and arrow, he went in the direction of the sound. The sound was an illusion created by Vighnaraja, the lord of the obstacles. Vighnaraja was trying to disturb the tapasya (meditation) of the sage Vishwamitra. When he saw Harishchandra, he entered the king's body and started abusing Vishvamitra. This disturbed Vishwamitra's tapasya, and destroyed all the knowledge that the sage had acquired during this tapasya.
When Harishchandra came to his senses, he realized that the sage was extremely angry with him, and apologized. He promised to fulfill any of the sage's desires to get rid of his guilt. Vishvamitra demanded dakshina (donation) for his rajasuya yajna. The king asked him what he wanted in payment. In response, Vishvamitra said "Give me all that you have except yourself, your wife and your child." Harishchandra agreed to the demand. He let go of all his possessions – even his clothes. As he readied to leave his palace with his family, Vishvamitra demanded another donation. Harishchandra said that he did not have any possession left, but promised to make another donation within a month.
Harishchandra started living in penury with his wife and his family. His loyal subjects followed him. When Vishvamitra saw the king with his subjects, he started cursing Harishchandra for taking along his subjects (who were a part of the kingdom donated to the sage). The king then decided to leave the kingdom with his family. To make them go away sooner, Vishvamitra started beating the queen with a stick. When the five guardians of the directions saw this, they condemned Vishvamitra. The sage cursed them to be born as human beings. These guardian deities were born as the sons of the and Draupadi.
Nearly a month after leaving his kingdom, Harishchandra arrived in the holy city of Varanasi, only to see Vishvamitra already present there. The sage demanded the donation that the king had promised him. Harishchandra pointed out that there was still some time left in completion of one month. The sage agreed to come back at the next sunset and departed. As his hungry son cried for food, Harishchandra worried how would he be able to make a donation to the sage. His wife Shaivya suggested that he sell her to get some money. After some hesitation, Harishchandra accepted the proposal and sold her to an elderly man. Their child would not let go of his mother, so it was decided that he would accompany his mother (and an extra payment was made for him).
Soon after, Vishvamitra appeared again and demanded the donation. Harishchandra gave him all the money he had received from the sale of his wife and son. However, Vishvamitra was unhappy with the donation, and demanded more. Harishchandra then decided to sell himself. An Untouchability chandala (actually Yama in disguise) offered to buy him, but Harishchandra's self-respect as a high-caste Kshatriya would not allow this. He instead offered to be Vishwamitra's slave. Vishvamitra agreed, but then declared "Since you are my slave, you must obey me. I sell you to this chandala in exchange of gold coins." The chandala paid the sage, and took along Harishchandra as a slave.
The chandala employed Harishchandra as a worker at his Cremation. He directed Harishchandra to collect fees for every body cremated there: a part of the fee would go to the chandala, a part would be given to the local king, and the rest would be Harishchandra's remuneration. Harishchandra started living and working at the cremation ground. One day, he dreamed about his past lives, and realized that his current condition was a result of his past sins. During this nightmare, he also saw his queen crying before him. When he woke up, he saw his queen actually crying before him. She held the dead body of their son, who had died of a snake bite. Thinking of his misfortune, Harishchandra contemplated suicide, but realized that he would continue to pay for his sins in his next life.
Meanwhile, the queen readied to cremate their son's cadaver. But, Harishchandra told her that he would not let her do so without paying the fee. Meanwhile, all the deities appeared led by Yama and accompanied by Vishvamitra. They praised Harishchandra for his good qualities, and invited him to heaven.
But Harishchandra refused to go to heaven without his public who have lamented over his departure from his kingdom. He believes that they are the equal sharer in his merits and that he will only go heaven when his people also accompany him. He requested the king of devas, Indra to allow his people to go to heaven at least for a single day. Indra accepts his request, and he along with his people ascend to the heaven.
After his ascension to heaven, Vashistha – the sage of Harishchandra's royal dynasty – ended his tapasya of twelve years. He learned of what had happened to Harishchandra during these years. He quarreled with Vishvamitra, but was ultimately pacified by Brahma. Brahma explained to him that Vishvamitra was only testing the king, and had actually helped him ascend to Svarga.
Harishchandra has been the subject of many films in India. The earliest is Raja Harishchandra from 1913, written and directed by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke; it is the first full-length Indian feature film. Overview The New York Times. The first "talkie" of Marathi cinema, Ayodhyecha Raja (1932) directed by V. Shantaram, was also based on his life, starring Govindrao Tembe and Durga Khote as the lead roles. The film was later remade under the name Ayodhya Ka Raja (1932) in Hindi, making it the first double-language talkie of Indian cinema. The Firsts of Indian Cinema: Milestones from 1896 to 2000 Film and Television Producers Guild of India
Telugu cinema has produced few films on this hindu mythological subject, in 1935 with the title of Harishchandra was directed by P. Pullaiah starred by Addanki Srirama Murthy and P. Kannamba, in 1960 again with the same title of Harishchandra film was directed by Jampana Chandrashekara Rao and starred by S. V. Ranga Rao and C. Lakshmi Rajyam. The famously acclaimed Satya Harishchandra (1965 Telugu film) produced and directed by K. V. Reddy under the Vijaya Productions banner. It stars N. T. Rama Rao and S. Varalakshmi. K. V. Reddy produced the film simultaneously in Kannada with the same title, starring Dr. Rajkumar.
In Tamil K. B. Nagabhushanam directed Harischandra (1944 film) starred by P. U. Chinnappa and P. Kannamba, in the later years it was remade again in Tamil with the title of Harichandra (1968 film) directed by K. S. Prakash Rao starred by Sivaji Ganesan and G. Varalakshmi which was a popularly acclaimed movie for acting and dialogues. Also, in Tamil popular colloquial usage, Raja Harishchandra is synonymous with absolute adherence to the truth. A person is often chided as being "a Raja Harishchandra", if he tries to cling to truth even to the detriment of those related to him.
The Kannada epic Satya Harishchandra (1965 Kannada film) was based on 12th century Hoysala poet Raghavanka's work, Harishchandra Kavya starring Rajkumar. At the 13th National Film Awards, the film was awarded the President's silver medal for the Best Feature Film in Kannada. The film was hugely successful at the time of its release and is seen as a milestone in Kannada cinema. Satya Harishchandra was the third Indian and first South Indian film to be digitally coloured. The coloured version, released in April 2008, was a commercial success.
In 1985, a Bengali language film Harishchandra Shaibya was released based on the life of King Harishchandra. This film was directed by Ardhendu Chatterjee. It is also said that Harishchandra was a truthful man, who never lied in his life and is therefore also called Satyavadi (one who always speaks the truth). The king and the god tale was based on him.
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