{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/db/bk07ch19.htm","path":"hin/db/bk07ch19.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/db/bk07ch19.htm","text":"THE SEVENTH BOOK\nChapter XIX\nOn the taking away of Haris\u2019chandra\u2019s Kingdom\n1-12. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! Hearing thus the words of the King Haris\u2019chandra, the Maharsi Kaus\u2019ika smilingly said :-- \u201cO King! This T\u00eerath is very sacred; if one bathes here, one is cleansed of one\u2019s sins and virtue springs up. So, highly fortunate One! Bathe in this and do peace-offerings (tarpanam) to your fathers. O King! This time is very auspicious and highly meritorious; so take a bath in this sacred Punya T\u00eertha and make charities as far as it lies in your power. Sv\u00e2yambhuva Manu says :-- He, who arriving at a t\u00eertha capable to give high merits (Punya), does not bathe and make charities, deceives himself; so he is the slayer of his soul, no doubt. So, O King! Do meritorious acts as best as you can in this excellent t\u00eertha. Then I will shew you the way and you will go to Ayodhy\u00e2. O K\u00e2kutstha! Today I will be pleased with your gifts and I will accompany you to show you the way; this I have decided.\u201d Hearing the deceitful words of the Maharsi, the King took off his upper garments and tying the horse on to a tree, went towards the river to bathe according to due rites. O King! The accidental combination, that was to have been so (sure to come), so enchanted the King by the Muni\u2019s words, that he got himself entirely under the control of the Muni. He duly completed his bath and offered peace offerings to the Devas and the Pitris and then spoke to Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra. \u201cO Lord! I am now making gifts to you. O Fortunate One! Cows, lands, jewels, elephants, horses, chariots or horses, etc., anything that you like I will give you just now. There is nothing that I cannot give. When I performed previously the R\u00e2jas\u00fbya\nsacrifice, I took, then, before all the Munis, this vow. So, O Muni! You are also present at this principal T\u00eertha (place of pilgrimage); so express what you desire; I will give you your desired object.\u201d\n13-15. Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra said :-- \u201cO King! Your glory is spread far and wide in this world; especially I have already heard that there is no second man charitable like you. The Muni Vas\u2019istha has said :-- The\nKing of the solar dynasty, the Tris\u2019anku\u2019s son, Haris\u2019chandra is foremost and first amongst the kings in this world and there is no one so liberal-minded as he is; such a king there never was nor ever there will be. So, O King! Now the marriage time of my son has arrived; so I pray before you today, that you give me wealth to celebrate this marriage.\u201d\n16. The King said :-- \u201cO Br\u00e2hmin! Yes! Celebrate the marriage ceremony; I will give you your desired wealth. What more can be said than this that whatever wealth you would want, I will give that abundantly. There is no doubt in this.\u201d\n17-22. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! Hearing these words of the King, the Muni Kaus\u2019ika became ready to deceive him and originating the G\u00e2ndharb\u00ee M\u00e2y\u00e2, created a beautiful youth and one daughter aged ten years and showing them to the King, said, \u201cThe marriage of these two is to be celebrated today. O King! To marry the boys and the girls in the house-hold is to earn more merits than the R\u00e2jas\u00fbya sacrifice. So today you will get that desired fruit if you make charities for the marriage of this Br\u00e2hmin Youth.\u201d The King was much enchanted by his M\u00e2y\u00e2; so no sooner he heard those words, he immediately promised :-- \u201cThat will be done,\u201d he did not raise any objection whatsoever. Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra then showed the way and the King went to his city. Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra, too, thus deceiving the King, went back to his \u00c2s\u2019rama. When the King was staying in Agnis\u2019\u00e2l\u00e2 (cook-room), Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra Muni went to him and said :-- \u201cO King! The marriage rites have been finished; so today give me what I desire in this sacrificial hall.\u201d\n23-24. The King said :-- \u201cO Br\u00e2hmin! Speak out what you want; now I like to get fame. So if there be anything in the world, that is not to be given by me, if you want, I will give that even to you, no doubt. The mortal, possessing all wealth, if he does not earn good name and fame, capable to give happiness to him in his next world, passes his life in vain.\u201d\n25. Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra said :-- \u201cO King! Give to this bridegroom, while within this sacred sacrificial altar, your entire kingdom with the royal umbrella and Ch\u00e2mara for fanning the king and elephants, horses, chariots, infantry and all the gems and jewels.\u201d\n26-33. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! The King Haris\u2019chandra was deluded by his M\u00e2y\u00e2; so no sooner he heard the Muni\u2019s words, he willingly said without the slightest consideration :-- \u201cO Muni! I give as you pray, my this vast dominion to you.\u201d The very cruel Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra then said :-- \u201cO King! I have accepted your offer; but O Intelligent One! Give now the requisite Daksin\u00e2 to complete your gift. Manu says gift without Daksin\u00e2 is fruitless; so to get the fruit of your gift give Daksin\u00e2 as duly fixed.\u201d The King was exceedingly surprised to hear this and said :-- \u201cO Lord! Kindly say what amount of wealth am I to give to you as Daksin\u00e2. O Saint! Say the value of your Daksin\u00e2. O Ascetic! Don\u2019t be impatient; I will give you the Daksin\u00e2 to that amount, no doubt.\u201d Hearing this, Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra told to the King :-- \u201cAt present give me two and a half loads of gold as Daksin\u00e2.\u201d The King Haris\u2019chandra became greatly amazed and promised :-- \u201cI will give you that,\u201d he then anxiously mounted on his horseback and became ready to go quickly. At this time, his soldiers who lost their road in quest of their king, came to him. They were very glad to see him; but, seeing him anxious, they began to praise him in great haste.\n34-47. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! Hearing their words, the King did not say anything, good or bad; but thinking on his own doing entered into the zenana. Oh! What have I promised to give? I have made a gift of all that I have; I am cheated in this matter by the Muni like one robbed by a thief in a wilderness. My whole dominion including my dress I have promised to give to him. Moreover I will have to pay besides two and a half loads of gold. My brain seems to have been completely destroyed. What to do now? I did not know the cunningness of the Muni. Therefore I am cheated by this deceitful Br\u00e2hmin. It is next to impossible to understand the work of Daiva. Oh! My Fate! What will happen to me now? Very much bewildered the King entered in the interior of the palace. The queen seeing her husband immersed in cares, enquired into the cause, thus :-- \u201cO Lord Why have you become so absent-minded? Kindly say what you are thinking now? O King! The son has come back from the forest before you completed your R\u00e2jas\u00fbya sacrifice; why then are you in grief now? Kindly speak out the cause of your sorrow. Nowhere is your enemy, strong or weak; only Varuna was angry with you; now he is also very satisfied. So there is nothing further for you to do to think. O King! Owing to cares, this body gets weaker and weaker day by day. So nothing is like cares to lead one to death.\u201d When his dear wife said so, the King expressed to her somewhat the cause of his\ncares, good or bad. But the King was much absorbed with his cares so that he could not eat nor sleep though his bedding was perfectly white and clear. Early in the next morning, when, getting up from his bed, he was doing anxiously his morning duties, Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra came up there. When the sentinel informed the King of the arrival of Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra, he gave order for him to enter. Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra, the Looter of his all and everything, came before him and told the King who repeatedly bowed down to him :-- \u201cO King! Now leave your kingdom and give me the gold that you promised as Daksin\u00e2 and prove that you are truthful.\u201d\n48-63. Haris\u2019chandra said :-- \u201cO Lord! I have given you this vast dominion of mine; so my Kingdom has now become yours; I am leaving this Kingdom and going to somewhere else. O Kaus\u2019ika! You need not think a bit for this. O Br\u00e2hmana! You have taken my all according to the technical rule; so now I am unable to give you Daksin\u00e2. If, in time, wealth comes to me, I will at once give you your Daksin\u00e2.\u201d Saying him thus, the King told his wife S\u2019aivy\u00e2, and his son Rohita, \u201cIn this Agnihotra room I say that I have given my vast dominion to the Muni Vis'v\u00e2mitra. Elephants, horses, chariots, gold and jewels all I have given to him along with my kingdom. What more than this that save us three, everything else I have given to him. O Maharsi! Take fully this prosperous dominion; we are going somewhere else to a forest or a mountain cave.\u201d The exceedingly virtuous Haris\u2019chandra spoke thus to his wife and son, and, paying respects to the Muni, went out from his house. Seeing the King going thus away, his wife and son, afflicted with cares, followed him with their sad faces. Seeing thus, all the inhabitants of Ayodhy\u00e2 cried aloud, and great consternation and uproar arose in the city. O King! What is this act that you have done? How has this suffering come to you! O King! The great Fate, without any consideration, has certainly deceived you. The Br\u00e2hmanas, Ks\u2019attriyas, Vais\u2019yas and S\u2019\u00fbdras, all the four Varnas gave vent to their sorrows, when they saw the King going away with his wife and son. The Br\u00e2hmins and the other inhabitants of the city, all were afflicted with sorrows and began to abuse the vicious Br\u00e2hmana saying that \u201cHe is a cheat, etc.\u201d O King! Give the gold for Daksin\u00e2 and then go; or say that you will not be able to give and I will then not take the Daksin\u00e2. Or if you entertain within yourself any greed, then take back all your Kingdom. O King! If you think that you have really made this gift, then give what you have promised. The son of G\u00e2dhi was saying so, when the King Haris\u2019chandra very humbly bowed down to him with folded palms and said to him.\nHere ends the Nineteenth Chapter of the Seventh Book on the taking away of Haris\u2019chandra\u2019s Kingdom in the Mah\u00e2 Pur\u00e2nam S'r\u00ee Mad Dev\u00ee Bh\u00e2gavatam of 18,000 verses, by Maharsi Veda Vy\u00e2sa.","title":"The Devi Bhagavatam: The Seventh Book: Chapter 19","type":"page"}