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Harishchandra, in Hindu religious texts is the 36th king of the Solar Dynasty, Surya Maharishi Gothram (See: Vivasvan). His legend is very popular and often told as a benchmark for an ideal life. He was renowned for his piety and justice. His name is Sanskrit for "having golden splendour". Harishchandra had two unique qualities. The first being, he kept his word and never went back on what he uttered as a promise. The other being, he never uttered a lie in his life. These twin qualities were tested heavily in his life by various circumstances that led him to penury and separation from his family. But he stood to his principles in the face of all ordeals and persevered to become a symbol of courage.

The Legend of Harishchandra's ideal life

It is said that the great sage Vishwamitra, once approached Harishchandra and informed him of a promise made by the king during the sage's dream to donate his entire kingdom. Harishchandra was so virtuous, that he immediately made good his word and donated his entire kingdom to the sage and walked away with his wife and son.

Since, the entire world was under the sage after he donated his kingdom, the king had to go to Varanasi, a holy town dedicated to Lord Shiva. This was now the only place outside the influence of the sage. But the sage proclaimed that for an act of donation to be completed, an additional amount as Dakshina (honorarium) had to be paid. Harishchandra, with no money in his hands, had to sell his wife and son to a Brahmin Grihastha to pay for the Dakshina. When the money collected still did not suffice for the purpose, he sold himself to a guard at the cremation ground, who was in charge of collecting taxes for the bodies to be cremated.

The king, his wife and son had to sustain tremendous hardships doing their respective chores. The king helped the guard cremate the dead bodies, while his wife and son were used as household helpers at the house of the Brahmin. Once, the son had been to the garden to pluck flowers for his master's prayer, when he was bitten by a snake and he died instantly. His mother, having nobody to sympathise for her, carried his body to the cremation grounds. In acute penury, she could not even pay the taxes needed to cremate him. Harishchandra did not recognise his wife and son. He asked the lady to sell her golden mangalasutra and pay the tax. It is at this instance that his wife recognises the man as her husband. She has a boon that her husband only could see her mangalasutra. Harishchandra then came to her and recognised her as his wife and was stung by pangs of agony.

But, Harishchandra, was dutybound by his job to perform the cremation only after the acceptance of the tax. So, he asked his wife, if she was willing to undergo further hardships and stand by him in this hour of calamity. The faithful wife readily gave assent. She had in her possession only a saree, a part of which was used to cover the dead body of her son. She offers half of her lone dress as the tax, which Harishchandra could accept and perform the last rites of his son. When she proceeded to remove her dress, miracles happened.

Lord Vishnu, Indra and all Devas and the sage Vishwamitra himself manifested themselves on the scene, and praised Harishchandra for his perseverance and steadfastness. They brought his son back to life. They also offered the king and his wife, instant places in heaven. Harishchandra refused, stating that he was bound to his master, the guard. The Devas then reveal that the guard was none other than Yama. He again refused, saying that he cannot leave behind his subjects, by Kshatriya Dharma. He asked for a place in heaven for all his subjects. But the gods refused, explaining that the subjects had their own Karma and they have to undergo them. The king was then ready to forego all his virtues and religiousness for his people, so that they could ascend to heaven leaving him behind. The gods, now immensely pleased with the unassailable character of the great king, offered heavenly abode to the king, the queen and all their subjects. The sage Vishwamitra helped to populate the kingdom again and installed Harishchandra's son as the king.

Rohitashwa was the son of Harishchandra. He founded the town of Rohtas Garh in Rohtas district, Bihar as well as Rohtak, originally Rohitakul, meaning from the Kul (family) of Rohit. Rohatgi's are descendants of Rohitashwa. They are found mostly in Delhi, Patna (Bihar), Agra (UP) in North India. They are also present in Ajmer (Rajastan) with surname Chattree.

Influence on Mahatma Gandhi

This story affected Mahatma Gandhi, who was deeply influenced by the virtues of telling the truth when he watched the play of Harishchandra in his childhood. he Play Harischandra on the mind of Sri M.K.Gandhi: Gandhiji in his autobiography entitled – My Experiments with Truth has written the following lines- “ There was a similar incident connected with another play. Just about this time I had secured my father’s permission to see a play performed by a certain dramatic company. This play Harischandra captured my heart. I could never be tired of seeing it. But how often should I be permitted to go? It haunted me and I must have acted Harischandra to myself times without number. –“why should not all be truthful like Harischandra? “was the question I asked myself day and night. To follow truth and to go through all the ordeals Harischandra went through was the one idea it inspired in me. “- Chapter 2, My Experiments with Truth-Autobiography of M.K.Gandhi

Banishment of the Royal Sage Harischandra and his family from his kingdom(MARKANDEYA PURANA) The pathetic story of Raja Harischandra is described in detail in the chapter VII of the Markandeya Purana. The story is narrated in the form of a dialogue between some very intelligent and all-knowing birds and the sage Jaimini. The sage came to the birds to get answers for some doubts lurking in his mind regarding the great epic Mahabharat ,.One of the doubts being –“Why were the five children of Draupadi murdered when they were under the protection of Lord Krishna and the great warrior Arjuna. In answer to this question the birds tell the pathetic tale of Raja Harischandra who because of his strict adherence to Truth and honesty had to lose his kingdom, sell his wife and son as slaves and also himself become a slave to a low caste man, who works in the cremation ground and how he, his wife and son lost their lives in the cremation ground itself on the banks of the river Ganga in Kashi. The details of the episode are as follows- In Treta Yuga there lived a royal saint named Harischandra . He was virtuous and famous for his adherence to the path of truth. He was renowned as the one king who kept his word at any cost (as is the custom of kings that were born in the solar dynasty) . He performed many horse-sacrifices and even performed the great Rajasuya Yagna( a king has to subdue all his neighboring kings before performing the Yagna). In his rule the people did not suffer from any natural calamities like draught or floods or any other difficulties such as famine disease or untimely death etc. No woman gave birth to any child before her marriage.

                   One day it so happened that when the king was chasing a deer with his bow and arrow in a forest he heard the cries of a feminine voice calling “save me”  The king stopped chasing the deer and rushed to the spot from where the sounds had  come, uttering the words –“no fear”. He  also shouted –“who is that wicked person who is doing wrong in my kingdom”.  During that time the great sage Viswamitra was engaged in a very severe meditation, through which he could control all the Bhavas (  feelings and emotions like forgiveness ,silence, self-control  etc. which are  free and universal in nature).  When Viswamitra was trying to conquer them one by one they let out a cry asking for help so that they may be liberated from his clutches. .  As Harischandra was rushing towards the hermitage from where the cries were emanating, the dreadful deity of Obstacles (something like Nemesis) saw that the cries were coming from the hermitage of sage Viswamitra, Nemesis thought –‘ we are very weak before this highly powerful sage. Viswamitra’.  But when he saw the king rushing towards the hermitage the demigod thought that he will enter the body of the king and make him shout in a harsh voice  so that the most dreaded sage will be disturbed from his meditation.  As a result  the angry king entered the cottage and saw that some person who in the guise of a sage was trying to  moles some woman  , he shouted-“ who is the fellow that is trying  to  control fire with the ends of his cloth ?, while I the king burning with  strength and energy,  am present here ? Who is this man that is going to sleep eternally being pierced with the arrows from my bow?  
                           Listening to these words the sage was greatly disturbed and lost his concentration. He lost control of himself and became terribly angry.  When the great Sage was overcome with anger all the emotions he was trying to control   became free and flew away from him. Recognizing the great sage King Harischandra began to tremble like the leaf of an Asoka tree. He bowed down before the sage with humility and asked for forgiveness as he was simply performing his duties as a king. He said that the main duties of a king are to perform charities, to protect people in distress and fight by lifting his bow. 
  Then Viswamitra asked the king- “to whom shall you give charities, whom shall you protect? And with whom are you expected to fight?”  The king replied that the charities should be made to the Brahmanas, who are knowledgeable persons, and who do not get   any profit out of their knowledge. The king should protect those that are afraid or oppressed, and a king should always fight with robbers. Then Viswamitra told him –“I am appearing before you as a Brahmana desirous of begging something, will you grant me?
The king felt greatly relieved as if he got back his life after certain death. He answered the sage – “Please tell me what you want and I will give it to you however difficult it may be to procure. Please consider that it is already granted. You may ask for silver, gold, son, Wife, body, life, kingdom, fortune or any other thing.

The sage accepted the offer and told him “first give me the Dakshina of your Rajasuya sacrifice.( It is customary for kings to offer Dakshina (something like service charges or remuneration) to all the priests and scholars who attend a sacrifice or a holy ritual. . The king thought that since Viswamitra was not present at the Rajasuya sacrifice he did not get any Dakshina at that time and so he is demanding the same. The king said that he will gladly give and asked the sage to express what else he wanted. Then the cunning sage said-“give me your entire kingdom including your chariots, elephants, horses your wealth, everything except your body, your wife and your son. Give me also the Punya (fruits of all good works one has done in his life-time and which will accompany a person after his death). The King without any hesitation said –“so be it “.

              The sage said, “now since I am the owner of all that you have possessed, , leave your ornaments. Dress etc. and go away from your kingdom with your wife and son wearing only the bark of a tree. “The king said “so be it “and started with his wife Saivya  and his son Lohitaswa/Rohitashwa. Then Viswamitra stood in the way of the king and told him –“o king, where are you intending to go without paying my Dakshina,  which you have already  promised a few moments ago?  You are not going to reap the benefits of your Rajasuya sacrifice unless you pay sufficient Dakshina as promised.  King Harischandra was taken aback. He replied that he had nothing to give at present and requested the sage to give him one month’s time to pay him the Dakshina.  Viswamitra agreed to give him one month time and asked him to leave immediately. He said –“Farewell on the way, May not the robbers disturb you”.  The queen who was never used to walk on earth followed him with her son. All the citizens of his capital also tried to follow them. 
                          When they saw Harischandra  the great  King. Whose servants mounted on elephants used to lead the way while he was proceeding on his horse to any place in and out of his capital, the citizens could not control their anguish. They wanted to follow him saying-“Wherever you will be, we will go along with you. Where ever you live there lays our happiness. Our heaven lies at the place where our king lives.” Listening to their pitiful cries the king stopped on his way for a while.  Immediately Viswamitra approached him with angry eyes and scolded him for stopping on his way. Then the king began to walk speedily dragging his wife along with him. The queen who was tender and exhausted could not walk so fast. Then Viswamitra all of a sudden began to beat her with his wand.  Seeing this also the king kept  his  cool and continued to walk.  The five universal Gods who are called Viswadevas who were witnessing this from above were moved with pity. They said that how did this Viswamitra  who  was once the King of Gath,( Viswamitra is also called Gadheya – the son of Gath/Gadh)  after being deprived of his kingdom,  become a sage and become arrogant after drinking the Soma juice, which is offered to Gods during sacrifices. Where does he belong to?”

Listening to the above remarks Viswamitra became still angrier. He cursed the five Gods-“You shall all take birth as human beings”. The Gods were agitated, came down and offered apologies profusely. Then Viswamitra said ,” Although you will be born as men, you will not get wives and children, thus remaining unstained from lust and anger you will regain your celestial status after your death as human beings. The intelligent Birds who were narrating the story told the sage who was listening to the episode that these Gods at a later date were born as the five sons of Draupadi, the noble wife of the five Pandavas in the times of Mahabharat ( atleast after a thousand years). Just as the sage has predicted these five boys were murdered at midnight on the last day of the Mahabharat war, by Aswathama son of the illustrious teacher Dronacharya.

                        The king proceeded on foot with his wife and his son and reached the main gate of the city of Kasi after a month. But the king was surprised to see sage Viswamitra already waiting for him at the entrance of the holy city.  The sage remarked,” one month is over o’ royal sage, give me my Dakshina or I will send you to hell. “The king requested the sage to wait  till  the sunset before which time he would pay the Dakshina. Then the story goes that the king sold his wife and son to a rich Brahmana and received a fair amount. But since the sage insisted that the amount was insufficient he wanted to sell himself for the balance amount to be paid to the sage.  A rich Chandala, a person who takes care of the corpses and burns them in the cremation ground at Manikarnika Ghat tried to purchase him. The king was reluctant to serve as a slave to a chandala, the hang man who is also in charge of cremation of dead bodies. He asked the sage to accept him as his   slave. But the sage said that if the king became his slave, he himself would sell him to the Chandala. Thus King Harischandra  was taken to the house of the Chandala who told him-“ For every corpse a sixth of the proceeds is to be given to the king. Three are mine and two are your wages. Then they went to the house of the dead  situated to the south of Varansi.
                 The purana  gives a beautiful description of the gory  conditions under which the unfortunate king worked for 12 years.  “The cremation ground was filled with terrible sounds, a pack of jackals, scattered with the skulls of  the corpses giving out a detestable smell., profuse  smoke, abounding in malevolent spirits, ghosts, goblins, female imps, and Yakshas, heart  rendering cries of the relatives, cracking sounds of burning flesh etc.”
                The king was clad in blankets ., made of rags stitched , covered with ashes. He worked there for twelve years and slowly forgot about his wife and son.One day taking her own dead son bitten by a serpent   approached him. 
                  .  In the end  the king and the queen recognize each other and fell down motionless by the side of the dead body of their son. The Purana says that they were revived by a host of Gods and taken to heaven along with all the subjects of the king. The famous Manikarnika  Ghat where the king worked as a slave is also called Harischandra Ghat.

Reference: Markandeya Puranam, published by Manmathnath Dutt,Printed at Elysium Press, Beadon street, Calcutta, in the year 1896.

Representations in Hindu Scriptures

He is the central figure of some legends in the Aitareya-brahmana, Mahabharata and the Markandeya Purana. In the first he is represented as so desirous of a son that he vows to Varuna that if his prayer is granted the boy shall be eventually sacrificed to the latter. The child is born, but Harishchandra, after many delays, arranges to purchase another's son and make a vicarious sacrifice. According to the Mahabharata he is at last promoted to Paradise as the reward for his munificent charity.

In popular culture

Harishchandra has been the subject of many films in India. The earliest is Raja Harishchandra from 1913, written and directed by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, which is the first full-length Indian feature film., 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. A very popular Kannada film, Satya Harishchandra, was based on the life of Raja Harishchandra. It was released in 1965, with the Kannada actor Dr Rajkumar playing the lead role. The film originally in black and white, was so popular even after four decades that it was later digitally colored and re-released on Dr Rajkumar's birth anniversary in 2008.

References

1. Overview New York Times.
2. The Firsts of Indian Cinema: Milestones from 1896-2000 Film and Television Producers Guild of India

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• A good look at this man's life story
• A very good website for all Rastogi Rustagi Rohatgi clan
• Upanishad Ganga Episode 9 - The Human Goal - Dharma - Raja Harishchandra

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