"Who are you? You are not allowed to burn the corpse before you give up
its clothes to me, the slave of the lord of this place." She replies,
"Please wait a little. I will take off the clothes."
As the queen delivers the clothes into the hands of the slave, she
notices signs of royalty in his hands and is surprised that such a hand
is engaged in so low an office.
"She looks attentively and exclaims in a wild voice, Oh my lord! Oh
Maharaja! you a slave in this burning-ground! Oh lord Kausika! are you
not yet satisfied?" The queen rushes to embrace the king. The king
starts away from her and forbids her saying, "Oh my queen! do not touch
me, I am the slave of a Chandal. Be patient." She faints again.
The king cannot touch her as he is in the garb of a Chandal. After a
while, the queen recovers, and the king addresses her thus:--
"Oh my lady! Abandon lamentations. It is useless to lament. All this is
the result of work in previous lives. I will prepare a funeral pyre.
Apply the sacrament of fire to the dead body and return at once to the
house of your master." The queen is disconsolate and wants to remain
with her husband, who explains the situation thus:--"You have no right
to remain here. Do not forget that your person has been sold to the
Brahmin."
The queen understands and sighs.
All on a sudden, flowers are showered on their heads from Heaven, and
musical voices are heard on high proclaiming.
"Blessed is Maharaja Harischandra; Blessed is Rani Shaibya! unrivalled
in this world is the liberality, the patience, the resolution and the
wisdom of the king. No nobler man can be found in the three worlds."
The king and the queen stare motionless towards the Heavens.
Now virtue assumes the form of a hermit and makes this address.
"Victory to Maharaja Harischandra! You have astonished the world, I am
virtue incarnate. Virtue is never vain. As you have stuck to me all
along, I must reward you. I will send you to the heaven of _Brahma_,
where the greatest kings cannot enter by their truth, charity,
straightforwardness and sacrifices. You need not lament any more. Be
patient. By my blessing, your son Rohitashya will instantly regain
life". Rohitashya now starts up.
Then the king perceives, in clear vision acquired by the blessings of
Virtue, that lord Kausika, in order to try his virtue, deprived him of
his kingdom and placed the government in the hands of his own minister.
The Chandal, who is his master, is not a real character but virtue
incarnate.
The Brahmin and his wife, who were the master and mistress of the queen,
were not ordinary persons. The Brahmin was Siva, the god of gods,
incarnate. The Brahmani was the goddess Durga incarnate. By order of
virtue, the king and queen annoint, on the banks of the Ganges,
Rohitashya as king-associate or Yuvaraja, and return to the capital,
amidst the wild rejoicings of the subjects.
After a short stay there, the happy couple repair to the heaven of
_Brahma_.