initial commit of ebook 7169HEADmain

6 files changed, 4006 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/7mark10.txt b/old/7mark10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42c3db1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/7mark10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1333 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Markandeya Purana, Books VII., VIII.
+Translated by Rev. B. Hale Wortham
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Markandeya Purana, Books VII. VIII
+
+Translator: Rev. B. Hale Wortham
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7169]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 20, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARKANDEYA PURANA, BOOKS VII., VIII. ***
+
+
+
+
+Originally scanned at sacred-texts.com by John B. Hare
+This eBook was produced by Chetan Jain at BharatLiterature
+
+
+
+
+Markandeya Purana
+
+Books VII and VIII.
+
+
+
+JOURNAL
+
+OF
+
+THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.
+
+
+
+[New Series, Volume XIII]
+
+[London, Trubner and Company]
+
+[1881]
+
+
+Scanned and edited by Christopher M. Weimer, May 2002
+
+
+
+
+ART. XIII.--__Translation of the Markandeya Purana__
+Books VII. VIII.  By the Rev. B. HALE WORTHAM.
+
+
+
+BOOK VII.
+
+
+ONCE upon earth there lived a saintly king
+Named Harischandra; pure in heart and mind,
+In virtue eminent, he ruled the world,
+Guarding mankind from evil.  While he reigned
+No famine raged, nor pain; untimely death
+Ne'er cut men off; nor were the citizens
+Of his fair city lawless.  All their wealth,
+And power, and works of righteousness, ne'er filled
+Their hearts with pride; in everlasting youth
+And loveliness the women passed their days.
+
+It so fell out, that while this mighty king
+Was hunting in the forest, that he heard
+The sound of female voices raised in cry
+Of supplication.  Then he turned and said,
+Leaving the deer to fly unheeded: "Stop!
+Who art thou, full of tyranny and hate,
+That darest thus oppress the earth; while I,
+The tamer of all evil, live and rule?"
+Then, too, the fierce Ganesa,--he who blinds
+The eyes, and foils the wills of men,--he heard
+The cry, and thus within himself he thought:
+"This surely is the great ascetic's work,
+The mighty Visvamitra; he whose acts
+Display the fruits of penance hard and sore.
+Upon the sciences he shows his power,
+While they, in patience, discipline of mind,
+And silence perfected, cry out with fear,
+'What shall we do?  The illustrious Kausika
+Is powerful; and we, compared with him,
+Are feeble.'  Thus they cry.  What shall I do?
+My mind is filled with doubt.  Yet stay; a thought
+Has come across me: Lo! this king who cries
+Unceasingly, 'Fear not!' meeting with him,
+And entering his heart, I will fulfil
+All my desire."  Then filled with Rudra's son--
+Inspired with rage by Vigna Raj--the king
+Spake up and said: "What evil doer is here,
+Binding the fire on his garment's hem,
+While I, his king, in power and arms renowned,
+Resplendent in my glory, pass for nought?
+Surely the never-ending sleep of death
+Shall overtake him, and his limbs shall fail,
+Smitten with darts from my far-reaching bow,
+Whose fame this lower world may scarce contain."
+Hearing the prince's words, the saint was filled
+With wrath o'erpow'ring, and the sciences
+Fell blasted in a moment at his glance.
+
+But when the king beheld the pious sage
+All-powerful, he quaked exceedingly,
+And trembled like the sacred fig-tree's leaves.
+Then Visvamitra cried: "Stop, miscreant!"
+And Harischandra, humbly falling down
+Before the saint, in accents low and meek:
+"O Lord! most holy! most adorable!
+Oh, blame me not!  This is no fault of mine!
+My duty calls," he said, "I must obey."
+"Is it not written in the Holy Law,
+'Alms must be given by a virtuous king;
+His people must be fought for, and be kept
+From every ill'?"  Then Visvamitra spoke
+And said: "To whom, O king, should'st thou give alms?
+For whom in battle should'st thou fight? and whom
+Should'st thou protect?  Oh, tell me, nor delay,
+But quickly answer, if thou fearest sin."
+"Alms should be given to Brahmans," said the king:
+"Those who are weak should be protected: foes
+In battle should be met and overcome."
+
+Then Visvamitra spoke and said: "O king!
+If thus indeed thou rightly dost perceive
+Thy royal duty, give thine alms to me;
+I am a holy Brahman, and I seek
+A dwelling-place; moreover I would gain
+A wife: therefore bestow on me thine alms."
+The king, his heart filled with exceeding joy,
+Felt, as it were, his youth return, and said:
+"Fear not! but tell me, son of Kausika,
+Thy heart's desire; and be it hard to gain,
+Or be it easy, it shall still be thine.
+Say, shall I give thee gold, or wealth, or life?
+Or shall I give thee wife, or child, or land?
+Or my prosperity itself?"  "O king!"
+The sage replied, "thy present I accept;
+But let thine alms, I pray, be granted first,--
+The offering for the kingly sacrifice."
+"O Brahman!" said the king, "the alms are thine;
+Further than this, whatever be the gift
+Thou mayest desire, freely I give it thee.
+Ask what thou wilt."  Then Visvamitra spake:
+"Give me the earth, its mountains, seas, and towns,
+With all its kingdoms, chariots, horses, men;
+Its elephants, its treasure-houses too;
+Its treasures vast, and all whate'er beside
+Is recognized as thine: oh! give me all,
+I pray, except thyself, thy wife, thy son,
+And this thy righteousness, that follows close
+Beside thee.  Sinless one! oh thou who art
+Perfect in righteousness! oh give me all--
+All beside these.  What need of further words."
+
+The king, with heart rejoicing, and unchanged
+In countenance, hearing the sage's words,
+Said, humbly bowing down before the saint,
+"So be thy wish fulfilled."  "O saintly king,"
+Said Visvamitra, "if the world is mine,
+And power, and wealth, I pray you who shall reign,
+Since in this kingdom as a devotee
+I dwell?"  Then Harischandra said: "'Ere this,
+Before the world was thine by my free gift,
+Thou wast the lord of all; how much more now?
+Thy right is doubly sure."  Then said the sage:
+"If this indeed be so,--if the whole world
+Be truly mine, and all its sovereignty,
+Then should'st thou not remain, nor leave thyself
+Aught of that kingdom which thou hast renounced,
+But, casting off thy royal ornaments,
+Thou should'st depart, clothed in a dress of bark."
+The king, obedient to the sage's word,
+Stripped off his royal dress, and, with his wife
+And son, made haste to go.  Then said the saint:
+"Stop, Harischandra!  Hast thou then forgot
+The offering for the kingly sacrifice
+That thou hast promised us?"  Replied the king:
+"O mighty saint! the kingdom now is __thine__;
+All have I given to __thee__: and as for me,
+What have I left?--nought! save myself,
+My wife, my son!"  "Thou sayest the truth, indeed,"
+Answered the sage; "but yet there still remains
+The offering for the kingly sacrifice.
+And this know well:  A vow to Brahmans made,
+If unfulfilled, works special woe to him
+Who made the vow.  For in this sacrifice
+Must offerings of worth be freely made
+To Brahmans;--offerings until they cry
+Hold! that suffices for us!  Therefore pay
+Thy promised vow, nor longer hesitate.
+'Alms are for Brahmans,' thou thyself hast said,
+'Those who are weak must be protected: foes
+In battle must be met and overcome.'"
+"O saintly priest!" answered the king, "my wealth
+Is all departed: nothing now remains
+For me to give: yet grant me time I pray,
+And I will pay the offering!"  "Noble king,"
+Said Visvamitra, "speak I pray thee!  Say
+What time dost thou appoint that I should wait?
+Speak! no delay! or else my curse of fire
+Shall burn thee up."  Then Harischandra said:
+"Most holy Brahman! when a month has past
+The money for the offering shall be thine.
+Now I have nothing.  Oh! be pleased to grant
+Remission for the present."  Said the sage,
+"Go! go! most noble prince! maintain thy faith!
+And may'st thou prosper! may no enemies
+Harass thy road."  Commanded thus, the king
+Departed as an outcast;--he, the king
+Of all the earth, an exile with his wife
+Unused to go afoot, and with his son
+Went forth: while cries and lamentations rose
+On every side: "Our hearts are filled with pain,
+Why dost thou leave us thus?  O virtuous king!
+Show mercy to thy subjects.  Righteousness
+Indeed shines forth in thee; if thou art full
+Of mercy, may it overflow on us.
+Stay!  Mighty Prince! one moment, while we gaze
+With lover's eyes upon thy beauteous form.
+Alas! our Prince!  Shall we ne'er see thee more?
+How changed thy princely state!  Thou, who did'st once
+Go forth, surrounded by attendant kings,
+Who marched on foot; while stately elephants
+Bore e'en thy ministers.  Now, Lord of Kings!
+Thyself art driven forth on foot.  Yet, stay!
+Think, Harischandra! how wilt thou endure
+The dust, the heat, the toil?  Stay, mighty prince,
+Nor cast thy duty off.  Oh, show to us
+Some mercy, for herein thy duty lies.
+Behold, we cast off all for thee!  Our wives,
+Our wealth, our children, our possessions, all
+Have we relinquished; like thy shadow,
+We would follow thee.  Oh leave us not!
+For wheresoe'er thou art is happiness,
+And heaven itself would be no heaven to us
+Without our prince."  Then, overwhelmed with grief
+At these laments, the king stayed on his course,
+In pity for his loving citizens.
+Then Visvamitra, filled with rage, his eyes
+Rolling with wrath, exclaimed: "Shame on thee! shame!
+O full of falsehood, and of wickedness.
+How! would'st thou, then, speaker of lies!
+Resume the gifts that thou hast freely made,
+And reinstate thee in thy kingdom?"  "Sir!
+I go!" replied the king to these rude words,
+And trembling crept away in haste, his wife
+Holding him by the hand.  And, as she went,
+Her fragile form o'ercome with weariness,
+The Brahman smote her fiercely with his stick.
+Then Harischandra, pained with inmost grief,
+Seeing the stroke, said meekly, "Sir! I go!"
+Nor further spoke.  Filled with compassion then,
+The Visvadevas said: "What sin is this?
+What torments shall indeed suffice for him
+By whom this pious king--the offerer
+Of prayer, and sacrifice, has been cast forth.
+Who now will sanctify the Soma-juice
+With prayers and hymns, at the great sacrifice,
+That we may drink it with rejoicing hearts?"
+
+Then, having heard these words, the Brahman turned
+Upon the Visvedevas; and, in wrath
+Exceeding hot, he spake a fearful curse:
+"You shall be cast down from the height of heaven,
+And live as men."  The curse had hardly passed
+His lips, when filled with pity for their fate,
+The sage yet further added: "you shall live
+Indeed as men, but yet, there shall be born
+To you no son, nor shall you know the state
+Of marriage.  Envy, love, and wrath shall ne'er
+Hold sway o'er you: and when the appointed time
+Has past, you shall re-enter once again
+The courts of heaven, and wear again the form
+Which you had lost."  The Visvedevas then
+Came down from heaven, and, clothed in human form,
+Were born as men, the sons of Pritha, wife
+Of Pa.n.du.  Therefore those five Pa.n.davas--
+Mighty in war--by Visvamitra cursed,
+Knew not the state of marriage.  Thou hast heard
+The tale of Pa.n.du's sons; thy question, too,
+Of fourfold import has been answered.
+I pray thee, say, what further would'st thou hear?
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII.
+
+
+Said Jaimini: An answer ye have found
+To all my questions; and indeed have filled
+Me full of deepest interest.  Oh! I long
+To hear yet more!  Alas! that saintly king!
+What grief he suffered!  Did he e'er attain
+To any comfort answering to his woe?
+Noblest of Birds!  Oh tell me this, I pray.
+
+The Holy Birds continued:  Then the king,
+O'ercome with grief and pain, hearing the words
+Of Visvamitra, with his wife and son
+Journeyed along, dragging his weary steps.
+At length the holy place appeared in view--
+The shrine of Siva; thus within himself,
+He said: "Benares, sacred to the god,
+Lies now before me; there shall I find rest,
+For there man has no power."  The king approached
+The gates on foot: lo! at the entry stood
+The Brahman Visvamitra.  Mighty Saint!
+The king, his hands in supplication joined,
+With humble reverence, said:  "Here is my life,
+My wife, my son, I offer all to thee;
+Accept, I pray, the offering! or choose
+Whatever else thou wouldest!"  But the sage
+Replied: "The month is past! most saintly king!
+Give me the present for the sacrifice--
+The offering thou hast promised."  "One half-day
+As yet remains before the month be past,
+Oh Brahman of surpassing piety,
+And penances unfading.  Wait, I pray,
+A few short hours."  Then Visvamitra said:
+"So be it, king! once more I will return,
+But if the offering be not duly paid,
+Before the sinking of this evening's sun,
+My curse shall smite thee."  And the priest
+Departed, while the king, in anxious thought,
+Debated thus: "How shall I make the gift?
+The promised gift? where are my friends? my wealth?
+I may not beg for alms; how can I then
+Fulfil my vow?  Nor even in the world
+Beyond shall I find rest.  Destruction waits,
+If with my promise unfulfilled, I pass
+From hence.  A robber of the holy saints;
+I shall become the lowest of the low.
+Nay, I will sell myself! and, as a slave,
+Redeem my promise."  Then the queen, in tears
+Bewildered, and afflicted, lost in thought,
+With face cast down, "Maintain thy truth," she said,
+"Most mighty prince!  Oh! let not doubt prevail!
+The man devoid of truth is to be shunned
+Like contact with the dead.  The highest law
+Declares, that inward truth and faithfulness
+Must be maintained.  Burnt sacrifices, alms,
+The study of the scriptures, penances,
+Are counted not for righteousness to him
+Whose word is faithless.  Listen! noble prince!
+Is it not written in the sacred law:
+'The wise attain Salvation through the truth,
+While lies and falsehood are destruction's way
+To men of low and evil minds.'  There lived,
+'Tis said, a king upon the earth, by whom
+The kingly sacrifice--burnt offerings too,
+Were offered in abundance.  That same king
+Fell once from truthfulness, and by that fall,
+He lost his righteousness, and forfeited
+His place in heaven.  Prince! I have borne a son"--
+Her utterance failed her, issuing forth in nought
+But sighs and lamentations.  Then the king,
+With eyes o'erflowing, said, "Behold thy son!
+He stands beside thee! cast away thy grief!
+Tell me what presses on thee."  Said the queen,
+"Prince, I have borne a son; and sons are born
+To none but worthy women.  This my son
+Shall take me--he shall offer me for sale--
+Then with the money gained, pay thou the priest
+The promised offering."  Hearing these words,
+He fell down fainting.  When his sense returned,
+Filled with exceeding pain, the king burst forth,
+Lamenting: "This, alas! most loving one!
+Is hardly to be framed in words, much less
+Be carried out in deed.  Alas! alas!"--
+His spirit fled again, and to the earth
+He fell unconscious.  Overcome with grief,
+The queen exclaimed, filled with compassion: "King!
+How art thou fallen from thy high estate!
+The ground is now thy resting-place, whom once
+A gorgeous couch received.  Lo! this my lord,
+By whom wealth, honour, power, are freely given
+An offering to the Brahman--see, he lies
+Insensate on the ground.  Ye gods of heaven!
+Tell me, I pray you, has this noble king,
+Equal to gods in rank, committed sin
+Against you, that he lies thus overcome
+With woe?"  Then fell the queen, bereft of sense
+Upon the earth, o'erwhelmed with grief and pain,
+Seeing her husband's misery.  When the boy
+Beheld his parents lying on the ground,
+He cried in terror: "Father! give me food!
+Mother! my tongue is parched with thirst!"  Meanwhile
+Upon the scene the mighty Brahman came;
+And when he saw the king lie senseless, "King!"--
+Sprinkling cold water on his face--he said,
+"Rise up! rise up! Pay me the promised vow;
+For this thy misery from day to day
+Increases, and will yet increase, until
+The debt be paid."  The water's cooling touch
+Refreshed the king; his consciousness returned;
+But when he saw the Brahman, faintness seized
+His limbs again.  Then overpowering rage
+Seized Visvamitra; but before he left,
+The best of Brahmans said: "If what is just,
+Or right, or true, enters thy mind, O king!
+Give me the present.  Lo! by truth divine
+The sun sends forth his vivifying rays
+Upon the earth.  By truth this mighty world
+Stands firm and steadfast.  Truth all law excels.
+By truth the very heaven itself exists.
+Wert thou to weigh the truth, and in the scale
+Opposing, wert to place burnt-offerings,
+And sacrifices countless, still the truth
+Would far outweigh them all.  Why need I waste
+My words of loving-kindness upon thee--
+An ill-intentioned, false, ignoble man.
+Thou art a king,--so should the truth prevail
+With thee.  Yet hear me;--if the offering
+Be still unpaid when th' evening's sun has sunk
+Behind the western mountain to his rest,
+My curse shall smite thee."  Speaking words like these
+The Brahman left him; and the king, o'ercome
+With fear--a fugitive--robbed of his wealth--
+Degraded to unfathomable depths--
+The victim of his evil creditor--
+Heard once again the counsel of his wife:
+"O king! sell __me__! nor let the fiery curse
+Dissolve thy being!"  Urged repeatedly,
+The king at length replied: "Most loving one!
+What the most wicked man could hardly do,
+That same will I:--and I will sell my wife.
+Alas! that I should utter such a word!"
+And going with his wife into the town--
+Eyes dimmed with tears, voice choked with grief--he cried:
+"Come hither, townsmen! hearken unto me!
+A wretch! inhuman! savage as a fiend!
+I offer here my wife for sale, and yet
+I live!  Here is a female slave!  Who buys?
+Make haste and speak."  "The female slave is mine!"
+(So spake an ancient Brahman to the king.)
+"Money I have in heaps, and I will pay
+You well for her.  My wife is delicate;
+Her household duties are beyond her strength;
+I want a slave, and therefore I will give
+A price proportioned to the woman's skill
+And temper; nor will I o'erlook her youth
+And beauty.  What you think is fair and right,
+That will I pay."  Struck dumb with grief, the king
+Stood mute, nor answered aught.  And then the priest,
+Tying the price in the king's garment-hem--
+His bark-cloth garment--roughly grasped the queen,
+And dragged her off.  But when the loving child
+Beheld his mother led away, he seized
+Her by her garment.  And the queen exclaimed:
+"If only for a moment, noble sir!
+Oh! let me go! that I may gaze once more
+Upon my child, whom I shall never see,
+And never touch again!  My child, behold
+Thy mother, now a slave! And thou--a prince!
+Oh, touch me not!  My lot of servitude
+Forbids that thou should'st touch me."  But the child,
+His eyes bedewed with tears, ran after her,
+Calling her "Mother!"  As the boy came near,
+The Brahman spurned him with his foot; but he
+Still following close would not be torn from her,
+Calling her "Mother!"  "Oh, my lord!  I pray,
+Be gracious to me!" said the queen.  "Oh, buy
+My son with me; divide us not!  For I
+Without him shall be nought of use to you.
+Be gracious, O my lord!"  Then said the priest:
+"Here! take the money! give the boy to me!
+The saints, who know the scriptures, have ordained
+The right and lawful sum.  Take it!"  He tied
+The money in the king's bark dress, and led
+Them both away--the mother and the child--
+Together bound.  But when the king beheld
+Himself bereft of both his wife and son,
+He burst forth: "Ah! my wife! whom neither sun,
+Nor moon, nor air have ever seen I who hast
+Been kept from vulgar gaze!  Alas I a slave
+Hast thou become!  Alas! thou, too, my son!--
+A scion of the noble dynasty,
+Sprung from the sun! disgrace has seized on thee,
+And--shame upon me!--thou too art a slave!
+Ye have become a sacrifice; ye, through my fault,
+Have fallen.  Would that I were dead!"  Thus spoke
+The king.  Meanwhile the Brahman hastily
+Entered the grove wherein his dwelling stood,
+And vanished with his slaves.  Then met the king
+The Brahman Visvamitra.  "Prince!" he said,
+Pay me the offering!"  Harischandra gave
+The money gained by the shameful sale
+Of wife and child.  And when the priest beheld
+The money, overcome with wrath, he said:
+"How canst thou mock me with this paltry sum!
+Base Kshatriya!  And thinkest thou that this
+Suffices for a sacrificial gift
+Such as I would accept?  But if thy mind
+Thus far misleads thee, thou shalt feel my power--
+Power transcendant, gained by penances,
+And scripture meditation.  Yes! the power
+Of my pure Brahmanhood shall show itself
+On thee."  "More will I give thee," said the king,
+"But wait, most noble saint!  Nought have I left!
+Even my wife and child are sold."  Replied
+The Brahman: "Hold! be silent!  Further time
+Than the remaining fourth part of to-day
+I grant thee not."  Enraged, he turned away,
+Departing with the money.  And the king,
+Immersed in grief and fear, with face cast down,
+Cried out: "If there be any one of you
+Who wants a slave, let him make haste and speak
+While day remains."  Then Dharma, putting on
+The form of a Cha.n.dala, hastily
+Came forward, taking pity on the king.
+His countenance was fearful,--black, with tusks
+Projecting; savage in his words; his smell
+Was foul and horrible; a crowd of dogs
+Came after him.  "Tell me thy price," he said;
+"Be quick; and whether it be large or small
+I care not, so I have thee as my slave:"
+The king, beholding such a loathsome form,
+Of mien revolting--"What art thou?" he said.
+"Men call me a Cha.n.dala," he replied.
+I dwell in this same city--in a part
+Of evil fame.  As of a murderer
+Condemned to death, such is my infamy.
+My calling is a robber of the dead."
+"I will not be a slave," exclaimed the king,
+"To thee, a base Cha.n.dala.  Better far
+That I should perish by the fiery curse."
+The words were scarcely uttered, when the saint
+Returned, his countenance with rage
+Distorted; and he thus addressed the king:
+"The sum is fair; why dost thou not accept
+The offer?  Then indeed thou mightest pay
+The gift thou owest for the sacrifice."
+"O son of Kusika!" replied the king,
+"Consider this, I pray!--my noble race!
+Truly am I descended from the sun!
+How can I then become, though sore in want,
+Lowest of creatures--a Cha.n.dala's slave?"
+"Delay no more," the Brahman said, "but pay
+The gift at once, and sell thyself a slave
+To the Cha.n.dala--or assuredly
+I curse thee."  "Saintly priest, be merciful!"
+The king entreated; and, immersed in care,
+He seized the Brahman's feet, exclaiming thus:
+"What am I but a slave, o'erwhelmed with grief!
+Fear holds me!  Saintly priest, be merciful!
+Protect me, mighty saint!  Save me, I pray,
+From this most horrible Cha.n.dala.  Sir!
+Most noble saint! hereafter shall thy will
+Be all the object of my life!  To serve
+Thy lightest wish shall be my highest joy!
+Thus will I make the offering--I will be
+Thy __slave__!" Replied the Brahman: "If thou art
+My slave, then will I sell thee as a slave
+To the Cha.n.dala."  Then, filled with delight,
+Paying the money, the Svapaka bound
+His lately-purchased slave, and striking him,
+Led hill away.  Parted from all his friends;
+In utmost grief; in the Cha.n.dala's house
+Abiding--morning, noon, and eventide,
+And night, the king thus made lament:
+"Alas! my tender wife, overwhelmed with pain,
+Looking upon her son in misery,
+Bewails her lot.  But yet she says: 'The king
+Will surely ransom us, for he has gained
+By now more money than the Brahman paid
+For us;' and all the time she little knows
+My fate--worse than her own.  For I have passed
+From woe to woe--kingdom and friends--my wife,
+My son, have passed from me, and now the state
+Of a Cha.n.dala holds me."  While he dwelt
+A slave in the Cha.n.dala's house, the forms
+Of those he loved were still before his eyes--
+Were ever in his mind.  Meanwhile the king,
+Obedient to his master's will, became
+A robber of the dead; and night and day
+He watched for plunder.  "One part of the spoil
+Is for the king, three for thy master, two
+For thee.  Go to the city's southern part,
+Where is the dwelling of the dead, there wait."
+Obeying the Cha.n.dala, to the place
+Of burial he went;--an awful place,
+Filled full of fearful sounds and loathsome sights--
+Of evil smells, and smoke, and locks of hair
+Fallen from the dead; while troops of fiends and ghouls,
+Vampires and demons, wandered to and fro.
+Vultures and jackals prowled, and spirit forms'
+Of evil hovered o'er.  The ground was strewn
+With heaps of bones; and wailing, sharp and shrill,
+Re-echoed from the mourners of the dead.
+The bodies on the funeral piles, half burnt,
+Crackled and hissed; showing their shining teeth,
+They grinned, as if in sport; while all the time
+The howl of demons and the wail of fiends
+Were mingled with the roar of flames--a sound
+Of fearful import, such as ushers in
+The day of doom.  The sights, and sounds, and smells--
+The heaps of ashes, and the piles of bones,
+Blackened with filth--the smoke, the shouts,
+The yells--struck fear on fear into the heart.
+The burial-place resembled nought but hell.
+Such was the place appointed for the king.
+"Priests! Brahmans! Counsellors! how have I fallen
+From all my royal state!  Alas! my queen!
+Alas! my son!  Oh! miserable fate!
+We have been torn asunder by the power
+Of Visvamitra."  Thoughts like these possessed
+His inmost mind; while foul, unshorn, unwashed,
+He served his master.  Running here and there,
+Armed with a jagged club, he sought the dead,
+From whom he gained his wages.  So he lived,
+Degraded from his caste.  Old knotted rags
+Served as his dress; his face and arms and feet
+With dust and ashes from the funeral piles
+Begrimed; his hands defiled with putrid flesh
+From contact with the bodies of the dead.
+So neither day nor night he ceased from toil.
+And twelve months passed--twelve weary months, which seemed
+To his grief-stricken mind a hundred years;
+And then at last, worn out, the best of kings
+Lay down to rest; and as upon his couch
+All motionless in sleep he lay, he saw
+A wondrous vision.  By the power divine
+He seemed to wear another form,--a form
+Both new and strange,--and in that form to pay
+The vow.  Twelve years of expiation passed
+With difficulty.  Then within himself
+King Harischandra thought: "So too will I,
+When I am freed from hence, perform my vows
+With generous freedom."  Forthwith he was born
+As a Pukkasa; while a place was found
+For him among the dead, and funeral rites
+Were ordered as his task.  Thus seven years
+Were passed; then to the burying-place was brought
+A Brahman seeking sepulture: in life
+He had been poor, but honest; and the king,
+Though he knew this--the dead man's poverty
+And his uprightness--pressed his friends to pay
+The funeral dues.  "Enforce thy right," they said,
+"And do this evil deed; yet know thou this:
+Once upon earth there was a mighty king
+Named Harischandra; though he but disturbed
+A Brahman's sleep, through that offence he lost
+His merit, and by Visvamitra's curse
+Became a base Pukkasa."  "Yet the king
+Spared not the dead man's friends, but still required
+His fee.  Therefore they cursed him in their rage--
+"Go!--go!--thou most degraded of mankind--
+Go to the lowest hell!"  Then in his dream
+The king beheld the messengers of death.
+Fearful to look at, armed with heavy chains,
+They seized him, and they bound him hand and foot,
+And bore him off.  And then, in fear and pain,
+Headlong he fell into the bath of oil
+In Naraka.  There, torn with instruments
+Sharp-edged as razors, fed on putrid blood,
+He saw himself.  For seven years in hell--
+Now burnt from day to day, now tossed and torn,
+Now cut by knives, and now by icy winds
+Frozen and numbed--a dead Pukkasa's fate
+He underwent.  Each day in Naraka,
+A hundred years of mortal reckoning--
+So count the demons who inhabit hell.
+Then he beheld himself cast up to earth,
+His spirit entering a filthy dog;
+Feeding on things all foul and horrible--
+Consumed by cold.  A month thus passed away.
+His spirit changed its dwelling, and he saw
+Himself an ass; and after that an ox,
+A cow, a goat, a sheep, a bird, a worm.
+So day by day he saw his spirit change
+Its outward shape.  A multitude of forms--
+Some moving, others rooted to the ground--
+Received his soul.  And when the hundred years
+Were passed and gone, he saw himself again
+Re-occupy his pristine human form--
+Once more a king.  And then he seemed to lose
+His kingdom, casting it away in games
+Of chance.  Turned from his home a wanderer
+Into the forest with his wife and child:
+Devoured by a ravening beast, but raised
+To life again on earth, he sore bewailed
+His wife: "Alas! why hast thou left me thus?
+Alas!  O Saivya! where hast thou gone?"
+Then in his dream he seemed to see his wife
+And son lamenting: "What hast thou to do
+With gambling?  Oh protect us, mighty king!"
+The vision faded, and he saw no more
+The cherished forms.  And then the dream returned
+By power divine.  And Harischandra stood
+In heaven, and he beheld his wife on earth,
+With flowing hair, dragged forcibly along--
+Stripped of her clothes: the cry came to his ear,
+"Protect us, king of men!"  Then, snatched away,
+The demons hurried him before the judge;
+And Harischandra seemed to hear the words:
+"Go forth! return once more to earth!  Thy grief
+Is well nigh past and ended; joy ere long
+Shall come to thee.  The sorrows that remain
+Endure."  The king, then driven from the sky
+By Yama's messengers, falling through space--
+Senseless in fear and terror, filled with pain
+Yet more exceeding--thought within himself,
+"How shall I suffer all these torments sore!--
+The changes manifold of form--the pain
+In Naraka."  Then Harischandra sought
+Aid from the gods: "O mighty lords," he said,
+"Protect me!  O protect my wife and child!
+O mighty Dharma, thee I worship!  Thee,
+O Krish.na, the Creator!  Faultless ones,
+Both far and near, before you now I come,
+A suppliant.  On thee, O lord of prayer,
+I call! on thee, O Indra too! to thee
+O ancient one! I pray--immutable!"
+The vision fled, the king arose from sleep.
+His tangled hair, his body black and grimed,
+Recalled to him his state--the plunderer
+Of dead men's clothes.  His recollection gone,
+He thought not of his sorrowing wife and child,
+For reason failed.  The loss of kingdom, wealth,
+And friends, his dwelling-place among the tombs,
+Had overthrown his senses, and destroyed
+His mind.  Then to the burying-place the queen
+Came, bearing the dead body of her son--
+Pale and distracted.  "My beloved son!
+My child!" she kept exclaiming, while she threw
+Dust on her head.  "Alas! alas! O king!
+O that thou could'st behold thy child," she said--
+"Thy child now lying dead upon the earth,
+Killed by a serpent's bite.  Alas! my son!
+So lovely! so delightful!" Then the king,
+Rearing the sounds of mourning, went in haste
+To rob the dead: nor did he recognize
+His wife, in that sad mourner, changed by grief
+As if into another.  And the queen
+Knew not the form that stood before her, clothed
+In rags, with matted hair, withered and foul.
+Then recollection dawned upon the king,
+Seeing the dead child's princely form, the thought
+Of his own son came o'er him.  "Ah! my child!
+What evil chance," he said, "has brought thee here!
+A child of princely race thou seemest.  He, my son,
+Long lost to me through my accursed fate,
+Would have been even such as thou in age."
+Then raised the queen her voice, and thus she spoke:
+"Alas! has some unexpiated crime
+Brought upon us, my child! this endless woe.
+My absent lord! since thou did'st not console
+My grief in times gone by, how can the pain
+I suffer now assuage?  Did'st thou not lose
+Thy kingdom? did'st thou not desert thy friends?
+Did'st thou not sell thy wife and child?"  The king
+Heard her lament, and as he heard, the wail
+Fell from his eyes,--he recognized again
+His wife and son--and saying but the words,
+"Ah! Saivya!  Ah! my beloved child!"
+He fainting fell to earth.  Then, too, the queen,
+Hearing her husband's voice, o'ercome with grief,
+Insensate fell.  Returning consciousness
+Brought to them both affliction's heaviest weight
+And mutual lamentations.  "Ah! my son!"
+Thus mourned the king, "my inmost heart is torn,
+When I behold thy form so delicate:
+My child! embracing thee in tend'rest love,
+Words of affection I will speak, that rise
+Unbidden to my lips.  Alas! thy limbs
+Will be defiled by my embrace; the dust
+That clings about my garments will pollute
+Thy lovely form!  Alas! my child, thou had'st
+An evil father!  He who should have kept
+All dangers from thee, he it was who sold
+Thee as a slave! and yet in heart and mind
+First of all things I love thee.  Ah! my child!
+Thy father's realm--my heaped-up wealth--all this
+By lawful right was thine inheritance,
+And now thou liest slain!  Ah me! the tears
+Rise to my eyes in blinding force: thy form,
+In grace and beauty like the lotus flower,
+Fades from my sight."  He spoke, and faltering
+With grief embraced his son.  The queen exclaimed:
+"This is indeed my lord--I know his voice!
+I know his form! this is the mighty king.
+The wisest of all beings.  But how changed!
+What fate is this?  Ah what a dreadful place
+For him, the lord of men.  This grief yet more
+Is added to the mourning for my son--
+My husband's fate--for as a slave he serves
+A base Cha.n.dala.  Cursed be that god,
+Or demon foul, through whom a godlike king
+Has fallen to this degraded state; the lot
+Of a Svapaka.  Ah! most noble prince,
+My mind is filled with grief, when I recall
+Thy regal state, thy past magnificence.
+No kingly ensigns go before thee now,
+No captive kings, brought down to slavery,
+Humbly precede thee, casting in the way
+Their garments, lest the dust should soil thy feet.
+But now!  O king! alas, thyself a slave,
+Thou livest in this fearful place, begrimed
+With filth; thy sacred cord concealed, thy hair
+Tangled and long, plunder of dead men's clothes
+Thy livelihood.  Ah! king! and is thy life
+Spent in this awful wise?"  So spake the queen,
+And falling on his neck, embraced her lord:
+While she, sprung from a king herself, bewailed
+Her sorrows endless.  "King! I pray thee speak!
+Is this a dream?  If it be real and true,
+Then justice, truth, and righteousness have fled
+And gone from earth: nor aught avails mankind,
+Of sacrifice, or reverence, to gods
+Or priests!  'Tis vain to follow innocence
+If thou, most perfect, purest of mankind,
+Art brought to such a depth of infamy."
+Then spoke the king, and told his sorrowing wife
+How he had fallen to this wretched state,--
+The state of a Cha.n.dala.  She, in turn,
+Weeping, with many sighs, poured out her tale,
+Telling him how the serpent's bite had killed
+Their child.  "Beloved one! I suffer not
+These evils," said the king, "by mine own will--
+Thou seest what I endure; my evil fate
+Depends not on myself.  I am a slave,
+And if I fly from the Cha.n.dala's bonds,
+The fiery torment in the depths of hell
+Will overtake me, and I shall become
+A slave again.  My doom is fixed! lo! hell
+Is my abode hereafter; and in forms,
+Creeping and loathsome, shall my soul abide.
+Yet from this miserable life on earth
+There is one only refuge.  He! my son!
+My hope! my stay! is dead; drowned by the sea
+Of my misfortunes.  But I am a slave!
+I am dependent on another's will!
+Can I give up my wife?  Yes! even so!
+For know thou this: one who is steeped in woe
+Cares not for evil chances; not the state
+Of the most loathsome beast, nor yet the wood
+Of sword-leaved plants, nor even hell's dread stream,
+Could add the smallest fraction to the pain
+I have already borne.  My son is dead!
+Who then will make atonement for my sins?
+Yet listen to my words, beloved one,
+If I have offered sacrifice, and paid
+Due reverence to the saints; if I have given
+Alms to the needy--may we meet again
+Hereafter, in the world to come, and find
+The refuge for our woes denied us here.
+Let us together follow in the path
+By which our son has gone.  Our hopeless fate
+Can never alter here.  Whatever words
+I may have uttered, thoughtlessly, in jest,
+These, when I pray for pardon, shall receive
+Fullest forgiveness.  Thou must not despise
+Thy lord: nor pride thee on thy queenly state
+Now passed and gone."  The prince's wife replied:
+"I am prepared to tread that path with thee,
+O king, most saintly! and with thee that world
+To enter."  While she spoke these words, the king
+Made up the funeral pile, and placed thereon
+His son, himself ascending with his wife.
+And then, in meditation wrapt, he thought
+Upon Narayana, the lord supreme,
+And Vasudeva, lord of deities,
+Siva, and Brahma the eternal god,
+And Krish.na clothed in glory.  As the king
+Was meditating, all the gods from heaven
+Came down headed by Dharma.  And they said:
+"Hear us, O king! hear us, O lord! The gods--
+Even the mighty gods have come to earth,
+And at their head is Dharma.  Gods, and saints,
+And heroes--yea, and Visvamitra too,
+The sage implacable,--all summon thee--
+Ascend! to heaven: receive the due reward,
+That thou hast gained.  O king! slay not thyself!
+I, perfect Righteousness, I summon thee
+To enter now the heaven that thou hast gained
+By thy transcendant virtues, self-control,
+Patience, and truth." Then Indra spoke, and said:--
+"O Harischandra! King, most eminent!
+In virtue! lo! before you Indra stands--
+For I am he.  The everlasting world
+Thou hast attained: together with thy wife,
+And son, ascend to heaven;--to that third heav'n--
+So difficult to be attained by men--
+The heav'n that thou hast won."  Then Indra rained
+Life-giving am.rit from the sky, and flowers
+That blossomed in the heavenly courts: while sounds
+Of music filled the air, and round him stood
+The gods, a vast assembly.  Then the son
+Of Harischandra rose, restored to life,
+And health, his mind and senses whole, his form
+More beautiful than ever: and the king
+Embraced his wife and son, with perfect joy
+Filled to o'erflowing, crowned with heavenly wreaths.
+Then Indra said: "Thou, with thy wife, and son,
+Shalt dwell in bliss supreme: bliss that thyself
+Hast purchased, by thy virtues and thy toils."
+Then spoke the king: "Hear me! most holy gods!
+Unbidden by my master, will I not
+To heaven itself ascend."  Then Dharma spoke:
+"I am thy master.  I assumed the form
+Of a Cha.n.dala.  All thy pain and woe
+Was brought upon thee by my magic power,
+And thou wast made a slave!  I have beheld
+Thy truth, and thy uprightness.  Saintly king!
+The highest place that heaven accords to men,
+Whose virtue has been tried and proved:--to that
+Ascend!"  But Harischandra answering, said:
+"Receive, most mighty lord! my words of praise
+And thanksgiving.  I offer them to thee
+Full of affection.  Lo! my people stand
+With grieving hearts, longing for my return.
+Can I ascend to heav'n while they on earth
+Lament for me?  If they have ever slain,
+Brahmans, or teachers of the holy law,--
+If lust or avarice have ruled their hearts,--
+Then may my labours and my toils atone,
+For these their sins.  I may not leave my friends.
+For neither here, nor in the world to come,
+Can there be peace to one who casts aside
+The friend whose love is pure and true--the friend
+Who serves him from the heart.  Return!
+Return! to heaven!  O Indra! If thou grant
+My friends to rise with me, to heav'n will I
+Ascend; if not, with them will I descend
+To Naraka."  "O king! thy prayer is heard!
+Thy people's sins are pardoned: even for them,
+Hard though it be, thy toils and pains have gained
+A place in heaven."  Thus mighty Indra spoke.
+Replied the king: "Indra! I will not leave
+My kinsmen.  By his kinsmen's help a king
+His kingdom rules; by them he offers up
+The kingly sacrifice, and for himself
+Lays up a store of meritorious deeds.
+So have my kinsmen too enabled me
+To work whate'er I may of righteousness.
+My actions virtuous, my granted prayers,
+Truly I owe to them, for by their aid
+Have these been possible.  May the reward
+Thou grantest me, I pray, be shared with them.
+My kinsmen, though I should ascend to heaven,
+I will not leave."  "So be it!" Indra said;
+"So be it!" said the Brahman; Dharma, too,
+Gave his assent; and then, in countless hosts,
+Appeared the heavenly chariots.  Indra said:
+"Men of Ayodhya, ascend to heaven."
+The saintly Brahman, having heard with joy
+The words of Indra, poured the sacred oil
+Upon the prince, and with the perfect ones,
+The sages, and the gods, anointed him
+"Son of the mighty king."  Then all the throng--
+The king, his wife, his son, his followers--
+Filled with rejoicing and delight, ascend
+To heaven, surrounding, as they go, the king
+Borne in his chariot.  He, too, filled with joy--
+The mighty father, who eternal bliss
+Both for his people and himself had gained,
+Once more in form and mien a king--reposed,
+Resting from all his toils, his faithful friends
+Surrounding him with a protecting wall.
+And Indra spoke and said: "Upon this earth
+Great Harischandra's equal has not been
+Nor shall be.  Whosoe'er may hear his life,
+His toils, his sorrows, and in sympathy
+For him lament, transcendant happiness
+Shall he attain, and all his heart's desire
+Shall be accomplished.  Is his prayer a wife,
+Or son, or kingdom, he shall gain them all,
+E'en heaven itself.  And he who imitates
+The truth, and steadfastness, of that great king,
+Like him shall enter everlasting rest.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Markandeya Purana, Books VII., VIII.
+Translated by Rev. B. Hale Wortham
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARKANDEYA PURANA, BOOKS VII. VIII ***
+
+This file should be named 7mark10.txt or 7mark10.zip
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7mark11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7mark10a.txt
+
+Originally scanned at sacred-texts.com by John B. Hare.
+This eBook was produced by Chetan Jain at BharatLiterature
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+
diff --git a/old/7mark10.zip b/old/7mark10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1dd7397
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/7mark10.zip
diff --git a/old/8mark10.txt b/old/8mark10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4087d57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/8mark10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1334 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mârkandeya Purâna, Books VII., VIII.
+Translated by Rev. B. Hale Wortham
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Mârkandeya Purâna, Books VII. VIII
+
+Translated by: Rev. B. Hale Wortham
+
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7169]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 20, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MâRKANDEYA PURâNA, BOOKS VII., VIII. ***
+
+
+
+
+Originally scanned at sacred-texts.com by John B. Hare.
+This eBook was produced by Chetan Jain at BharatLiterature.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Mârkandeya Purâna
+
+Books VII and VIII.
+
+
+
+JOURNAL
+
+OF
+
+THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.
+
+
+
+[New Series, Volume XIII]
+
+[London, Trübner and Company]
+
+[1881]
+
+
+Scanned and edited by Christopher M. Weimer, May 2002
+
+
+
+ART. XIII.--__Translation of the Mârkandeya Purâna__
+Books VII. VIII.  By the Rev. B. HALE WORTHAM.
+
+
+
+BOOK VII.
+
+
+ONCE upon earth there lived a saintly king
+Named Harišchandra; pure in heart and mind,
+In virtue eminent, he ruled the world,
+Guarding mankind from evil.  While he reigned
+No famine raged, nor pain; untimely death
+Ne'er cut men off; nor were the citizens
+Of his fair city lawless.  All their wealth,
+And power, and works of righteousness, ne'er filled
+Their hearts with pride; in everlasting youth
+And loveliness the women passed their days.
+
+It so fell out, that while this mighty king
+Was hunting in the forest, that he heard
+The sound of female voices raised in cry
+Of supplication.  Then he turned and said,
+Leaving the deer to fly unheeded: "Stop!
+Who art thou, full of tyranny and hate,
+That darest thus oppress the earth; while I,
+The tamer of all evil, live and rule?"
+Then, too, the fierce Ganeša,--he who blinds
+The eyes, and foils the wills of men,--he heard
+The cry, and thus within himself he thought:
+"This surely is the great ascetic's work,
+The mighty Višvâmitra; he whose acts
+Display the fruits of penance hard and sore.
+Upon the sciences he shows his power,
+While they, in patience, discipline of mind,
+And silence perfected, cry out with fear,
+'What shall we do?  The illustrious Kaušika
+Is powerful; and we, compared with him,
+Are feeble.'  Thus they cry.  What shall I do?
+My mind is filled with doubt.  Yet stay; a thought
+Has come across me: Lo! this king who cries
+Unceasingly, 'Fear not!' meeting with him,
+And entering his heart, I will fulfil
+All my desire."  Then filled with Rudra's son--
+Inspired with rage by Vigna Raj--the king
+Spake up and said: "What evil doer is here,
+Binding the fire on his garment's hem,
+While I, his king, in power and arms renowned,
+Resplendent in my glory, pass for nought?
+Surely the never-ending sleep of death
+Shall overtake him, and his limbs shall fail,
+Smitten with darts from my far-reaching bow,
+Whose fame this lower world may scarce contain."
+Hearing the prince's words, the saint was filled
+With wrath o'erpow'ring, and the sciences
+Fell blasted in a moment at his glance.
+
+But when the king beheld the pious sage
+All-powerful, he quaked exceedingly,
+And trembled like the sacred fig-tree's leaves.
+Then Višvâmitra cried: "Stop, miscreant!"
+And Harišchandra, humbly falling down
+Before the saint, in accents low and meek:
+"O Lord! most holy! most adorable!
+Oh, blame me not!  This is no fault of mine!
+My duty calls," he said, "I must obey."
+"Is it not written in the Holy Law,
+'Alms must be given by a virtuous king;
+His people must be fought for, and be kept
+From every ill'?"  Then Višvâmitra spoke
+And said: "To whom, O king, should'st thou give alms?
+For whom in battle should'st thou fight? and whom
+Should'st thou protect?  Oh, tell me, nor delay,
+But quickly answer, if thou fearest sin."
+"Alms should be given to Brâhmans," said the king:
+"Those who are weak should be protected: foes
+In battle should be met and overcome."
+
+Then Višvâmitra spoke and said: "O king!
+If thus indeed thou rightly dost perceive
+Thy royal duty, give thine alms to me;
+I am a holy Brâhman, and I seek
+A dwelling-place; moreover I would gain
+A wife: therefore bestow on me thine alms."
+The king, his heart filled with exceeding joy,
+Felt, as it were, his youth return, and said:
+"Fear not! but tell me, son of Kaušika,
+Thy heart's desire; and be it hard to gain,
+Or be it easy, it shall still be thine.
+Say, shall I give thee gold, or wealth, or life?
+Or shall I give thee wife, or child, or land?
+Or my prosperity itself?"  "O king!"
+The sage replied, "thy present I accept;
+But let thine alms, I pray, be granted first,--
+The offering for the kingly sacrifice."
+"O Brâhman!" said the king, "the alms are thine;
+Further than this, whatever be the gift
+Thou mayest desire, freely I give it thee.
+Ask what thou wilt."  Then Višvâmitra spake:
+"Give me the earth, its mountains, seas, and towns,
+With all its kingdoms, chariots, horses, men;
+Its elephants, its treasure-houses too;
+Its treasures vast, and all whate'er beside
+Is recognized as thine: oh! give me all,
+I pray, except thyself, thy wife, thy son,
+And this thy righteousness, that follows close
+Beside thee.  Sinless one! oh thou who art
+Perfect in righteousness! oh give me all--
+All beside these.  What need of further words."
+
+The king, with heart rejoicing, and unchanged
+In countenance, hearing the sage's words,
+Said, humbly bowing down before the saint,
+"So be thy wish fulfilled."  "O saintly king,"
+Said Višvâmitra, "if the world is mine,
+And power, and wealth, I pray you who shall reign,
+Since in this kingdom as a devotee
+I dwell?"  Then Harišchandra said: "'Ere this,
+Before the world was thine by my free gift,
+Thou wast the lord of all; how much more now?
+Thy right is doubly sure."  Then said the sage:
+"If this indeed be so,--if the whole world
+Be truly mine, and all its sovereignty,
+Then should'st thou not remain, nor leave thyself
+Aught of that kingdom which thou hast renounced,
+But, casting off thy royal ornaments,
+Thou should'st depart, clothed in a dress of bark."
+The king, obedient to the sage's word,
+Stripped off his royal dress, and, with his wife
+And son, made haste to go.  Then said the saint:
+"Stop, Harišchandra!  Hast thou then forgot
+The offering for the kingly sacrifice
+That thou hast promised us?"  Replied the king:
+"O mighty saint! the kingdom now is __thine__;
+All have I given to __thee__: and as for me,
+What have I left?--nought! save myself,
+My wife, my son!"  "Thou sayest the truth, indeed,"
+Answered the sage; "but yet there still remains
+The offering for the kingly sacrifice.
+And this know well:  A vow to Brâhmans made,
+If unfulfilled, works special woe to him
+Who made the vow.  For in this sacrifice
+Must offerings of worth be freely made
+To Brâhmans;--offerings until they cry
+Hold! that suffices for us!  Therefore pay
+Thy promised vow, nor longer hesitate.
+'Alms are for Brâhmans,' thou thyself hast said,
+'Those who are weak must be protected: foes
+In battle must be met and overcome.'"
+"O saintly priest!" answered the king, "my wealth
+Is all departed: nothing now remains
+For me to give: yet grant me time I pray,
+And I will pay the offering!"  "Noble king,"
+Said Višvâmitra, "speak I pray thee!  Say
+What time dost thou appoint that I should wait?
+Speak! no delay! or else my curse of fire
+Shall burn thee up."  Then Harišchandra said:
+"Most holy Brâhman! when a month has past
+The money for the offering shall be thine.
+Now I have nothing.  Oh! be pleased to grant
+Remission for the present."  Said the sage,
+"Go! go! most noble prince! maintain thy faith!
+And may'st thou prosper! may no enemies
+Harass thy road."  Commanded thus, the king
+Departed as an outcast;--he, the king
+Of all the earth, an exile with his wife
+Unused to go afoot, and with his son
+Went forth: while cries and lamentations rose
+On every side: "Our hearts are filled with pain,
+Why dost thou leave us thus?  O virtuous king!
+Show mercy to thy subjects.  Righteousness
+Indeed shines forth in thee; if thou art full
+Of mercy, may it overflow on us.
+Stay!  Mighty Prince! one moment, while we gaze
+With lover's eyes upon thy beauteous form.
+Alas! our Prince!  Shall we ne'er see thee more?
+How changed thy princely state!  Thou, who did'st once
+Go forth, surrounded by attendant kings,
+Who marched on foot; while stately elephants
+Bore e'en thy ministers.  Now, Lord of Kings!
+Thyself art driven forth on foot.  Yet, stay!
+Think, Harišchandra! how wilt thou endure
+The dust, the heat, the toil?  Stay, mighty prince,
+Nor cast thy duty off.  Oh, show to us
+Some mercy, for herein thy duty lies.
+Behold, we cast off all for thee!  Our wives,
+Our wealth, our children, our possessions, all
+Have we relinquished; like thy shadow,
+We would follow thee.  Oh leave us not!
+For wheresoe'er thou art is happiness,
+And heaven itself would be no heaven to us
+Without our prince."  Then, overwhelmed with grief
+At these laments, the king stayed on his course,
+In pity for his loving citizens.
+Then Višvâmitra, filled with rage, his eyes
+Rolling with wrath, exclaimed: "Shame on thee! shame!
+O full of falsehood, and of wickedness.
+How! would'st thou, then, speaker of lies!
+Resume the gifts that thou hast freely made,
+And reinstate thee in thy kingdom?"  "Sir!
+I go!" replied the king to these rude words,
+And trembling crept away in haste, his wife
+Holding him by the hand.  And, as she went,
+Her fragile form o'ercome with weariness,
+The Brâhman smote her fiercely with his stick.
+Then Harišchandra, pained with inmost grief,
+Seeing the stroke, said meekly, "Sir! I go!"
+Nor further spoke.  Filled with compassion then,
+The Višvadevas said: "What sin is this?
+What torments shall indeed suffice for him
+By whom this pious king--the offerer
+Of prayer, and sacrifice, has been cast forth.
+Who now will sanctify the Soma-juice
+With prayers and hymns, at the great sacrifice,
+That we may drink it with rejoicing hearts?"
+
+Then, having heard these words, the Brâhman turned
+Upon the Višvedevâs; and, in wrath
+Exceeding hot, he spake a fearful curse:
+"You shall be cast down from the height of heaven,
+And live as men."  The curse had hardly passed
+His lips, when filled with pity for their fate,
+The sage yet further added: "you shall live
+Indeed as men, but yet, there shall be born
+To you no son, nor shall you know the state
+Of marriage.  Envy, love, and wrath shall ne'er
+Hold sway o'er you: and when the appointed time
+Has past, you shall re-enter once again
+The courts of heaven, and wear again the form
+Which you had lost."  The Višvedevâs then
+Came down from heaven, and, clothed in human form,
+Were born as men, the sons of Pritha, wife
+Of Pa.n.du.  Therefore those five Pâ.n.davas--
+Mighty in war--by Višvâmitra cursed,
+Knew not the state of marriage.  Thou hast heard
+The tale of Pa.n.du's sons; thy question, too,
+Of fourfold import has been answered.
+I pray thee, say, what further would'st thou hear?
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII.
+
+
+Said Jaimîni: An answer ye have found
+To all my questions; and indeed have filled
+Me full of deepest interest.  Oh! I long
+To hear yet more!  Alas! that saintly king!
+What grief he suffered!  Did he e'er attain
+To any comfort answering to his woe?
+Noblest of Birds!  Oh tell me this, I pray.
+
+The Holy Birds continued:  Then the king,
+O'ercome with grief and pain, hearing the words
+Of Višvâmitra, with his wife and son
+Journeyed along, dragging his weary steps.
+At length the holy place appeared in view--
+The shrine of Šiva; thus within himself,
+He said: "Benares, sacred to the god,
+Lies now before me; there shall I find rest,
+For there man has no power."  The king approached
+The gates on foot: lo! at the entry stood
+The Brâhman Višvâmitra.  Mighty Saint!
+The king, his hands in supplication joined,
+With humble reverence, said:  "Here is my life,
+My wife, my son, I offer all to thee;
+Accept, I pray, the offering! or choose
+Whatever else thou wouldest!"  But the sage
+Replied: "The month is past! most saintly king!
+Give me the present for the sacrifice--
+The offering thou hast promised."  "One half-day
+As yet remains before the month be past,
+Oh Brâhman of surpassing piety,
+And penances unfading.  Wait, I pray,
+A few short hours."  Then Višvâmitra said:
+"So be it, king! once more I will return,
+But if the offering be not duly paid,
+Before the sinking of this evening's sun,
+My curse shall smite thee."  And the priest
+Departed, while the king, in anxious thought,
+Debated thus: "How shall I make the gift?
+The promised gift? where are my friends? my wealth?
+I may not beg for alms; how can I then
+Fulfil my vow?  Nor even in the world
+Beyond shall I find rest.  Destruction waits,
+If with my promise unfulfilled, I pass
+From hence.  A robber of the holy saints;
+I shall become the lowest of the low.
+Nay, I will sell myself! and, as a slave,
+Redeem my promise."  Then the queen, in tears
+Bewildered, and afflicted, lost in thought,
+With face cast down, "Maintain thy truth," she said,
+"Most mighty prince!  Oh! let not doubt prevail!
+The man devoid of truth is to be shunned
+Like contact with the dead.  The highest law
+Declares, that inward truth and faithfulness
+Must be maintained.  Burnt sacrifices, alms,
+The study of the scriptures, penances,
+Are counted not for righteousness to him
+Whose word is faithless.  Listen! noble prince!
+Is it not written in the sacred law:
+'The wise attain Salvation through the truth,
+While lies and falsehood are destruction's way
+To men of low and evil minds.'  There lived,
+'Tis said, a king upon the earth, by whom
+The kingly sacrifice--burnt offerings too,
+Were offered in abundance.  That same king
+Fell once from truthfulness, and by that fall,
+He lost his righteousness, and forfeited
+His place in heaven.  Prince! I have borne a son"--
+Her utterance failed her, issuing forth in nought
+But sighs and lamentations.  Then the king,
+With eyes o'erflowing, said, "Behold thy son!
+He stands beside thee! cast away thy grief!
+Tell me what presses on thee."  Said the queen,
+"Prince, I have borne a son; and sons are born
+To none but worthy women.  This my son
+Shall take me--he shall offer me for sale--
+Then with the money gained, pay thou the priest
+The promised offering."  Hearing these words,
+He fell down fainting.  When his sense returned,
+Filled with exceeding pain, the king burst forth,
+Lamenting: "This, alas! most loving one!
+Is hardly to be framed in words, much less
+Be carried out in deed.  Alas! alas!"--
+His spirit fled again, and to the earth
+He fell unconscious.  Overcome with grief,
+The queen exclaimed, filled with compassion: "King!
+How art thou fallen from thy high estate!
+The ground is now thy resting-place, whom once
+A gorgeous couch received.  Lo! this my lord,
+By whom wealth, honour, power, are freely given
+An offering to the Brâhman--see, he lies
+Insensate on the ground.  Ye gods of heaven!
+Tell me, I pray you, has this noble king,
+Equal to gods in rank, committed sin
+Against you, that he lies thus overcome
+With woe?"  Then fell the queen, bereft of sense
+Upon the earth, o'erwhelmed with grief and pain,
+Seeing her husband's misery.  When the boy
+Beheld his parents lying on the ground,
+He cried in terror: "Father! give me food!
+Mother! my tongue is parched with thirst!"  Meanwhile
+Upon the scene the mighty Brâhman came;
+And when he saw the king lie senseless, "King!"--
+Sprinkling cold water on his face--he said,
+"Rise up! rise up! Pay me the promised vow;
+For this thy misery from day to day
+Increases, and will yet increase, until
+The debt be paid."  The water's cooling touch
+Refreshed the king; his consciousness returned;
+But when he saw the Brâhman, faintness seized
+His limbs again.  Then overpowering rage
+Seized Višvâmitra; but before he left,
+The best of Brâhmans said: "If what is just,
+Or right, or true, enters thy mind, O king!
+Give me the present.  Lo! by truth divine
+The sun sends forth his vivifying rays
+Upon the earth.  By truth this mighty world
+Stands firm and steadfast.  Truth all law excels.
+By truth the very heaven itself exists.
+Wert thou to weigh the truth, and in the scale
+Opposing, wert to place burnt-offerings,
+And sacrifices countless, still the truth
+Would far outweigh them all.  Why need I waste
+My words of loving-kindness upon thee--
+An ill-intentioned, false, ignoble man.
+Thou art a king,--so should the truth prevail
+With thee.  Yet hear me;--if the offering
+Be still unpaid when th' evening's sun has sunk
+Behind the western mountain to his rest,
+My curse shall smite thee."  Speaking words like these
+The Brâhman left him; and the king, o'ercome
+With fear--a fugitive--robbed of his wealth--
+Degraded to unfathomable depths--
+The victim of his evil creditor--
+Heard once again the counsel of his wife:
+"O king! sell __me__! nor let the fiery curse
+Dissolve thy being!"  Urged repeatedly,
+The king at length replied: "Most loving one!
+What the most wicked man could hardly do,
+That same will I:--and I will sell my wife.
+Alas! that I should utter such a word!"
+And going with his wife into the town--
+Eyes dimmed with tears, voice choked with grief--he cried:
+"Come hither, townsmen! hearken unto me!
+A wretch! inhuman! savage as a fiend!
+I offer here my wife for sale, and yet
+I live!  Here is a female slave!  Who buys?
+Make haste and speak."  "The female slave is mine!"
+(So spake an ancient Brâhman to the king.)
+"Money I have in heaps, and I will pay
+You well for her.  My wife is delicate;
+Her household duties are beyond her strength;
+I want a slave, and therefore I will give
+A price proportioned to the woman's skill
+And temper; nor will I o'erlook her youth
+And beauty.  What you think is fair and right,
+That will I pay."  Struck dumb with grief, the king
+Stood mute, nor answered aught.  And then the priest,
+Tying the price in the king's garment-hem--
+His bark-cloth garment--roughly grasped the queen,
+And dragged her off.  But when the loving child
+Beheld his mother led away, he seized
+Her by her garment.  And the queen exclaimed:
+"If only for a moment, noble sir!
+Oh! let me go! that I may gaze once more
+Upon my child, whom I shall never see,
+And never touch again!  My child, behold
+Thy mother, now a slave! And thou--a prince!
+Oh, touch me not!  My lot of servitude
+Forbids that thou should'st touch me."  But the child,
+His eyes bedewed with tears, ran after her,
+Calling her "Mother!"  As the boy came near,
+The Brâhman spurned him with his foot; but he
+Still following close would not be torn from her,
+Calling her "Mother!"  "Oh, my lord!  I pray,
+Be gracious to me!" said the queen.  "Oh, buy
+My son with me; divide us not!  For I
+Without him shall be nought of use to you.
+Be gracious, O my lord!"  Then said the priest:
+"Here! take the money! give the boy to me!
+The saints, who know the scriptures, have ordained
+The right and lawful sum.  Take it!"  He tied
+The money in the king's bark dress, and led
+Them both away--the mother and the child--
+Together bound.  But when the king beheld
+Himself bereft of both his wife and son,
+He burst forth: "Ah! my wife! whom neither sun,
+Nor moon, nor air have ever seen I who hast
+Been kept from vulgar gaze!  Alas I a slave
+Hast thou become!  Alas! thou, too, my son!--
+A scion of the noble dynasty,
+Sprung from the sun! disgrace has seized on thee,
+And--shame upon me!--thou too art a slave!
+Ye have become a sacrifice; ye, through my fault,
+Have fallen.  Would that I were dead!"  Thus spoke
+The king.  Meanwhile the Brâhman hastily
+Entered the grove wherein his dwelling stood,
+And vanished with his slaves.  Then met the king
+The Brâhman Višvâmitra.  "Prince!" he said,
+Pay me the offering!"  Harišchandra gave
+The money gainèd by the shameful sale
+Of wife and child.  And when the priest beheld
+The money, overcome with wrath, he said:
+"How canst thou mock me with this paltry sum!
+Base Kshatriya!  And thinkest thou that this
+Suffices for a sacrificial gift
+Such as I would accept?  But if thy mind
+Thus far misleads thee, thou shalt feel my power--
+Power transcendant, gained by penances,
+And scripture meditation.  Yes! the power
+Of my pure Brâhmanhood shall show itself
+On thee."  "More will I give thee," said the king,
+"But wait, most noble saint!  Nought have I left!
+Even my wife and child are sold."  Replied
+The Brâhman: "Hold! be silent!  Further time
+Than the remaining fourth part of to-day
+I grant thee not."  Enraged, he turned away,
+Departing with the money.  And the king,
+Immersed in grief and fear, with face cast down,
+Cried out: "If there be any one of you
+Who wants a slave, let him make haste and speak
+While day remains."  Then Dharma, putting on
+The form of a Cha.n.dâla, hastily
+Came forward, taking pity on the king.
+His countenance was fearful,--black, with tusks
+Projecting; savage in his words; his smell
+Was foul and horrible; a crowd of dogs
+Came after him.  "Tell me thy price," he said;
+"Be quick; and whether it be large or small
+I care not, so I have thee as my slave:"
+The king, beholding such a loathsome form,
+Of mien revolting--"What art thou?" he said.
+"Men call me a Cha.n.dâla," he replied.
+I dwell in this same city--in a part
+Of evil fame.  As of a murderer
+Condemned to death, such is my infamy.
+My calling is a robber of the dead."
+"I will not be a slave," exclaimed the king,
+"To thee, a base Cha.n.dâla.  Better far
+That I should perish by the fiery curse."
+The words were scarcely uttered, when the saint
+Returned, his countenance with rage
+Distorted; and he thus addressed the king:
+"The sum is fair; why dost thou not accept
+The offer?  Then indeed thou mightest pay
+The gift thou owest for the sacrifice."
+"O son of Kušika!" replied the king,
+"Consider this, I pray!--my noble race!
+Truly am I descended from the sun!
+How can I then become, though sore in want,
+Lowest of creatures--a Cha.n.dâla's slave?"
+"Delay no more," the Brâhman said, "but pay
+The gift at once, and sell thyself a slave
+To the Cha.n.dâla--or assuredly
+I curse thee."  "Saintly priest, be merciful!"
+The king entreated; and, immersed in care,
+He seized the Brâhman's feet, exclaiming thus:
+"What am I but a slave, o'erwhelmed with grief!
+Fear holds me!  Saintly priest, be merciful!
+Protect me, mighty saint!  Save me, I pray,
+From this most horrible Cha.n.dâla.  Sir!
+Most noble saint! hereafter shall thy will
+Be all the object of my life!  To serve
+Thy lightest wish shall be my highest joy!
+Thus will I make the offering--I will be
+Thy __slave__!" Replied the Brahman: "If thou art
+My slave, then will I sell thee as a slave
+To the Cha.n.dâla."  Then, filled with delight,
+Paying the money, the Švapâka bound
+His lately-purchased slave, and striking him,
+Led hill away.  Parted from all his friends;
+In utmost grief; in the Cha.n.dâla's house
+Abiding--morning, noon, and eventide,
+And night, the king thus made lament:
+"Alas! my tender wife, overwhelmed with pain,
+Looking upon her son in misery,
+Bewails her lot.  But yet she says: 'The king
+Will surely ransom us, for he has gained
+By now more money than the Brâhman paid
+For us;' and all the time she little knows
+My fate--worse than her own.  For I have passed
+From woe to woe--kingdom and friends--my wife,
+My son, have passed from me, and now the state
+Of a Cha.n.dâla holds me."  While he dwelt
+A slave in the Cha.n.dâla's house, the forms
+Of those he loved were still before his eyes--
+Were ever in his mind.  Meanwhile the king,
+Obedient to his master's will, became
+A robber of the dead; and night and day
+He watched for plunder.  "One part of the spoil
+Is for the king, three for thy master, two
+For thee.  Go to the city's southern part,
+Where is the dwelling of the dead, there wait."
+Obeying the Cha.n.dâla, to the place
+Of burial he went;--an awful place,
+Filled full of fearful sounds and loathsome sights--
+Of evil smells, and smoke, and locks of hair
+Fallen from the dead; while troops of fiends and ghouls,
+Vampires and demons, wandered to and fro.
+Vultures and jackals prowled, and spirit forms'
+Of evil hovered o'er.  The ground was strewn
+With heaps of bones; and wailing, sharp and shrill,
+Re-echoed from the mourners of the dead.
+The bodies on the funeral piles, half burnt,
+Crackled and hissed; showing their shining teeth,
+They grinned, as if in sport; while all the time
+The howl of demons and the wail of fiends
+Were mingled with the roar of flames--a sound
+Of fearful import, such as ushers in
+The day of doom.  The sights, and sounds, and smells--
+The heaps of ashes, and the piles of bones,
+Blackened with filth--the smoke, the shouts,
+The yells--struck fear on fear into the heart.
+The burial-place resembled nought but hell.
+Such was the place appointed for the king.
+"Priests! Brâhmans! Counsellors! how have I fallen
+From all my royal state!  Alas! my queen!
+Alas! my son!  Oh! miserable fate!
+We have been torn asunder by the power
+Of Višvâmitra."  Thoughts like these possessed
+His inmost mind; while foul, unshorn, unwashed,
+He served his master.  Running here and there,
+Armed with a jagged club, he sought the dead,
+From whom he gained his wages.  So he lived,
+Degraded from his caste.  Old knotted rags
+Served as his dress; his face and arms and feet
+With dust and ashes from the funeral piles
+Begrimed; his hands defiled with putrid flesh
+From contact with the bodies of the dead.
+So neither day nor night he ceased from toil.
+And twelve months passed--twelve weary months, which seemed
+To his grief-stricken mind a hundred years;
+And then at last, worn out, the best of kings
+Lay down to rest; and as upon his couch
+All motionless in sleep he lay, he saw
+A wondrous vision.  By the power divine
+He seemed to wear another form,--a form
+Both new and strange,--and in that form to pay
+The vow.  Twelve years of expiation passed
+With difficulty.  Then within himself
+King Harišchandra thought: "So too will I,
+When I am freed from hence, perform my vows
+With generous freedom."  Forthwith he was born
+As a Pukkasa; while a place was found
+For him among the dead, and funeral rites
+Were ordered as his task.  Thus seven years
+Were passed; then to the burying-place was brought
+A Brâhman seeking sepulture: in life
+He had been poor, but honest; and the king,
+Though he knew this--the dead man's poverty
+And his uprightness--pressed his friends to pay
+The funeral dues.  "Enforce thy right," they said,
+"And do this evil deed; yet know thou this:
+Once upon earth there was a mighty king
+Named Harišchandra; though he but disturbed
+A Brâhman's sleep, through that offence he lost
+His merit, and by Višvâmitra's curse
+Became a base Pukkasa."  "Yet the king
+Spared not the dead man's friends, but still required
+His fee.  Therefore they cursed him in their rage--
+"Go!--go!--thou most degraded of mankind--
+Go to the lowest hell!"  Then in his dream
+The king beheld the messengers of death.
+Fearful to look at, armed with heavy chains,
+They seized him, and they bound him hand and foot,
+And bore him off.  And then, in fear and pain,
+Headlong he fell into the bath of oil
+In Nâraka.  There, torn with instruments
+Sharp-edged as razors, fed on putrid blood,
+He saw himself.  For seven years in hell--
+Now burnt from day to day, now tossed and torn,
+Now cut by knives, and now by icy winds
+Frozen and numbed--a dead Pukkasa's fate
+He underwent.  Each day in Nâraka,
+A hundred years of mortal reckoning--
+So count the demons who inhabit hell.
+Then he beheld himself cast up to earth,
+His spirit entering a filthy dog;
+Feeding on things all foul and horrible--
+Consumed by cold.  A month thus passed away.
+His spirit changed its dwelling, and he saw
+Himself an ass; and after that an ox,
+A cow, a goat, a sheep, a bird, a worm.
+So day by day he saw his spirit change
+Its outward shape.  A multitude of forms--
+Some moving, others rooted to the ground--
+Received his soul.  And when the hundred years
+Were passed and gone, he saw himself again
+Re-occupy his pristine human form--
+Once more a king.  And then he seemed to lose
+His kingdom, casting it away in games
+Of chance.  Turned from his home a wanderer
+Into the forest with his wife and child:
+Devoured by a ravening beast, but raised
+To life again on earth, he sore bewailed
+His wife: "Alas! why hast thou left me thus?
+Alas!  O Saivya! where hast thou gone?"
+Then in his dream he seemed to see his wife
+And son lamenting: "What hast thou to do
+With gambling?  Oh protect us, mighty king!"
+The vision faded, and he saw no more
+The cherished forms.  And then the dream returned
+By power divine.  And Harišchandra stood
+In heaven, and he beheld his wife on earth,
+With flowing hair, dragged forcibly along--
+Stripped of her clothes: the cry came to his ear,
+"Protect us, king of men!"  Then, snatched away,
+The demons hurried him before the judge;
+And Harišchandra seemed to hear the words:
+"Go forth! return once more to earth!  Thy grief
+Is well nigh past and ended; joy ere long
+Shall come to thee.  The sorrows that remain
+Endure."  The king, then driven from the sky
+By Yama's messengers, falling through space--
+Senseless in fear and terror, filled with pain
+Yet more exceeding--thought within himself,
+"How shall I suffer all these torments sore!--
+The changes manifold of form--the pain
+In Nâraka."  Then Harišchandra sought
+Aid from the gods: "O mighty lords," he said,
+"Protect me!  O protect my wife and child!
+O mighty Dharma, thee I worship!  Thee,
+O Krish.na, the Creator!  Faultless ones,
+Both far and near, before you now I come,
+A suppliant.  On thee, O lord of prayer,
+I call! on thee, O Indra too! to thee
+O ancient one! I pray--immutable!"
+The vision fled, the king arose from sleep.
+His tangled hair, his body black and grimed,
+Recalled to him his state--the plunderer
+Of dead men's clothes.  His recollection gone,
+He thought not of his sorrowing wife and child,
+For reason failed.  The loss of kingdom, wealth,
+And friends, his dwelling-place among the tombs,
+Had overthrown his senses, and destroyed
+His mind.  Then to the burying-place the queen
+Came, bearing the dead body of her son--
+Pale and distracted.  "My beloved son!
+My child!" she kept exclaiming, while she threw
+Dust on her head.  "Alas! alas! O king!
+O that thou could'st behold thy child," she said--
+"Thy child now lying dead upon the earth,
+Killed by a serpent's bite.  Alas! my son!
+So lovely! so delightful!" Then the king,
+Rearing the sounds of mourning, went in haste
+To rob the dead: nor did he recognize
+His wife, in that sad mourner, changed by grief
+As if into another.  And the queen
+Knew not the form that stood before her, clothed
+In rags, with matted hair, withered and foul.
+Then recollection dawned upon the king,
+Seeing the dead child's princely form, the thought
+Of his own son came o'er him.  "Ah! my child!
+What evil chance," he said, "has brought thee here!
+A child of princely race thou seemest.  He, my son,
+Long lost to me through my accursed fate,
+Would have been even such as thou in age."
+Then raised the queen her voice, and thus she spoke:
+"Alas! has some unexpiated crime
+Brought upon us, my child! this endless woe.
+My absent lord! since thou did'st not console
+My grief in times gone by, how can the pain
+I suffer now assuage?  Did'st thou not lose
+Thy kingdom? did'st thou not desert thy friends?
+Did'st thou not sell thy wife and child?"  The king
+Heard her lament, and as he heard, the wail
+Fell from his eyes,--he recognized again
+His wife and son--and saying but the words,
+"Ah! Saivya!  Ah! my beloved child!"
+He fainting fell to earth.  Then, too, the queen,
+Hearing her husband's voice, o'ercome with grief,
+Insensate fell.  Returning consciousness
+Brought to them both affliction's heaviest weight
+And mutual lamentations.  "Ah! my son!"
+Thus mourned the king, "my inmost heart is torn,
+When I behold thy form so delicate:
+My child! embracing thee in tend'rest love,
+Words of affection I will speak, that rise
+Unbidden to my lips.  Alas! thy limbs
+Will be defiled by my embrace; the dust
+That clings about my garments will pollute
+Thy lovely form!  Alas! my child, thou had'st
+An evil father!  He who should have kept
+All dangers from thee, he it was who sold
+Thee as a slave! and yet in heart and mind
+First of all things I love thee.  Ah! my child!
+Thy father's realm--my heaped-up wealth--all this
+By lawful right was thine inheritance,
+And now thou liest slain!  Ah me! the tears
+Rise to my eyes in blinding force: thy form,
+In grace and beauty like the lotus flower,
+Fades from my sight."  He spoke, and faltering
+With grief embraced his son.  The queen exclaimed:
+"This is indeed my lord--I know his voice!
+I know his form! this is the mighty king.
+The wisest of all beings.  But how changed!
+What fate is this?  Ah what a dreadful place
+For him, the lord of men.  This grief yet more
+Is added to the mourning for my son--
+My husband's fate--for as a slave he serves
+A base Cha.n.dâla.  Curséd be that god,
+Or demon foul, through whom a godlike king
+Has fallen to this degraded state; the lot
+Of a Švapâka.  Ah! most noble prince,
+My mind is filled with grief, when I recall
+Thy regal state, thy past magnificence.
+No kingly ensigns go before thee now,
+No captive kings, brought down to slavery,
+Humbly precede thee, casting in the way
+Their garments, lest the dust should soil thy feet.
+But now!  O king! alas, thyself a slave,
+Thou livest in this fearful place, begrimed
+With filth; thy sacred cord concealed, thy hair
+Tangled and long, plunder of dead men's clothes
+Thy livelihood.  Ah! king! and is thy life
+Spent in this awful wise?"  So spake the queen,
+And falling on his neck, embraced her lord:
+While she, sprung from a king herself, bewailed
+Her sorrows endless.  "King! I pray thee speak!
+Is this a dream?  If it be real and true,
+Then justice, truth, and righteousness have fled
+And gone from earth: nor aught avails mankind,
+Of sacrifice, or reverence, to gods
+Or priests!  'Tis vain to follow innocence
+If thou, most perfect, purest of mankind,
+Art brought to such a depth of infamy."
+Then spoke the king, and told his sorrowing wife
+How he had fallen to this wretched state,--
+The state of a Cha.n.dâla.  She, in turn,
+Weeping, with many sighs, poured out her tale,
+Telling him how the serpent's bite had killed
+Their child.  "Beloved one! I suffer not
+These evils," said the king, "by mine own will--
+Thou seest what I endure; my evil fate
+Depends not on myself.  I am a slave,
+And if I fly from the Cha.n.dâla's bonds,
+The fiery torment in the depths of hell
+Will overtake me, and I shall become
+A slave again.  My doom is fixed! lo! hell
+Is my abode hereafter; and in forms,
+Creeping and loathsome, shall my soul abide.
+Yet from this miserable life on earth
+There is one only refuge.  He! my son!
+My hope! my stay! is dead; drowned by the sea
+Of my misfortunes.  But I am a slave!
+I am dependent on another's will!
+Can I give up my wife?  Yes! even so!
+For know thou this: one who is steeped in woe
+Cares not for evil chances; not the state
+Of the most loathsome beast, nor yet the wood
+Of sword-leaved plants, nor even hell's dread stream,
+Could add the smallest fraction to the pain
+I have already borne.  My son is dead!
+Who then will make atonement for my sins?
+Yet listen to my words, beloved one,
+If I have offered sacrifice, and paid
+Due reverence to the saints; if I have given
+Alms to the needy--may we meet again
+Hereafter, in the world to come, and find
+The refuge for our woes denied us here.
+Let us together follow in the path
+By which our son has gone.  Our hopeless fate
+Can never alter here.  Whatever words
+I may have uttered, thoughtlessly, in jest,
+These, when I pray for pardon, shall receive
+Fullest forgiveness.  Thou must not despise
+Thy lord: nor pride thee on thy queenly state
+Now passed and gone."  The prince's wife replied:
+"I am prepared to tread that path with thee,
+O king, most saintly! and with thee that world
+To enter."  While she spoke these words, the king
+Made up the funeral pile, and placed thereon
+His son, himself ascending with his wife.
+And then, in meditation wrapt, he thought
+Upon Nârâyana, the lord supreme,
+And Vâsudeva, lord of deities,
+Šiva, and Brâhma the eternal god,
+And Krish.na clothed in glory.  As the king
+Was meditating, all the gods from heaven
+Came down headed by Dharma.  And they said:
+"Hear us, O king! hear us, O lord! The gods--
+Even the mighty gods have come to earth,
+And at their head is Dharma.  Gods, and saints,
+And heroes--yea, and Višvâmitra too,
+The sage implacable,--all summon thee--
+Ascend! to heaven: receive the due reward,
+That thou hast gained.  O king! slay not thyself!
+I, perfect Righteousness, I summon thee
+To enter now the heaven that thou hast gained
+By thy transcendant virtues, self-control,
+Patience, and truth." Then Indra spoke, and said:--
+"O Harišchandra! King, most eminent!
+In virtue! lo! before you Indra stands--
+For I am he.  The everlasting world
+Thou hast attained: together with thy wife,
+And son, ascend to heaven;--to that third heav'n--
+So difficult to be attained by men--
+The heav'n that thou hast won."  Then Indra rained
+Life-giving am.rit from the sky, and flowers
+That blossomed in the heavenly courts: while sounds
+Of music filled the air, and round him stood
+The gods, a vast assembly.  Then the son
+Of Harišchandra rose, restored to life,
+And health, his mind and senses whole, his form
+More beautiful than ever: and the king
+Embraced his wife and son, with perfect joy
+Filled to o'erflowing, crowned with heavenly wreaths.
+Then Indra said: "Thou, with thy wife, and son,
+Shalt dwell in bliss supreme: bliss that thyself
+Hast purchased, by thy virtues and thy toils."
+Then spoke the king: "Hear me! most holy gods!
+Unbidden by my master, will I not
+To heaven itself ascend."  Then Dharma spoke:
+"I am thy master.  I assumed the form
+Of a Cha.n.dâla.  All thy pain and woe
+Was brought upon thee by my magic power,
+And thou wast made a slave!  I have beheld
+Thy truth, and thy uprightness.  Saintly king!
+The highest place that heaven accords to men,
+Whose virtue has been tried and proved:--to that
+Ascend!"  But Harišchandra answering, said:
+"Receive, most mighty lord! my words of praise
+And thanksgiving.  I offer them to thee
+Full of affection.  Lo! my people stand
+With grieving hearts, longing for my return.
+Can I ascend to heav'n while they on earth
+Lament for me?  If they have ever slain,
+Brâhmans, or teachers of the holy law,--
+If lust or avarice have ruled their hearts,--
+Then may my labours and my toils atone,
+For these their sins.  I may not leave my friends.
+For neither here, nor in the world to come,
+Can there be peace to one who casts aside
+The friend whose love is pure and true--the friend
+Who serves him from the heart.  Return!
+Return! to heaven!  O Indra! If thou grant
+My friends to rise with me, to heav'n will I
+Ascend; if not, with them will I descend
+To Nâraka."  "O king! thy prayer is heard!
+Thy people's sins are pardoned: even for them,
+Hard though it be, thy toils and pains have gained
+A place in heaven."  Thus mighty Indra spoke.
+Replied the king: "Indra! I will not leave
+My kinsmen.  By his kinsmen's help a king
+His kingdom rules; by them he offers up
+The kingly sacrifice, and for himself
+Lays up a store of meritorious deeds.
+So have my kinsmen too enabled me
+To work whate'er I may of righteousness.
+My actions virtuous, my granted prayers,
+Truly I owe to them, for by their aid
+Have these been possible.  May the reward
+Thou grantest me, I pray, be shared with them.
+My kinsmen, though I should ascend to heaven,
+I will not leave."  "So be it!" Indra said;
+"So be it!" said the Brâhman; Dharma, too,
+Gave his assent; and then, in countless hosts,
+Appeared the heavenly chariots.  Indra said:
+"Men of Ayodhya, ascend to heaven."
+The saintly Brâhman, having heard with joy
+The words of Indra, poured the sacred oil
+Upon the prince, and with the perfect ones,
+The sages, and the gods, anointed him
+"Son of the mighty king."  Then all the throng--
+The king, his wife, his son, his followers--
+Filled with rejoicing and delight, ascend
+To heaven, surrounding, as they go, the king
+Borne in his chariot.  He, too, filled with joy--
+The mighty father, who eternal bliss
+Both for his people and himself had gained,
+Once more in form and mien a king--reposed,
+Resting from all his toils, his faithful friends
+Surrounding him with a protecting wall.
+And Indra spoke and said: "Upon this earth
+Great Harišchandra's equal has not been
+Nor shall be.  Whosoe'er may hear his life,
+His toils, his sorrows, and in sympathy
+For him lament, transcendant happiness
+Shall he attain, and all his heart's desire
+Shall be accomplished.  Is his prayer a wife,
+Or son, or kingdom, he shall gain them all,
+E'en heaven itself.  And he who imitates
+The truth, and steadfastness, of that great king,
+Like him shall enter everlasting rest.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mârkandeya Purâna, Books VII., VIII.
+Translated by Rev. B. Hale Wortham
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MâRKANDEYA PURâNA, BOOKS VII., VIII. ***
+
+This file should be named 8mark10.txt or 8mark10.zip
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8mark11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8mark10a.txt
+
+Originally scanned at sacred-texts.com by John B. Hare.
+This eBook was produced by Chetan Jain at BharatLiterature.
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+
diff --git a/old/8mark10.zip b/old/8mark10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc9b46f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/8mark10.zip
diff --git a/old/8mark10u.txt b/old/8mark10u.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ab5cb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/8mark10u.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1339 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mârkandeya Purâna, Books VII., VIII.
+Translated by Rev. B. Hale Wortham
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Mârkandeya Purâna, Books VII. VIII
+
+Translated by: Rev. B. Hale Wortham
+
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7169]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 20, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MâRKANDEYA PURâNA, BOOKS VII., VIII. ***
+
+
+
+
+Originally scanned at sacred-texts.com by John B. Hare.
+This eBook was produced by Chetan Jain at BharatLiterature.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Mârkandeya Purâna
+
+
+
+Books VII and VIII.
+
+
+
+JOURNAL
+
+OF
+
+THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.
+
+
+
+[New Series, Volume XIII]
+
+[London, Trübner and Company]
+
+[1881]
+
+
+{Scanned and edited by Christopher M. Weimer, May 2002}
+
+
+
+ART. XIII.--__Translation of the Mârka.n.deya Purâ.na.__
+Books VII. VIII.  By the Rev. B. HALE WORTHAM.
+
+
+
+BOOK VII.
+
+
+ONCE upon earth there lived a saintly king
+Named Harišchandra; pure in heart and mind,
+In virtue eminent, he ruled the world,
+Guarding mankind from evil.  While he reigned
+No famine raged, nor pain; untimely death
+Ne'er cut men off; nor were the citizens
+Of his fair city lawless.  All their wealth,
+And power, and works of righteousness, ne'er filled
+Their hearts with pride; in everlasting youth
+And loveliness the women passed their days.
+
+It so fell out, that while this mighty king
+Was hunting in the forest, that he heard
+The sound of female voices raised in cry
+Of supplication.  Then he turned and said,
+Leaving the deer to fly unheeded: "Stop!
+Who art thou, full of tyranny and hate,
+That darest thus oppress the earth; while I,
+The tamer of all evil, live and rule?"
+Then, too, the fierce Ganeša,--he who blinds
+The eyes, and foils the wills of men,--he heard
+The cry, and thus within himself he thought:
+"This surely is the great ascetic's work,
+The mighty Višvâmitra; he whose acts
+Display the fruits of penance hard and sore.
+Upon the sciences he shows his power,
+While they, in patience, discipline of mind,
+And silence perfected, cry out with fear,
+'What shall we do?  The illustrious Kaušika
+Is powerful; and we, compared with him,
+Are feeble.'  Thus they cry.  What shall I do?
+My mind is filled with doubt.  Yet stay; a thought
+Has come across me: Lo! this king who cries
+Unceasingly, 'Fear not!' meeting with him,
+And entering his heart, I will fulfil
+All my desire."  Then filled with Rudra's son--
+Inspired with rage by Vigna Raj--the king
+Spake up and said: "What evil doer is here,
+Binding the fire on his garment's hem,
+While I, his king, in power and arms renowned,
+Resplendent in my glory, pass for nought?
+Surely the never-ending sleep of death
+Shall overtake him, and his limbs shall fail,
+Smitten with darts from my far-reaching bow,
+Whose fame this lower world may scarce contain."
+Hearing the prince's words, the saint was filled
+With wrath o'erpow'ring, and the sciences
+Fell blasted in a moment at his glance.
+
+But when the king beheld the pious sage
+All-powerful, he quaked exceedingly,
+And trembled like the sacred fig-tree's leaves.
+Then Višvâmitra cried: "Stop, miscreant!"
+And Harišchandra, humbly falling down
+Before the saint, in accents low and meek:
+"O Lord! most holy! most adorable!
+Oh, blame me not!  This is no fault of mine!
+My duty calls," he said, "I must obey."
+"Is it not written in the Holy Law,
+'Alms must be given by a virtuous king;
+His people must be fought for, and be kept
+From every ill'?"  Then Višvâmitra spoke
+And said: "To whom, O king, should'st thou give alms?
+For whom in battle should'st thou fight? and whom
+Should'st thou protect?  Oh, tell me, nor delay,
+But quickly answer, if thou fearest sin."
+"Alms should be given to Brâhmans," said the king:
+"Those who are weak should be protected: foes
+In battle should be met and overcome."
+
+Then Višvâmitra spoke and said: "O king!
+If thus indeed thou rightly dost perceive
+Thy royal duty, give thine alms to me;
+I am a holy Brâhman, and I seek
+A dwelling-place; moreover I would gain
+A wife: therefore bestow on me thine alms."
+The king, his heart filled with exceeding joy,
+Felt, as it were, his youth return, and said:
+"Fear not! but tell me, son of Kaušika,
+Thy heart's desire; and be it hard to gain,
+Or be it easy, it shall still be thine.
+Say, shall I give thee gold, or wealth, or life?
+Or shall I give thee wife, or child, or land?
+Or my prosperity itself?"  "O king!"
+The sage replied, "thy present I accept;
+But let thine alms, I pray, be granted first,--
+The offering for the kingly sacrifice."
+"O Brâhman!" said the king, "the alms are thine;
+Further than this, whatever be the gift
+Thou mayest desire, freely I give it thee.
+Ask what thou wilt."  Then Višvâmitra spake:
+"Give me the earth, its mountains, seas, and towns,
+With all its kingdoms, chariots, horses, men;
+Its elephants, its treasure-houses too;
+Its treasures vast, and all whate'er beside
+Is recognized as thine: oh! give me all,
+I pray, except thyself, thy wife, thy son,
+And this thy righteousness, that follows close
+Beside thee.  Sinless one! oh thou who art
+Perfect in righteousness! oh give me all--
+All beside these.  What need of further words."
+
+The king, with heart rejoicing, and unchanged
+In countenance, hearing the sage's words,
+Said, humbly bowing down before the saint,
+"So be thy wish fulfilled."  "O saintly king,"
+Said Višvâmitra, "if the world is mine,
+And power, and wealth, I pray you who shall reign,
+Since in this kingdom as a devotee
+I dwell?"  Then Harišchandra said: "'Ere this,
+Before the world was thine by my free gift,
+Thou wast the lord of all; how much more now?
+Thy right is doubly sure."  Then said the sage:
+"If this indeed be so,--if the whole world
+Be truly mine, and all its sovereignty,
+Then should'st thou not remain, nor leave thyself
+Aught of that kingdom which thou hast renounced,
+But, casting off thy royal ornaments,
+Thou should'st depart, clothed in a dress of bark."
+The king, obedient to the sage's word,
+Stripped off his royal dress, and, with his wife
+And son, made haste to go.  Then said the saint:
+"Stop, Harišchandra!  Hast thou then forgot
+The offering for the kingly sacrifice
+That thou hast promised us?"  Replied the king:
+"O mighty saint! the kingdom now is __thine__;
+All have I given to __thee__: and as for me,
+What have I left?--nought! save myself,
+My wife, my son!"  "Thou sayest the truth, indeed,"
+Answered the sage; "but yet there still remains
+The offering for the kingly sacrifice.
+And this know well:  A vow to Brâhmans made,
+If unfulfilled, works special woe to him
+Who made the vow.  For in this sacrifice
+Must offerings of worth be freely made
+To Brâhmans;--offerings until they cry
+Hold! that suffices for us!  Therefore pay
+Thy promised vow, nor longer hesitate.
+'Alms are for Brâhmans,' thou thyself hast said,
+'Those who are weak must be protected: foes
+In battle must be met and overcome.'"
+"O saintly priest!" answered the king, "my wealth
+Is all departed: nothing now remains
+For me to give: yet grant me time I pray,
+And I will pay the offering!"  "Noble king,"
+Said Višvâmitra, "speak I pray thee!  Say
+What time dost thou appoint that I should wait?
+Speak! no delay! or else my curse of fire
+Shall burn thee up."  Then Harišchandra said:
+"Most holy Brâhman! when a month has past
+The money for the offering shall be thine.
+Now I have nothing.  Oh! be pleased to grant
+Remission for the present."  Said the sage,
+"Go! go! most noble prince! maintain thy faith!
+And may'st thou prosper! may no enemies
+Harass thy road."  Commanded thus, the king
+Departed as an outcast;--he, the king
+Of all the earth, an exile with his wife
+Unused to go afoot, and with his son
+Went forth: while cries and lamentations rose
+On every side: "Our hearts are filled with pain,
+Why dost thou leave us thus?  O virtuous king!
+Show mercy to thy subjects.  Righteousness
+Indeed shines forth in thee; if thou art full
+Of mercy, may it overflow on us.
+Stay!  Mighty Prince! one moment, while we gaze
+With lover's eyes upon thy beauteous form.
+Alas! our Prince!  Shall we ne'er see thee more?
+How changed thy princely state!  Thou, who did'st once
+Go forth, surrounded by attendant kings,
+Who marched on foot; while stately elephants
+Bore e'en thy ministers.  Now, Lord of Kings!
+Thyself art driven forth on foot.  Yet, stay!
+Think, Harišchandra! how wilt thou endure
+The dust, the heat, the toil?  Stay, mighty prince,
+Nor cast thy duty off.  Oh, show to us
+Some mercy, for herein thy duty lies.
+Behold, we cast off all for thee!  Our wives,
+Our wealth, our children, our possessions, all
+Have we relinquished; like thy shadow,
+We would follow thee.  Oh leave us not!
+For wheresoe'er thou art is happiness,
+And heaven itself would be no heaven to us
+Without our prince."  Then, overwhelmed with grief
+At these laments, the king stayed on his course,
+In pity for his loving citizens.
+Then Višvâmitra, filled with rage, his eyes
+Rolling with wrath, exclaimed: "Shame on thee! shame!
+O full of falsehood, and of wickedness.
+How! would'st thou, then, speaker of lies!
+Resume the gifts that thou hast freely made,
+And reinstate thee in thy kingdom?"  "Sir!
+I go!" replied the king to these rude words,
+And trembling crept away in haste, his wife
+Holding him by the hand.  And, as she went,
+Her fragile form o'ercome with weariness,
+The Brâhman smote her fiercely with his stick.
+Then Harišchandra, pained with inmost grief,
+Seeing the stroke, said meekly, "Sir! I go!"
+Nor further spoke.  Filled with compassion then,
+The Višvadevas said: "What sin is this?
+What torments shall indeed suffice for him
+By whom this pious king--the offerer
+Of prayer, and sacrifice, has been cast forth.
+Who now will sanctify the Soma-juice
+With prayers and hymns, at the great sacrifice,
+That we may drink it with rejoicing hearts?"
+
+Then, having heard these words, the Brâhman turned
+Upon the Višvedevâs; and, in wrath
+Exceeding hot, he spake a fearful curse:
+"You shall be cast down from the height of heaven,
+And live as men."  The curse had hardly passed
+His lips, when filled with pity for their fate,
+The sage yet further added: "you shall live
+Indeed as men, but yet, there shall be born
+To you no son, nor shall you know the state
+Of marriage.  Envy, love, and wrath shall ne'er
+Hold sway o'er you: and when the appointed time
+Has past, you shall re-enter once again
+The courts of heaven, and wear again the form
+Which you had lost."  The Višvedevâs then
+Came down from heaven, and, clothed in human form,
+Were born as men, the sons of Pritha, wife
+Of Pa.n.du.  Therefore those five Pâ.n.davas--
+Mighty in war--by Višvâmitra cursed,
+Knew not the state of marriage.  Thou hast heard
+The tale of Pa.n.du's sons; thy question, too,
+Of fourfold import has been answered.
+I pray thee, say, what further would'st thou hear?
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII.
+
+
+Said Jaimîni: An answer ye have found
+To all my questions; and indeed have filled
+Me full of deepest interest.  Oh! I long
+To hear yet more!  Alas! that saintly king!
+What grief he suffered!  Did he e'er attain
+To any comfort answering to his woe?
+Noblest of Birds!  Oh tell me this, I pray.
+
+The Holy Birds continued:  Then the king,
+O'ercome with grief and pain, hearing the words
+Of Višvâmitra, with his wife and son
+Journeyed along, dragging his weary steps.
+At length the holy place appeared in view--
+The shrine of Å iva; thus within himself,
+He said: "Benares, sacred to the god,
+Lies now before me; there shall I find rest,
+For there man has no power."  The king approached
+The gates on foot: lo! at the entry stood
+The Brâhman Višvâmitra.  Mighty Saint!
+The king, his hands in supplication joined,
+With humble reverence, said:  "Here is my life,
+My wife, my son, I offer all to thee;
+Accept, I pray, the offering! or choose
+Whatever else thou wouldest!"  But the sage
+Replied: "The month is past! most saintly king!
+Give me the present for the sacrifice--
+The offering thou hast promised."  "One half-day
+As yet remains before the month be past,
+Oh Brâhman of surpassing piety,
+And penances unfading.  Wait, I pray,
+A few short hours."  Then Višvâmitra said:
+"So be it, king! once more I will return,
+But if the offering be not duly paid,
+Before the sinking of this evening's sun,
+My curse shall smite thee."  And the priest
+Departed, while the king, in anxious thought,
+Debated thus: "How shall I make the gift?
+The promised gift? where are my friends? my wealth?
+I may not beg for alms; how can I then
+Fulfil my vow?  Nor even in the world
+Beyond shall I find rest.  Destruction waits,
+If with my promise unfulfilled, I pass
+From hence.  A robber of the holy saints;
+I shall become the lowest of the low.
+Nay, I will sell myself! and, as a slave,
+Redeem my promise."  Then the queen, in tears
+Bewildered, and afflicted, lost in thought,
+With face cast down, "Maintain thy truth," she said,
+"Most mighty prince!  Oh! let not doubt prevail!
+The man devoid of truth is to be shunned
+Like contact with the dead.  The highest law
+Declares, that inward truth and faithfulness
+Must be maintained.  Burnt sacrifices, alms,
+The study of the scriptures, penances,
+Are counted not for righteousness to him
+Whose word is faithless.  Listen! noble prince!
+Is it not written in the sacred law:
+'The wise attain Salvation through the truth,
+While lies and falsehood are destruction's way
+To men of low and evil minds.'  There lived,
+'Tis said, a king upon the earth, by whom
+The kingly sacrifice--burnt offerings too,
+Were offered in abundance.  That same king
+Fell once from truthfulness, and by that fall,
+He lost his righteousness, and forfeited
+His place in heaven.  Prince! I have borne a son"--
+Her utterance failed her, issuing forth in nought
+But sighs and lamentations.  Then the king,
+With eyes o'erflowing, said, "Behold thy son!
+He stands beside thee! cast away thy grief!
+Tell me what presses on thee."  Said the queen,
+"Prince, I have borne a son; and sons are born
+To none but worthy women.  This my son
+Shall take me--he shall offer me for sale--
+Then with the money gained, pay thou the priest
+The promised offering."  Hearing these words,
+He fell down fainting.  When his sense returned,
+Filled with exceeding pain, the king burst forth,
+Lamenting: "This, alas! most loving one!
+Is hardly to be framed in words, much less
+Be carried out in deed.  Alas! alas!"--
+His spirit fled again, and to the earth
+He fell unconscious.  Overcome with grief,
+The queen exclaimed, filled with compassion: "King!
+How art thou fallen from thy high estate!
+The ground is now thy resting-place, whom once
+A gorgeous couch received.  Lo! this my lord,
+By whom wealth, honour, power, are freely given
+An offering to the Brâhman--see, he lies
+Insensate on the ground.  Ye gods of heaven!
+Tell me, I pray you, has this noble king,
+Equal to gods in rank, committed sin
+Against you, that he lies thus overcome
+With woe?"  Then fell the queen, bereft of sense
+Upon the earth, o'erwhelmed with grief and pain,
+Seeing her husband's misery.  When the boy
+Beheld his parents lying on the ground,
+He cried in terror: "Father! give me food!
+Mother! my tongue is parched with thirst!"  Meanwhile
+Upon the scene the mighty Brâhman came;
+And when he saw the king lie senseless, "King!"--
+Sprinkling cold water on his face--he said,
+"Rise up! rise up! Pay me the promised vow;
+For this thy misery from day to day
+Increases, and will yet increase, until
+The debt be paid."  The water's cooling touch
+Refreshed the king; his consciousness returned;
+But when he saw the Brâhman, faintness seized
+His limbs again.  Then overpowering rage
+Seized Višvâmitra; but before he left,
+The best of Brâhmans said: "If what is just,
+Or right, or true, enters thy mind, O king!
+Give me the present.  Lo! by truth divine
+The sun sends forth his vivifying rays
+Upon the earth.  By truth this mighty world
+Stands firm and steadfast.  Truth all law excels.
+By truth the very heaven itself exists.
+Wert thou to weigh the truth, and in the scale
+Opposing, wert to place burnt-offerings,
+And sacrifices countless, still the truth
+Would far outweigh them all.  Why need I waste
+My words of loving-kindness upon thee--
+An ill-intentioned, false, ignoble man.
+Thou art a king,--so should the truth prevail
+With thee.  Yet hear me;--if the offering
+Be still unpaid when th' evening's sun has sunk
+Behind the western mountain to his rest,
+My curse shall smite thee."  Speaking words like these
+The Brâhman left him; and the king, o'ercome
+With fear--a fugitive--robbed of his wealth--
+Degraded to unfathomable depths--
+The victim of his evil creditor--
+Heard once again the counsel of his wife:
+"O king! sell __me__! nor let the fiery curse
+Dissolve thy being!"  Urged repeatedly,
+The king at length replied: "Most loving one!
+What the most wicked man could hardly do,
+That same will I:--and I will sell my wife.
+Alas! that I should utter such a word!"
+And going with his wife into the town--
+Eyes dimmed with tears, voice choked with grief--he cried:
+"Come hither, townsmen! hearken unto me!
+A wretch! inhuman! savage as a fiend!
+I offer here my wife for sale, and yet
+I live!  Here is a female slave!  Who buys?
+Make haste and speak."  "The female slave is mine!"
+(So spake an ancient Brâhman to the king.)
+"Money I have in heaps, and I will pay
+You well for her.  My wife is delicate;
+Her household duties are beyond her strength;
+I want a slave, and therefore I will give
+A price proportioned to the woman's skill
+And temper; nor will I o'erlook her youth
+And beauty.  What you think is fair and right,
+That will I pay."  Struck dumb with grief, the king
+Stood mute, nor answered aught.  And then the priest,
+Tying the price in the king's garment-hem--
+His bark-cloth garment--roughly grasped the queen,
+And dragged her off.  But when the loving child
+Beheld his mother led away, he seized
+Her by her garment.  And the queen exclaimed:
+"If only for a moment, noble sir!
+Oh! let me go! that I may gaze once more
+Upon my child, whom I shall never see,
+And never touch again!  My child, behold
+Thy mother, now a slave! And thou--a prince!
+Oh, touch me not!  My lot of servitude
+Forbids that thou should'st touch me."  But the child,
+His eyes bedewed with tears, ran after her,
+Calling her "Mother!"  As the boy came near,
+The Brâhman spurned him with his foot; but he
+Still following close would not be torn from her,
+Calling her "Mother!"  "Oh, my lord!  I pray,
+Be gracious to me!" said the queen.  "Oh, buy
+My son with me; divide us not!  For I
+Without him shall be nought of use to you.
+Be gracious, O my lord!"  Then said the priest:
+"Here! take the money! give the boy to me!
+The saints, who know the scriptures, have ordained
+The right and lawful sum.  Take it!"  He tied
+The money in the king's bark dress, and led
+Them both away--the mother and the child--
+Together bound.  But when the king beheld
+Himself bereft of both his wife and son,
+He burst forth: "Ah! my wife! whom neither sun,
+Nor moon, nor air have ever seen I who hast
+Been kept from vulgar gaze!  Alas I a slave
+Hast thou become!  Alas! thou, too, my son!--
+A scion of the noble dynasty,
+Sprung from the sun! disgrace has seized on thee,
+And--shame upon me!--thou too art a slave!
+Ye have become a sacrifice; ye, through my fault,
+Have fallen.  Would that I were dead!"  Thus spoke
+The king.  Meanwhile the Brâhman hastily
+Entered the grove wherein his dwelling stood,
+And vanished with his slaves.  Then met the king
+The Brâhman Višvâmitra.  "Prince!" he said,
+Pay me the offering!"  Harišchandra gave
+The money gainèd by the shameful sale
+Of wife and child.  And when the priest beheld
+The money, overcome with wrath, he said:
+"How canst thou mock me with this paltry sum!
+Base Kshatriya!  And thinkest thou that this
+Suffices for a sacrificial gift
+Such as I would accept?  But if thy mind
+Thus far misleads thee, thou shalt feel my power--
+Power transcendant, gained by penances,
+And scripture meditation.  Yes! the power
+Of my pure Brâhmanhood shall show itself
+On thee."  "More will I give thee," said the king,
+"But wait, most noble saint!  Nought have I left!
+Even my wife and child are sold."  Replied
+The Brâhman: "Hold! be silent!  Further time
+Than the remaining fourth part of to-day
+I grant thee not."  Enraged, he turned away,
+Departing with the money.  And the king,
+Immersed in grief and fear, with face cast down,
+Cried out: "If there be any one of you
+Who wants a slave, let him make haste and speak
+While day remains."  Then Dharma, putting on
+The form of a Cha.n.dâla, hastily
+Came forward, taking pity on the king.
+His countenance was fearful,--black, with tusks
+Projecting; savage in his words; his smell
+Was foul and horrible; a crowd of dogs
+Came after him.  "Tell me thy price," he said;
+"Be quick; and whether it be large or small
+I care not, so I have thee as my slave:"
+The king, beholding such a loathsome form,
+Of mien revolting--"What art thou?" he said.
+"Men call me a Cha.n.dâla," he replied.
+I dwell in this same city--in a part
+Of evil fame.  As of a murderer
+Condemned to death, such is my infamy.
+My calling is a robber of the dead."
+"I will not be a slave," exclaimed the king,
+"To thee, a base Cha.n.dâla.  Better far
+That I should perish by the fiery curse."
+The words were scarcely uttered, when the saint
+Returned, his countenance with rage
+Distorted; and he thus addressed the king:
+"The sum is fair; why dost thou not accept
+The offer?  Then indeed thou mightest pay
+The gift thou owest for the sacrifice."
+"O son of Kušika!" replied the king,
+"Consider this, I pray!--my noble race!
+Truly am I descended from the sun!
+How can I then become, though sore in want,
+Lowest of creatures--a Cha.n.dâla's slave?"
+"Delay no more," the Brâhman said, "but pay
+The gift at once, and sell thyself a slave
+To the Cha.n.dâla--or assuredly
+I curse thee."  "Saintly priest, be merciful!"
+The king entreated; and, immersed in care,
+He seized the Brâhman's feet, exclaiming thus:
+"What am I but a slave, o'erwhelmed with grief!
+Fear holds me!  Saintly priest, be merciful!
+Protect me, mighty saint!  Save me, I pray,
+From this most horrible Cha.n.dâla.  Sir!
+Most noble saint! hereafter shall thy will
+Be all the object of my life!  To serve
+Thy lightest wish shall be my highest joy!
+Thus will I make the offering--I will be
+Thy __slave__!" Replied the Brahman: "If thou art
+My slave, then will I sell thee as a slave
+To the Cha.n.dâla."  Then, filled with delight,
+Paying the money, the Švapâka bound
+His lately-purchased slave, and striking him,
+Led hill away.  Parted from all his friends;
+In utmost grief; in the Cha.n.dâla's house
+Abiding--morning, noon, and eventide,
+And night, the king thus made lament:
+"Alas! my tender wife, overwhelmed with pain,
+Looking upon her son in misery,
+Bewails her lot.  But yet she says: 'The king
+Will surely ransom us, for he has gained
+By now more money than the Brâhman paid
+For us;' and all the time she little knows
+My fate--worse than her own.  For I have passed
+From woe to woe--kingdom and friends--my wife,
+My son, have passed from me, and now the state
+Of a Cha.n.dâla holds me."  While he dwelt
+A slave in the Cha.n.dâla's house, the forms
+Of those he loved were still before his eyes--
+Were ever in his mind.  Meanwhile the king,
+Obedient to his master's will, became
+A robber of the dead; and night and day
+He watched for plunder.  "One part of the spoil
+Is for the king, three for thy master, two
+For thee.  Go to the city's southern part,
+Where is the dwelling of the dead, there wait."
+Obeying the Cha.n.dâla, to the place
+Of burial he went;--an awful place,
+Filled full of fearful sounds and loathsome sights--
+Of evil smells, and smoke, and locks of hair
+Fallen from the dead; while troops of fiends and ghouls,
+Vampires and demons, wandered to and fro.
+Vultures and jackals prowled, and spirit forms'
+Of evil hovered o'er.  The ground was strewn
+With heaps of bones; and wailing, sharp and shrill,
+Re-echoed from the mourners of the dead.
+The bodies on the funeral piles, half burnt,
+Crackled and hissed; showing their shining teeth,
+They grinned, as if in sport; while all the time
+The howl of demons and the wail of fiends
+Were mingled with the roar of flames--a sound
+Of fearful import, such as ushers in
+The day of doom.  The sights, and sounds, and smells--
+The heaps of ashes, and the piles of bones,
+Blackened with filth--the smoke, the shouts,
+The yells--struck fear on fear into the heart.
+The burial-place resembled nought but hell.
+Such was the place appointed for the king.
+"Priests! Brâhmans! Counsellors! how have I fallen
+From all my royal state!  Alas! my queen!
+Alas! my son!  Oh! miserable fate!
+We have been torn asunder by the power
+Of Višvâmitra."  Thoughts like these possessed
+His inmost mind; while foul, unshorn, unwashed,
+He served his master.  Running here and there,
+Armed with a jagged club, he sought the dead,
+From whom he gained his wages.  So he lived,
+Degraded from his caste.  Old knotted rags
+Served as his dress; his face and arms and feet
+With dust and ashes from the funeral piles
+Begrimed; his hands defiled with putrid flesh
+From contact with the bodies of the dead.
+So neither day nor night he ceased from toil.
+And twelve months passed--twelve weary months, which seemed
+To his grief-stricken mind a hundred years;
+And then at last, worn out, the best of kings
+Lay down to rest; and as upon his couch
+All motionless in sleep he lay, he saw
+A wondrous vision.  By the power divine
+He seemed to wear another form,--a form
+Both new and strange,--and in that form to pay
+The vow.  Twelve years of expiation passed
+With difficulty.  Then within himself
+King Harišchandra thought: "So too will I,
+When I am freed from hence, perform my vows
+With generous freedom."  Forthwith he was born
+As a Pukkasa; while a place was found
+For him among the dead, and funeral rites
+Were ordered as his task.  Thus seven years
+Were passed; then to the burying-place was brought
+A Brâhman seeking sepulture: in life
+He had been poor, but honest; and the king,
+Though he knew this--the dead man's poverty
+And his uprightness--pressed his friends to pay
+The funeral dues.  "Enforce thy right," they said,
+"And do this evil deed; yet know thou this:
+Once upon earth there was a mighty king
+Named Harišchandra; though he but disturbed
+A Brâhman's sleep, through that offence he lost
+His merit, and by Višvâmitra's curse
+Became a base Pukkasa."  "Yet the king
+Spared not the dead man's friends, but still required
+His fee.  Therefore they cursed him in their rage--
+"Go!--go!--thou most degraded of mankind--
+Go to the lowest hell!"  Then in his dream
+The king beheld the messengers of death.
+Fearful to look at, armed with heavy chains,
+They seized him, and they bound him hand and foot,
+And bore him off.  And then, in fear and pain,
+Headlong he fell into the bath of oil
+In Nâraka.  There, torn with instruments
+Sharp-edged as razors, fed on putrid blood,
+He saw himself.  For seven years in hell--
+Now burnt from day to day, now tossed and torn,
+Now cut by knives, and now by icy winds
+Frozen and numbed--a dead Pukkasa's fate
+He underwent.  Each day in Nâraka,
+A hundred years of mortal reckoning--
+So count the demons who inhabit hell.
+Then he beheld himself cast up to earth,
+His spirit entering a filthy dog;
+Feeding on things all foul and horrible--
+Consumed by cold.  A month thus passed away.
+His spirit changed its dwelling, and he saw
+Himself an ass; and after that an ox,
+A cow, a goat, a sheep, a bird, a worm.
+So day by day he saw his spirit change
+Its outward shape.  A multitude of forms--
+Some moving, others rooted to the ground--
+Received his soul.  And when the hundred years
+Were passed and gone, he saw himself again
+Re-occupy his pristine human form--
+Once more a king.  And then he seemed to lose
+His kingdom, casting it away in games
+Of chance.  Turned from his home a wanderer
+Into the forest with his wife and child:
+Devoured by a ravening beast, but raised
+To life again on earth, he sore bewailed
+His wife: "Alas! why hast thou left me thus?
+Alas!  O Saivya! where hast thou gone?"
+Then in his dream he seemed to see his wife
+And son lamenting: "What hast thou to do
+With gambling?  Oh protect us, mighty king!"
+The vision faded, and he saw no more
+The cherished forms.  And then the dream returned
+By power divine.  And Harišchandra stood
+In heaven, and he beheld his wife on earth,
+With flowing hair, dragged forcibly along--
+Stripped of her clothes: the cry came to his ear,
+"Protect us, king of men!"  Then, snatched away,
+The demons hurried him before the judge;
+And Harišchandra seemed to hear the words:
+"Go forth! return once more to earth!  Thy grief
+Is well nigh past and ended; joy ere long
+Shall come to thee.  The sorrows that remain
+Endure."  The king, then driven from the sky
+By Yama's messengers, falling through space--
+Senseless in fear and terror, filled with pain
+Yet more exceeding--thought within himself,
+"How shall I suffer all these torments sore!--
+The changes manifold of form--the pain
+In Nâraka."  Then Harišchandra sought
+Aid from the gods: "O mighty lords," he said,
+"Protect me!  O protect my wife and child!
+O mighty Dharma, thee I worship!  Thee,
+O Krish.na, the Creator!  Faultless ones,
+Both far and near, before you now I come,
+A suppliant.  On thee, O lord of prayer,
+I call! on thee, O Indra too! to thee
+O ancient one! I pray--immutable!"
+The vision fled, the king arose from sleep.
+His tangled hair, his body black and grimed,
+Recalled to him his state--the plunderer
+Of dead men's clothes.  His recollection gone,
+He thought not of his sorrowing wife and child,
+For reason failed.  The loss of kingdom, wealth,
+And friends, his dwelling-place among the tombs,
+Had overthrown his senses, and destroyed
+His mind.  Then to the burying-place the queen
+Came, bearing the dead body of her son--
+Pale and distracted.  "My beloved son!
+My child!" she kept exclaiming, while she threw
+Dust on her head.  "Alas! alas! O king!
+O that thou could'st behold thy child," she said--
+"Thy child now lying dead upon the earth,
+Killed by a serpent's bite.  Alas! my son!
+So lovely! so delightful!" Then the king,
+Rearing the sounds of mourning, went in haste
+To rob the dead: nor did he recognize
+His wife, in that sad mourner, changed by grief
+As if into another.  And the queen
+Knew not the form that stood before her, clothed
+In rags, with matted hair, withered and foul.
+Then recollection dawned upon the king,
+Seeing the dead child's princely form, the thought
+Of his own son came o'er him.  "Ah! my child!
+What evil chance," he said, "has brought thee here!
+A child of princely race thou seemest.  He, my son,
+Long lost to me through my accursed fate,
+Would have been even such as thou in age."
+Then raised the queen her voice, and thus she spoke:
+"Alas! has some unexpiated crime
+Brought upon us, my child! this endless woe.
+My absent lord! since thou did'st not console
+My grief in times gone by, how can the pain
+I suffer now assuage?  Did'st thou not lose
+Thy kingdom? did'st thou not desert thy friends?
+Did'st thou not sell thy wife and child?"  The king
+Heard her lament, and as he heard, the wail
+Fell from his eyes,--he recognized again
+His wife and son--and saying but the words,
+"Ah! Saivya!  Ah! my beloved child!"
+He fainting fell to earth.  Then, too, the queen,
+Hearing her husband's voice, o'ercome with grief,
+Insensate fell.  Returning consciousness
+Brought to them both affliction's heaviest weight
+And mutual lamentations.  "Ah! my son!"
+Thus mourned the king, "my inmost heart is torn,
+When I behold thy form so delicate:
+My child! embracing thee in tend'rest love,
+Words of affection I will speak, that rise
+Unbidden to my lips.  Alas! thy limbs
+Will be defiled by my embrace; the dust
+That clings about my garments will pollute
+Thy lovely form!  Alas! my child, thou had'st
+An evil father!  He who should have kept
+All dangers from thee, he it was who sold
+Thee as a slave! and yet in heart and mind
+First of all things I love thee.  Ah! my child!
+Thy father's realm--my heaped-up wealth--all this
+By lawful right was thine inheritance,
+And now thou liest slain!  Ah me! the tears
+Rise to my eyes in blinding force: thy form,
+In grace and beauty like the lotus flower,
+Fades from my sight."  He spoke, and faltering
+With grief embraced his son.  The queen exclaimed:
+"This is indeed my lord--I know his voice!
+I know his form! this is the mighty king.
+The wisest of all beings.  But how changed!
+What fate is this?  Ah what a dreadful place
+For him, the lord of men.  This grief yet more
+Is added to the mourning for my son--
+My husband's fate--for as a slave he serves
+A base Cha.n.dâla.  Curséd be that god,
+Or demon foul, through whom a godlike king
+Has fallen to this degraded state; the lot
+Of a Švapâka.  Ah! most noble prince,
+My mind is filled with grief, when I recall
+Thy regal state, thy past magnificence.
+No kingly ensigns go before thee now,
+No captive kings, brought down to slavery,
+Humbly precede thee, casting in the way
+Their garments, lest the dust should soil thy feet.
+But now!  O king! alas, thyself a slave,
+Thou livest in this fearful place, begrimed
+With filth; thy sacred cord concealed, thy hair
+Tangled and long, plunder of dead men's clothes
+Thy livelihood.  Ah! king! and is thy life
+Spent in this awful wise?"  So spake the queen,
+And falling on his neck, embraced her lord:
+While she, sprung from a king herself, bewailed
+Her sorrows endless.  "King! I pray thee speak!
+Is this a dream?  If it be real and true,
+Then justice, truth, and righteousness have fled
+And gone from earth: nor aught avails mankind,
+Of sacrifice, or reverence, to gods
+Or priests!  'Tis vain to follow innocence
+If thou, most perfect, purest of mankind,
+Art brought to such a depth of infamy."
+Then spoke the king, and told his sorrowing wife
+How he had fallen to this wretched state,--
+The state of a Cha.n.dâla.  She, in turn,
+Weeping, with many sighs, poured out her tale,
+Telling him how the serpent's bite had killed
+Their child.  "Beloved one! I suffer not
+These evils," said the king, "by mine own will--
+Thou seest what I endure; my evil fate
+Depends not on myself.  I am a slave,
+And if I fly from the Cha.n.dâla's bonds,
+The fiery torment in the depths of hell
+Will overtake me, and I shall become
+A slave again.  My doom is fixed! lo! hell
+Is my abode hereafter; and in forms,
+Creeping and loathsome, shall my soul abide.
+Yet from this miserable life on earth
+There is one only refuge.  He! my son!
+My hope! my stay! is dead; drowned by the sea
+Of my misfortunes.  But I am a slave!
+I am dependent on another's will!
+Can I give up my wife?  Yes! even so!
+For know thou this: one who is steeped in woe
+Cares not for evil chances; not the state
+Of the most loathsome beast, nor yet the wood
+Of sword-leaved plants, nor even hell's dread stream,
+Could add the smallest fraction to the pain
+I have already borne.  My son is dead!
+Who then will make atonement for my sins?
+Yet listen to my words, beloved one,
+If I have offered sacrifice, and paid
+Due reverence to the saints; if I have given
+Alms to the needy--may we meet again
+Hereafter, in the world to come, and find
+The refuge for our woes denied us here.
+Let us together follow in the path
+By which our son has gone.  Our hopeless fate
+Can never alter here.  Whatever words
+I may have uttered, thoughtlessly, in jest,
+These, when I pray for pardon, shall receive
+Fullest forgiveness.  Thou must not despise
+Thy lord: nor pride thee on thy queenly state
+Now passed and gone."  The prince's wife replied:
+"I am prepared to tread that path with thee,
+O king, most saintly! and with thee that world
+To enter."  While she spoke these words, the king
+Made up the funeral pile, and placed thereon
+His son, himself ascending with his wife.
+And then, in meditation wrapt, he thought
+Upon Nârâyana, the lord supreme,
+And Vâsudeva, lord of deities,
+Šiva, and Brâhma the eternal god,
+And Krish.na clothed in glory.  As the king
+Was meditating, all the gods from heaven
+Came down headed by Dharma.  And they said:
+"Hear us, O king! hear us, O lord! The gods--
+Even the mighty gods have come to earth,
+And at their head is Dharma.  Gods, and saints,
+And heroes--yea, and Višvâmitra too,
+The sage implacable,--all summon thee--
+Ascend! to heaven: receive the due reward,
+That thou hast gained.  O king! slay not thyself!
+I, perfect Righteousness, I summon thee
+To enter now the heaven that thou hast gained
+By thy transcendant virtues, self-control,
+Patience, and truth." Then Indra spoke, and said:--
+"O Harišchandra! King, most eminent!
+In virtue! lo! before you Indra stands--
+For I am he.  The everlasting world
+Thou hast attained: together with thy wife,
+And son, ascend to heaven;--to that third heav'n--
+So difficult to be attained by men--
+The heav'n that thou hast won."  Then Indra rained
+Life-giving am.rit from the sky, and flowers
+That blossomed in the heavenly courts: while sounds
+Of music filled the air, and round him stood
+The gods, a vast assembly.  Then the son
+Of Harišchandra rose, restored to life,
+And health, his mind and senses whole, his form
+More beautiful than ever: and the king
+Embraced his wife and son, with perfect joy
+Filled to o'erflowing, crowned with heavenly wreaths.
+Then Indra said: "Thou, with thy wife, and son,
+Shalt dwell in bliss supreme: bliss that thyself
+Hast purchased, by thy virtues and thy toils."
+Then spoke the king: "Hear me! most holy gods!
+Unbidden by my master, will I not
+To heaven itself ascend."  Then Dharma spoke:
+"I am thy master.  I assumed the form
+Of a Cha.n.dâla.  All thy pain and woe
+Was brought upon thee by my magic power,
+And thou wast made a slave!  I have beheld
+Thy truth, and thy uprightness.  Saintly king!
+The highest place that heaven accords to men,
+Whose virtue has been tried and proved:--to that
+Ascend!"  But Harišchandra answering, said:
+"Receive, most mighty lord! my words of praise
+And thanksgiving.  I offer them to thee
+Full of affection.  Lo! my people stand
+With grieving hearts, longing for my return.
+Can I ascend to heav'n while they on earth
+Lament for me?  If they have ever slain,
+Brâhmans, or teachers of the holy law,--
+If lust or avarice have ruled their hearts,--
+Then may my labours and my toils atone,
+For these their sins.  I may not leave my friends.
+For neither here, nor in the world to come,
+Can there be peace to one who casts aside
+The friend whose love is pure and true--the friend
+Who serves him from the heart.  Return!
+Return! to heaven!  O Indra! If thou grant
+My friends to rise with me, to heav'n will I
+Ascend; if not, with them will I descend
+To Nâraka."  "O king! thy prayer is heard!
+Thy people's sins are pardoned: even for them,
+Hard though it be, thy toils and pains have gained
+A place in heaven."  Thus mighty Indra spoke.
+Replied the king: "Indra! I will not leave
+My kinsmen.  By his kinsmen's help a king
+His kingdom rules; by them he offers up
+The kingly sacrifice, and for himself
+Lays up a store of meritorious deeds.
+So have my kinsmen too enabled me
+To work whate'er I may of righteousness.
+My actions virtuous, my granted prayers,
+Truly I owe to them, for by their aid
+Have these been possible.  May the reward
+Thou grantest me, I pray, be shared with them.
+My kinsmen, though I should ascend to heaven,
+I will not leave."  "So be it!" Indra said;
+"So be it!" said the Brâhman; Dharma, too,
+Gave his assent; and then, in countless hosts,
+Appeared the heavenly chariots.  Indra said:
+"Men of Ayodhya, ascend to heaven."
+The saintly Brâhman, having heard with joy
+The words of Indra, poured the sacred oil
+Upon the prince, and with the perfect ones,
+The sages, and the gods, anointed him
+"Son of the mighty king."  Then all the throng--
+The king, his wife, his son, his followers--
+Filled with rejoicing and delight, ascend
+To heaven, surrounding, as they go, the king
+Borne in his chariot.  He, too, filled with joy--
+The mighty father, who eternal bliss
+Both for his people and himself had gained,
+Once more in form and mien a king--reposed,
+Resting from all his toils, his faithful friends
+Surrounding him with a protecting wall.
+And Indra spoke and said: "Upon this earth
+Great Harišchandra's equal has not been
+Nor shall be.  Whosoe'er may hear his life,
+His toils, his sorrows, and in sympathy
+For him lament, transcendant happiness
+Shall he attain, and all his heart's desire
+Shall be accomplished.  Is his prayer a wife,
+Or son, or kingdom, he shall gain them all,
+E'en heaven itself.  And he who imitates
+The truth, and steadfastness, of that great king,
+Like him shall enter everlasting rest.
+
+
+
+Mârkandeya Purâna
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mârkandeya Purâna, Books VII., VIII.
+Translated by Rev. B. Hale Wortham
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MâRKANDEYA PURâNA, BOOKS VII., VIII. ***
+
+This file should be named 8mark10u.txt or 8mark10u.zip
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8mark11u.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8mark10ua.txt
+
+Originally scanned at sacred-texts.com by John B. Hare.
+This eBook was produced by Chetan Jain at BharatLiterature.
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+
diff --git a/old/8mark10u.zip b/old/8mark10u.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66cccda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/8mark10u.zip