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Who was Raja Harishchandra?

Raghukul or the Raghuvanshis of the Solar dynasty are often known for their righteous nature. The most famous of them all being Shri Ram who is also an incarnation of Vishnu. But there were many other rulers from this dynasty who were highly virtuous, one of them being Raja Harishchandra, an ancestor of Shri Ram.

King Harishchandra lived in the Treta Yuga and is till date known for his honesty, truthfulness and righteousness. During his time as the ruler of the kingdom, there was happiness and prosperity in all of the land.

The citizens of the land began lamenting over their former King’s departure. The King was overwhelmed by the love and emotions of his people, that he stopped mid-way to console them before leaving. Seeing this Vishwamitra got furious and with a metal rod began beating the King and family to leave sooner. Vishwadevas, the guardians of the directions saw this horrific sight, and condemned the action of Vishwamitra. Hearing the criticism, an enraged Vishwamitra cursed the Vishwadevas to take birth as humans. It is said that the five Vishwadevas were born as the Upapandavas, the five sons of Draupadi who were killed in their sleep after the Mahabharata war.

Eventually Harishchandra began working and living in the cremation ground. One day his wife came to the cremation ground, wailing with their dead son who died due to a snake bite. Both began mourning over their dead son. Harishchandra even began contemplating killing himself as he could not fulfill the duties of a husband or a father. But then he realized that if he does so without the permission of his master, he had to bear the consequences of it in his next birth. After some time, he came to his routine and began to devote himself toward the cremation of his only child. His wife therefore began to get things ready to cremate her dead son’s body, but Harishchandra told her that he would not let her do so without paying the fee. Lord Indra appeared and pleased with the King, restored his son’s life. At that time, all the deities appeared led by the Dharmaraj and accompanied by Vishwamitra. They praised Harishchandra for his good qualities like forgiveness, self-control, truthfulness, and invited him to heaven. But Harishchandra refused to go to heaven without the permission of his master (Chandala). Dharmaraj then reveals to the king that he himself assumed the form of a Chandala to test the King. The king again refused to go to the heaven without the people of his kingdom who lamented over his departure and are equal sharers in his merits. He requested Indra to allow the people of his kingdom to accompany him to heaven, at least for one day. Indra accepted his request. After that, Harishchandra along with his people ascends to heaven.

After his departure to heaven, Vashistha – the sage or Kul-Guru of Harishchandra's royal dynasty – ended his tapasya of 12 years. He came to know about the unfortunate events that had happened to Harishchandra during these years. He started a severe fight with Vishwamitra, but was ultimately pacified by Brahma. Brahma explained to him that Vishwamitra was only testing the King and had actually helped him ascend to the heaven.

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