Dharma's Face

The gods arrived just before the fire, and only then did it become clear that the outcaste who had been his master was Dharma himself — and a king refused heaven

Just before the fire

The fire had already been lit, and Harishchandra was about to step into it, when Indra and the gods descended from the sky.

The outcaste came forward, and his form changed. "I am Dharma," he said. "It was I who took this outcaste's form, pleased by your patience, your restraint and your truthfulness."

In the Devi Bhagavata, In Devi Bhagavata 7.27, Dharma goes further and claims that he had been the outcaste, the brahmin and the snake whose bite had killed Rohitashva — even though 7.22 had identified the old brahmin as Kaushika, Vishvamitra in disguise. The final chapter thus gathers several parts of the ordeal under Dharma's own claim.

Nectar

Indra rained nectar and flowers on the pyre. And Rohitashva sat up — healthy, calm, just as he had been before.

Husband and wife embraced their son.

Not without his people

Indra said: come to heaven with your wife and son, O king. You have won it by your own deeds.

Harishchandra refused. "How can I go to heaven and leave my people in sorrow?" he said. "The killing of a brahmin, the killing of a guru, the killing of a cow, the killing of a woman — abandoning one's own dependants is said to be a sin equal to these." This list is the Markandeya Purana's; the Devi Bhagavata's list is a little different — killing a brahmin, killing a woman, drinking liquor, and killing a cow.

Then he asked one more thing: let my merit belong to all of them too.

Indra agreed. In the Markandeya Purana, Indra descended to earth with ten million divine chariots and called out to the people of Ayodhya; then Vishvamitra and the gods crowned Rohitashva king, and after that the people — with their children, servants and families — went to heaven together with Harishchandra.

The ending

Tradition is not entirely of one mind about how this story ends.

In both Puranas, Rohitashva is placed on the throne of Ayodhya, and Harishchandra goes to heaven. In the Markandeya Purana, once Indra has given his consent, Vishvamitra and the gods crown Rohitashva, and then the people go to heaven with the king. The Devi Bhagavata likewise hands the kingdom to Rohitashva and then describes Harishchandra's ascent. Some later retellings have a different ending, in which Harishchandra returns to earth and rules again. This site has kept these apart and has not called either one final.

The quarrel

The Markandeya Purana does not end the story here. After this, Vasishtha and Vishvamitra fall into a quarrel between themselves. Each curses the other, and they become huge birds, and fight.

Brahma comes between them and stops them, and says that Vishvamitra did Harishchandra no wrong; because of him the king reached heaven, and in that sense Vishvamitra was his benefactor.

Today

Gandhi saw a play about Harishchandra as a child. In his autobiography he wrote that it settled into his heart, and that he mentally reenacted Harishchandra's story countless times. He himself wrote that the play gave him the ideal of holding to truth the way Harishchandra did, and of bearing every trial for it.

In 1913 Dadasaheb Phalke made "Raja Harishchandra", which is held to be India's first full-length feature film.

And in Kashi there is still a ghat that carries his name.

Note: The final episode is in the Markandeya Purana (chapter 8, and after it the Vasishtha–Vishvamitra quarrel in chapter 9) and the Devi Bhagavata (7.27). In the Markandeya, Dharma says he came in the form of the outcaste; in the Devi Bhagavata he is said to have been the outcaste, the brahmin, and the snake, all three. Both Puranas end on the same order: in the Markandeya, Vishvamitra and the gods crown Rohitashva, and then the people go to heaven with the king; the Devi Bhagavata likewise hands the kingdom to Rohitashva before describing his ascent. In some later retellings Harishchandra returns to rule again; this is a separate tradition, and neither has been called final here. The claim of being the first feature film is generally made about "Raja Harishchandra" (1913); "Shree Pundalik" (1912) is sometimes also discussed, and its standing as "first" is disputed. Gandhi speaks in his autobiography of a play, without naming any single production. The English lines are a natural retelling of the Sanskrit, not a word-for-word translation.

Source: from the Aitareya Brahmana, the Markandeya Purana and the Devi Bhagavata, Dharma's Face