The plot of the film, Satya Hariscandra follows Raghavanka’s Hariscandra Kavya closely in its broad outline, but the primary objective here is to depict Hariscandra as a flawless character, truthful, unfailingly polite and dharmic.
Hence the film sets out to establish Hariscandra’s character as a truthful and generous king, who never refuses anything to any seeker and keeps the welfare of his subjects as his foremost goal. All his actions are geared towards achieving that objective. Hariscandra performs Rajasuya sacrifice and gives away all the wealth he had accumulated until then, including a precious stone that protects him and his subjects from all calamities. It was god Siva himself, who comes in the form of a Brahmin seeker and demands that precious stone along with the fruits of the sacrifice. Against the objections of his ministers, Hariscandra fulfills Siva’s demand, saying:
those who do not desire the welfare of the entire world do not ask for the fruits of sacrifice and even if given, they will not have the capacity to accept.
Vasista, however, realizes that the Brahmin seeker is actually Siva but is comforted in the knowledge that Siva would favor Hariscandra in any test the latter may have to face, even if the protection offered by the stone itself is lost.
Now the scene shifts to Indra’s assembly, where all the gods and more importantly, wise sages have been invited to ‘legislate good practices for the residents of all worlds’ and hence Indra asks:
Is there a sacred ritual (punyavrata), which can be practiced by all men and women to achieve contentment, even without possessing wealth or ascetic prowess, by Kings and ordinary men, scholars or ignorant fools?
Among the sages present, Visvamitra is the most vocal. In the film, (and in Hariscandra Kavya too) and he is presented more like an orthodox Vasista, who is a conservative Brahmin ascetic upholding the varna order; whereas, the puranic Visvamitra is a Ksatriaya king, who willed himself to transcend his varna status and earned renown as a Brahmarshi; he is constantly in conflict with other Brahmarsis, particuarly with Vasista and is known for his unconventional actions. Visvamitra of Hariscandra narratives, however, doesn’t have that radical persona; rather here, he doesn’t believe in human potential but in a hierarchical conception of human nature and society. Snickering at Indra’s question, he asserts that rituals and practices have to be prescribed to each individual, considering their class (varna) and caste status; there is no single ritual that can be practiced by all.
On the contrary, the Brahmin sage Vasista, asserts that there is one ritual that can be practiced by one and all, the practice of telling truth. Vasista further extols the virtues of truth by claiming:
Truth alone accomplishes all the four ends of human life. Truth alone is permanent and there is no dharma beyond Truth. For the creation of all the beings, truth alone is the basis.
Questioning Visvamitra’s skepticism, Vasista pointed out that Hariscandra practices Satya under all circumstances. Visvamitra’s diatribe sets the stage for a wager between the two sages:
Let it be anybody. I am not a bard who praises one and all. This Vasista is the teacher of Iksvaku lineage. Therefore, being loyal to them, he is praising a lowly man and presenting him as a great human being, to win this argument. I do not accept it. Do I not know the nature and politics of humans? Thieving, evil, bad habits, … (kings do) not possess lasting happiness, are intoxicated by wealth, and consumed by desire… if one among such kings is asserted as a truthful person, that is impossible….. (moreover), all will be truthful as long as they possess emperor’s position. They shall all be slaves to truth. …. But when all power is taken away, when they are caught in the hold of poverty and other eight difficulties, then their commitment to truth will become evident.
Vasista then asserts that Hariscandra will remain committed to truth not only in difficult circumstances but also in dreams and even to a commitment made as a joke. This is a significant statement since in Hindi narratives (especially in the play by Bharatendu Hariscandra and in Hindi films), Hariscandra actually gives away his kingdom in his dream. Seeking to remove Indra’s anxieties, Vasista says:
Even if Brahma’s statements are untrue, even if sun and moon fall from their orbit into dirt and disappear, even if sky trembles and stars fall like fire-rain onto earth, even if millions of such jealous Visvamitras create trouble for him everywhere and by all means, even then Hariscandra wouldn’t break his word. If he were to lie, then I will give up Vedic studies, abandon prayer and ascetic practices, remove the tuft and sacred thread, giving up everything and sitting on a donkey and drinking alcohol, I will go southwards, while being abused by other ascetics.
Visvamitra then proclaims his own powers to set his wager with Vasista:
Who are these Brahmarsis and Maharsis? This Visvamitra will shake up the entire universe and turn into powder the five elements and cause total destruction. This Visvamitra is actually Parabrahma himself, who can create an alternative universe (which he had ironically done to accommodate Hariscandra’s own father Trisanku). If I can not break his commitment to truth, then I will grant half the ascetic powers I possess and then establish him as emperor for one thousand years and then subsequently, for 14 manvantaras (divine unit of time) on Indra’s throne.
Hariscandra and Candramati experience ill omens at this time, intimations of travails they are about to experience. As in the Hariscandra Kavya, here too Visvamitra seeks a gift from Hariscandra: a pile of gold as high as a cowry shell when that shell is tossed into the sky by a strong warrior standing on a tall elephant. He leaves that wealth behind but creates wild animals and then traps Hariscandra, who has come to the forest to save his subjects from these animals, through his untouchable daughters. Visvamitra’s obsession elicits the following comment from his disciple Naksatrika:
It is not clear to me whether you have captured Hariscandra or he has captured you. You demanded so much wealth, thinking he wouldn’t grant it, yet he did. Instead of bringing that wealth, you left it with him and then created wild animals. He hunted those animnals but then you separated him from his entourage through trickery and now you seek to seduce him through your daughters.
While his ironic comment has no impact on Visvamitra’s determination, Hariscandra refuses to marry despite Visvamitra’s order; since the latter is a Brahmarsi, his orders are in fact dharmic and the sage asserts that the duty of the king is to follow the orders of ascetics. Hariscandra, however, is committed to his wife and refuses to take a second wife; rather, Hariscandra rhetorically states, he is prepared to give up his kingdom. Visvamitra immediately seeks to take over the kingdom and once the kingdom is given to him in Ayodhya, Visvamitra makes one final effort to dissuade Hariscandra from his path. He offers to return the kingdom, if Hariscandra were to marry his daughters. When Hariscandra is unmoved, finally Visvamitra demands the gift he had left behind in the king’s safekeep; Hariscandra seeks thirty days grace period and goes to Kashi with his wife and son to earn enough wealth to repay the sage.
The next part of the narrative too follows broadly the Hariscandra Kavya, with the exception of two major qualifications to the story that Hunsur Krishnamurthy makes to his script. Nakshatrika is more sympathetic character and I will explain in a later posting how casting a comedian, Narasimharaju, changes our own perception of Naksatrika as a character. Secondly, Virabahu too is a much more colorful character in the movie, who sings a memorable song. More on these specific changes as well as on the question of untouchability itself in a later post.
As we already saw, Hariscandra sells himself, his wife and son, in order to clear all his debts. He refuses to deviate from his path even when his son has to be buried and has to kill his own wife, following the orders of the king. What the film does best is to incorporate popular wisdom and some great dialogue to bring out the nuances of Hariscandra’s commitment to truth. We will look at the dialogues and songs in specific episodes tomorrow. My focus will be primarily on the changes necessitated by a nationalist context, particularly to deal with the theme of untouchability. I would also suggest that Hariscandra himself is turned into a flawless character in the film, precisely addressing what we might consider to be flaws of the character in Hariscandra Kavya. More on all this, tomorrow.
Cast: Rajkumar, Uday Kumar, Narasimharaju, Ashwath, M P Shankar, Pandaribai, Ramadevi
Story: K V Reddi
Music: Pendyala Nagesvararao
Background singers: Ghantasala, P Sushila
Songs, Dialogue and Direction: Hunsur Krishnamurthi
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