Have no plans to start a debate, but have this question in mind for quite sometime now. Why is Harishchandra not counted in Gods or demigods? Why is he so less known?
My cousin, who is in her teens, has hardly heard of the name.
Let's look at Harishchandra's life( I know it from movies, granny stories and a little bit from Wikipedia). Harishchandra never uttered a lie, he was a great ruler, was a daani, great contributor to the society, pious and truthful to his wife. (Some stories say he had 100 wives). He had a very tough life. Had to lose his kingdom, let go of his wife and child to fulfil a commitment, had work in graveyard, had to see his son die. His wife and kid had to undergo slavery. He finally got moksha and went to heaven. Compare him to other mythological characters, some whom we pray to and some whom we revere, like Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, The Pandavas and many more, his struggle and deeds were no less.
Mahatma Gandhi in his 'My experiments with truth' , says that he was inspired by Harishchandra who inspite of so much hardship, never lost the path of righteousness and never uttered a lie.
The first Indian movie was Raja Harishchandra(year 1913). The last film on him was a re-release(in color) of an old Rajkumar movie in Kannada in 2008. He has a temple in a place called Wadwani(dt. Need). Harishchandra ghat in Varanasi is a famous place for cremation. Yet there so less said or written about him.
We have many versions in the form of books, series or movies based on Rama, Krishna, Shiva and many more Gods and demigods. Then why not on Harishchandra?
He was considered to be the epitome of truth. 21st century and the centuries to come do need a retelling of this story of struggle and the journey of truth, but not from a religious angle.
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