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--