TEXT 58
dahyamane 'gnibhir dehe
patyuh patni sahotaje
bahih sthita patim sadhvi
tam agnim anu veksyati
SYNONYMS
dahyamanewhile it is burning; agnibhihby the fire; dehethe body; patyuhof the husband; patnithe wife; saha-utajealong with the thatched cottage; bahihoutside; sthitasituated; patimunto the husband; sadhvithe chaste lady; tamthat; agnimfire; anu veksyatilooking with great attention will enter the fire.
TRANSLATION
While outside observing her husband, who will burn in the fire of mystic power along with his thatched cottage, his chaste wife will enter the fire with rapt attention.
PURPORT
Gandhari was an ideal chaste lady, a life companion of her husband, and therefore when she saw her husband burning in the fire of mystic yoga along with his cottage of leaves, she despaired. She left home after losing her one hundred sons, and in the forest she saw that her most beloved husband was also burning. Now she actually felt alone, and therefore she entered the fire of her husband and followed her husband to death. This entering of a chaste lady into the fire of her dead husband is called the sati rite, and the action is considered to be most perfect for a woman. In a later age, this sati rite became an obnoxious criminal affair because the ceremony was forced upon even an unwilling woman. In this fallen age it is not possible for any lady to follow the sati rite as chastely as it was done by Gandhari and others in past ages. A chaste wife like Gandhari would feel the separation of her husband to be more burning than actual fire. Such a lady can observe the sati rite voluntarily, and there is no criminal force by anyone. When the rite became a formality only and force was applied upon a lady to follow the principle, actually it became criminal, and therefore the ceremony was to be stopped by state law. This prophecy of Narada Muni to Maharaja Yudhisthira forbade him to go to his widowed aunt.

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