TEXT 34
tvaya krtajnena vayam mahi-pate
katham vina syama suhrttamena te
tatranuyanam tava vira padayoh
susrusatinam disa yatra yasyasi
SYNONYMS
tvayayou; krtajnenaa most grateful personality; vayamwe; mahi-pateO King; kathamhow; vinawithout; syamashall exist; suhrt-tamenathe best of our friends; teof you; tatrathere; anuyanamthe following; tavaof you; viraO hero; padayohof the lotus feet; susrusatinamof those engaging in the service; disaplease order; yatrawhere; yasyasiyou will go.
TRANSLATION
O King, O hero, you were a very grateful husband and the most sincere friend of all of us. How shall we exist without you? O hero, wherever you are going, please direct us there so that we may follow in your footsteps and engage again in your service. Let us go along with you!
PURPORT
Formerly, a ksatriya king was generally the husband of many wives, and after the death of the king, especially in the battlefield, all the queens would agree to accept saha-marana, dying with the husband who was their life. When Pandu Maharaja, the father of the Pandavas, died, his two wivesnamely, the mother of Yudhisthira, Bhima and Arjuna and the mother of Nakula and Sahadevawere both ready to die in the fire with their husband. Later, after a compromise was arranged, Kunti stayed alive to care for the little children, and the other wife, Madri, was allowed to die with her husband. This system of saha-marana continued in India even until the time of British rule, but later it was discouraged, since the attitude of wives gradually changed with the advancement of Kali-yuga. Thus the system of saha-marana has practically been abolished. Nevertheless, within the past fifty years I have seen the wife of a medical practitioner voluntarily accept death immediately when her husband died. Both the husband and wife were taken in procession in the mourning cart. Such intense love of a chaste wife for her husband is a special case.

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