1000
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 4, Ch. 23]
PURPORT
Because Pṛthu Mahārāja's wife was the Queen and also a daughter of a king, she never experienced walking on the ground because queens used to never come out of the palace. They certainly never went to the forests and tolerated all the difficulties of living in the wilderness. In Vedic civilization there are hundreds of similar examples of such renunciation on the part of queens and dedication to the husband. The goddess of fortune, mother Śītā, followed her husband Rāmacandra when He went to the forest. Lord Rāmacandra went to the forest in compliance to the order of His father Mahārāja Daśaratha, but mother Śītā was not so ordered. Nonetheless, she voluntarily accepted the path of her husband. Similarly, Gāndhārī, the wife of King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, also followed her husband into the forest. Being the wives of great personalities like Pṛthu, Lord Rāmacandra and Dhṛtarāṣṭra, these were ideal, chaste women. Such queens also instructed the general people by showing them how to become a chaste wife and follow the husband in every stage of life. When the husband is king, she sits beside him as the queen, and when he goes to the forest, she also follows, despite having to tolerate all kinds of difficulties in living in the forest. Therefore it is said here ( a-tad-arhā ) that although she did not want to touch her feet to the ground, she nonetheless accepted all difficulties when she went to the forest with her husband.
TEXT 20
अतीव भर्तुव्रतधर्मनिष्ठया शुश्रूषया चार्षदेहयात्रया । नाविन्दतात्तिं परिकर्शितापि सा प्रेयस्करस्पर्शनमाननिर्वृतिः ॥२०॥
atīva bhartur vrata-dharma-niṣṭhayā śuśrūṣayā cārṣa-deha-yātrayā nāvindatārtim parikarśitāpi sā preyaskara-sparśana-māna-nirvṛtiḥ
atīva—very much; bhartuḥ—of the husband; vrata-dharma—vow to serve him; niṣṭhayā—by determination; śuśrūṣayā—by serving; ca—also; ārṣa—like the great saintly sages; deha—body; yātrayā—living condition; na—did not; avindata—perceive; ārtim—any difficulty; parikarśitā api—although transformed to become lean and thin; sā—she; preyaskara—very pleasing; sparśana—touching; māna—engaged; nirvṛtiḥ—pleasure.