Text 34]
Hiraṇyakāśipu, King of the Demons
93
TEXT 34
त्वया कृतज्ञेन वयं महीपते कथं विना स्याम सुहृत्तमेन ते । तत्रानुयानं तव वीर पादयोः शुश्रूषतीनां दिश यत्र यास्यसि ॥३४॥
tvayā kṛtajñena vayaṁ mahī-pate kathaṁ vinā syāma suhṛttamena te tatrānuyānaṁ tava vīra pādayoḥ śuśrūṣatīnāṁ diśa yatra yāsyasi
tvayā—you; kṛtajñena—a most grateful personality; vayam—we; mahī-pate—O King; katham—how; vinā—without; syāma—shall exist; suhṛt-tamena—the best of our friends; te—of you; tatra—there; anuyānam—the following; tava—of you; vīra—O hero; pādayoḥ—of the lotus feet; śuśrūṣatīnāṁ—of those engaging in the service; diśa—please order; yatra—where; yāsyasi—you 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  kṣatriya  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-māraṇa , dying with the husband who was their life. When Pāṇḍu Mahārāja, the father of the Pāṇḍavas, died, his two wives—namely, the mother of Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma and Arjuna and the mother of Nakula and Sahadeva—were both ready to die in the fire with their husband. Later, after a compromise was arranged, Kuntī stayed alive to care for the little children, and the other wife, Mādrī, was