28
Śrimad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 9, Ch. 9]
that the living entity is a combination of matter belongs to the grossest ignorance.
TEXT 32
यद्ययं क्रियते भक्ष्यस्तर्हि मां खाद पूर्वतः । न जीविष्ये विना येन क्षणं च मृतकं यथा ॥३२॥
yady ayam kriyate bhakṣyas tarhi mām khāda pūrvataḥ na jīviṣye vinā yena kṣaṇam ca mṛtakam yathā
yadi—if; ayam—this brāhmaṇa; kriyate—is accepted; bhakṣyaḥ—as eatable; tarhi—then; mām—me; khāda—eat; pūrvataḥ—before that; na—not; jīviṣye—I shall live; vinā—without; yena—whom (my husband); kṣaṇam ca—even for a moment; mṛtakam—a dead body; yathā—like.
TRANSLATION
Without my husband, I cannot live for a moment. If you want to eat my husband, it would be better to eat me first, for without my husband I am as good as a dead body.
PURPORT
In the Vedic culture there is a system known as  satī  or  saha-maraṇa , in which a woman dies with her husband. According to this system, if the husband dies, the wife will voluntarily die by falling in the blazing funeral pyre of her husband. Here, in this verse, the feelings inherent in this culture are expressed by the wife of the  brāhmaṇa . A woman without a husband is like a dead body. Therefore according to Vedic culture a girl must be married. This is the responsibility of her father. A girl may be given in charity, and a husband may have more than one wife, but a girl must be married. This is Vedic culture. A woman is supposed to be always dependent—in her childhood she is dependent on her father, in youth on her husband, and in old age on her elderly sons. According to  Manu-samhitā , she is never independent. Independence for a woman