1000 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 23
PURPORT
Because Prthu Maharaja’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
Sita, followed her husband Ramacandra when He went to the forest. Lord
Ramacandra went to the forest in compliance to the order of His father
Maharaja Dasaratha, but mother Sita was not so ordered. Nonetheless, she
voluntarily accepted the path of her husband. Similarly, Gandhari, the
wife of King Dhrtarastra, also followed her husband into the forest. Being
the wives of great personalities like Prthu, Lord Ramacandra and
Dhrtarastra, 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-arha) 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
ay c
waita aaaTTA ETT
iS
TTT ANZEITAAT |
aR<atd warty a
~ aS
TeRETIAAga: Rell
ativa bhartur vrata-dharma-nisthaya
susriisayd carsa-deha-yatraya ra
ndvindatartim parikarsitapi sa
preyaskara-sparsana-mana-nirurtih
ativa—very much; bhartuh—of the husband; vrata-dharma—vow to serve
him; nisthaya—by determination; susriisaya—by serving; ca—also; arsa—like
the great saintly sages; deha—body; ydtraya—living condition; na—did not;
avindata—perceive; drtim—any difficulty; parikarsitd api—although trans-
formed to become lean and thin; sé—she; preyaskara—very pleasing;
sparsana—touching; mana—engaged; nirvrtih—pleasure.
