Text 20] Maharaja Prthu’s Going Back Home 1001
TRANSLATION

Although she was not accustomed to such difficulties, Queen Arci
followed her husband in the regulative principles of living in the forest like
great sages. She lay down on the ground and ate only fruits, flowers and
leaves, and because she was not fit for these activities, she became frail and
thin. Yet because of the pleasure she derived in serving her husband, she
did not feel any difficulties.

PURPORT

The words bhartur vrata-dharma-nisthaya indicate that a woman’s duty
or religious principle is to serve her husband in all conditions. In Vedic
civilization a man is taught from the beginning of his life to become a
brahmacari, then an ideal grhastha, then vanaprastha, then sannyasi, and
the wife is taught just to follow the husband strictly in all conditions of
life. After the period of brahmacarya, a man accepts a householder’s life,
and the woman is also taught by her parents to be a chaste wife. Thus
when a girl and boy are united, both are trained for a life dedicated to a
higher purpose. The boy is trained to execute his duty in accordance with
the higher purpose of life, and the girl is trained to follow him. The chaste
wife’s duty is to keep her husband pleased in householder life in all
respects, and when the husband retires from family life, she is to go to the
forest and adopt the life of vanaprastha, or vana-vasi. At that time the wife
is to follow her husband and take care of him, just as she took care of
him in householder life. But when the husband takes the renounced order
of life, namely sannyasa, the wife is to return home and become a saintly
woman, setting an example for her children and daughters-in-law and show-
ing them how to live a life of austerity.

When Caitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, His wife, Visnupriya-devi,
although only sixteen years old, also took the vow of austerity due to her
husband’s leaving home. She chanted her beads, and after finishing one
round, she collected one grain of rice. In this way, as many rounds as she
chanted, she would receive the same number of rice grains and then cook

“Shem and so take prasada. This is called austerity. Even today in India,
widows, or women whose husbands have taken sannyasa, follow the prin-
ciples of austerity, even though they live with their children. Prthu
Maharaja’s wife, Arci, was steadily determined to execute the duty of a
wife, and while her husband was in the forest, she followed him in eating
only fruits and leaves and lying down on the ground. Since a woman’s body
is considerably more delicate than a man’s, Queen Arci became very frail
and thin. Parikarsita. When one engages in austerities, his body generally
becomes lean and thin. Becoming fat is not a very good qualification in
