1004 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 23

TRANSLATION

After this, the Queen executed the necessary funerary functions and
offered oblations of water. After bathing in the river, she offered
obeisances to various demigods situated in the sky in the different
planetary systems. She then circumambulated the fire and, while thinking
of the lotus feet of her husband, entered its flames.

PURPORT

The entrance of a chaste wife into the flames of the pyre of her dead
husband is known as saha-gamana. This means that it is customary for
the wife to die with her husband. This system of saha-gamana has been
practiced in Vedic civilization from time immemorial. Even after the
British period in India this practice was rigidly observed, but soon it
degraded to the point that even when the wife was not strong enough
to enter the fire of her dead husband the relatives would force her to
enter. Thus this practice had to be stopped, but even today there are
still some solitary cases where a wife will voluntarily enter the fire and
die with her husband. Even after 1940 we personally knew of a chaste
wife who died in this way.

TEXT 23

fiateratat arett cy ahat faz |
TSG Baa: AEA: 11231

vilokyanugatam sadhvim
prthum vira-varam patim

tustuvur vara-da devair
deva-patnyah sahasrasah

vilokya—by observing; anugatam—dying after the husband; sadhvim— the
chaste woman; prthum—of King Prthu; vira-varam—the great warrior;
patim—husband; tustuvuh—offered prayers; vara-dah—able to give benedic-
tion; devaih—by the demigods; deva-patnyah—the wives of the demigods;
sahasrasah—in thousands.

TRANSLATION

After observing this brave act performed by the chaste wife Arci, the
wife of the great King Prthu, many thousands of the wives of the
demigods, along with their husbands, offered prayers to the Queen, for
they were very much satisfied.
