Text 22] The Marriage of Sukanya and Cyavana Muni 73

you are shamelessly maintaining a paramour? You will thus

degrade the dynasties of both your father and your husband to
hellish life.

PURPORT

It is quite clear that according to Vedic culture a woman who accepts a
paramour or second husband in the presence of the husband she has
married is certainly responsible for the degradation of her father’s
family and the family of her husband. The rules of Vedic culture in this
regard are strictly observed in the respectable families of braéhmanas,
ksatriyas and vaisyas even today; only the Siidras are degraded in this
matter. For a woman of the brahmana, ksatriya or vaisya class to accept
another husband in the presence of the husband she has married, or to
file for divorce or accept a boyfriend or paramour, is unacceptable in the
Vedic culture. Therefore King Saryati, who did not know the real facts of
Cyavana Muni’s transformation, was surprised to see the behavior of his
daughter.

TEXT 22
az gam frat waar Atafaa |
JA Ma AAA WT WAKA UR

evam bruvanam pitaram
smayamana Suci-smita
uvdca tata jamata
tavaisa bhrgu-nandanah

evam—in this way; bruvanam—who was talking and chastising her;
pitaram—unto her father; smayamand—smiling (because she was
chaste); Suci-smita—laughingly; uviéca—replied; tata—O my dear
father; jdmata—son-in-law; tava—your; esah—this young man;
bhrgu-nandanah—is Cyavana Muni (and no one else).

TRANSLATION

Sukanya, however, being very proud of her chastity, smiled
upon hearing the rebukes of her father. She smilingly told him,
