28 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 9, Ch. 9

that the living entity is a combination of matter belongs to the grossest
ignorance.

TEXT 32 -
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yady ayam kriyate bhaksyas
tarhi mam khada pirvatah
na jivisye vind yena
ksanam ca mrtakam yatha

yadi—if; ayam—this brahmana; kriyate—is accepted; bhaksyah—
as eatable; tarhi—then; mam—me; khdda—eat; purvatah—before
that; na—not; jivisye—I shall live; vinéd—without; yena—whom (my
husband); ksanam ca—even for a moment; mrtakam—a dead body;

yathaé—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 sati or saha-marana,
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 brahmana. A woman with-
out 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-samhita, she is never independent. Independence for a woman
