SECTION CLX
(Vaka-vadha Parva continued)
"Vaisampayana said, "On hearing these words of the Brahmana, his wife
said, 'Thou shouldst not, O Brahmana, grieve like an ordinary man. Nor is
this the time for mourning. Thou hast learning; you knowest that all men
are sure to die; none should grieve for that which is inevitable. Wife,
son, and daughter, all these are sought for one's own self. As you art
possessed of a good understanding, kill you your sorrows. I will myself
go there. This indeed, is the highest and the eternal duty of a woman,
viz., that by sacrificing her life she should seek the good of her
husband. Such an act done by me will make you happy, and bring me fame
in this world and eternal bliss hereafter. This, indeed, is the highest
virtue that I tell thee, and you mayest, by this, acquire both virtue
and happiness. The object for which one desireth a wife hath already been
achieved by you through me. I have borne you a daughter and a son and
thus been freed from the debt I had owed thee. Thou are well able to
support and cherish the children, but I however, can never support and
cherish them like thee. Thou are my life, wealth, and lord; bereft of
thee, how shall these children of tender years--how also shall I myself,
exist? Widowed and masterless, with two children depending on me, how
shall I, without thee, keep alive the pair, myself leading an honest
life? If the daughter of yours is solicited (in marriage) by persons
dishonourable and vain and unworthy of contracting an alliance with thee,
how shall I be able to protect the girl? Indeed, as birds seek with
avidity for meat that hath been thrown away on the ground, so do men
solicit a woman that hath lost her husband. O best of Brahmanas,
solicited by wicked men, I may waver and may not be able to continue in
the path that is desired by all honest men. How shall I be able to place
this sole daughter of your house--this innocent girl--in the way along
which her ancestors have always walked? How shall I then be able to
impart unto this child every desirable accomplishment to make him
virtuous as thyself, in that season of want when I shall become
masterless? Overpowering myself who shall be masterless, unworthy persons
will demand (the hand of) this daughter of thine, like Sudras desiring to
hear the Vedas. And if I bestow not upon them this girl possessing thy
blood and qualities, they may even take her away by force, like crows
carrying away the sacrificial butter. And beholding your son become so
unlike to thee, and your daughter placed under the control of some
unworthy persons, I shall be despised in the world by even persons that
are dishonourable, and I will certainly die. These children also, bereft
of me and thee, their father, will, I doubt not, perish like fish when
the water drieth up. There is no doubt that bereft of you the three will
perish: therefore it behoveth you to sacrifice me. O Brahmana, persons
conversant with morals have said that for women that have borne children,
to predecease their lords is an act of the highest merit. Ready am I to
abandon this son and this daughter, these my relations, and life itself,
for thee. For a woman to be ever employed in doing agreeable offices to
her lord is a higher duty than sacrifices, asceticism, vows, and
charities of every description. The act, therefore, which I intend to
perform is consonant with the highest virtue and is for your good and that
of your race. The wise have declared that children and relatives and wife
and all things held dear are cherished for the purpose of liberating
one's self from danger and distress. One must guard one's wealth for
freeing one's self from danger, and it is by his wealth that he should
cherish and protect his wife. But he must protect his own self both by
(means of) his wife and his wealth. The learned have enunciated the truth
that one's wife, son, wealth, and house, are acquired with the intention
of providing against accidents, foreseen or unforeseen. The wise have
also said that all one's relations weighed against one's own self would
not be equal unto one's self. Therefore, revered sir, protect your own
self by abandoning me. O, give me leave to sacrifice myself, and cherish
thou my children. Those that are conversant with the morals have, in
their treatises, said, that women should never be slaughtered and that
Rakshasas are not ignorant of the rules of morality. Therefore, while it
is certain that the Rakshasa will kill a man, it is doubtful whether he
will kill a woman. It behoveth thee, therefore, being conversant with the
rules of morality, to place me before the Rakshasa. I have enjoyed much
happiness, have obtained much that is agreeable to me, and have also
acquired great religious merit. I have also obtained from you children
that are so dear to me. Therefore, it grieveth not me to die. I have
borne you children and have also grown old; I am ever desirous of doing
good to thee; remembering all these I have come to this resolution. O
revered sir, abandoning me you mayest obtain another wife. By her thou
mayest again acquire religious merit. There is no sin in this. For a man
polygamy is an act of merit, but for a woman it is very sinful to betake
herself to a second husband after the first. Considering all this, and
remembering too that sacrifice of your own self is censurable, O, liberate
today without loss of time your own self, your race, and these your children
(by abandoning me).'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Thus addressed by her, O Bharata, the Brahmana
embraced her, and they both began to weep in silence, afflicted with
grief.'"
--------------------END OF PARVA 1 : UPA-PARVA 160 ---------------------
