Shloka 22
Adhyāya 32: Tāpasānāṃ Darśanaṃ — Ascetics Seek to Identify the Pāṇḍavas
एवं क्रमेण सर्वास्ता: शीलवत्य: पतिव्रता: । प्रविश्य क्षत्रिया मुक्ता जम्मुर्भतसलोकताम्
evaṁ krameṇa sarvāstāḥ śīlavatyaḥ pativratāḥ | praviśya kṣatriyā muktā jagmur bhartṛlokatām ||
So gelangten der Reihe nach all jene Kṣatriya-Frauen—tugendhaft im Wandel und standhaft in der ehelichen Treue (pativratā-dharma)—als sie ins Feuer eingingen, aus der sterblichen Fessel zur Freiheit und erreichten die Welt ihrer Gatten.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents the epic ideal that steadfast virtue (śīla) and marital fidelity (pativratā-dharma) are spiritually efficacious: the women are described as ‘freed’ and as attaining a shared posthumous realm with their husbands, framing their act as a dharmic passage to an afterlife destination.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that, one after another, the Kṣatriya wives—described as virtuous and devoted—enter the fire and, being released from mortal existence, proceed to the world of their husbands.