Shloka 46
अध्याय ७४: अक्रोध–क्षमा–निवासनीति
Chapter 74: Non-anger, Forbearance, and the Ethics of Residence
प्रथम संस्थिता भार्या पतिं प्रेत्य प्रतीक्षते । पूर्व मृतं च भर्तारें पश्चात् साध्व्यनुगच्छति,'साध्वी स्त्री यदि पहले मर गयी हो तो परलोकमें जाकर वह पतिकी प्रतीक्षा करती है और यदि पहले पति मर गया हो तो सती स्त्री पीछेसे उसका अनुसरण करती है
prathamasaṁsthitā bhāryā patiṁ pretya pratīkṣate | pūrvaṁ mṛtaṁ ca bhartāraṁ paścāt sādhvī anugacchati |
Duṣyanta says: “A wife who dies first, having departed to the next world, waits there for her husband. And if the husband dies first, then the virtuous, faithful wife follows him afterward.” The statement frames conjugal fidelity as a dharmic ideal extending beyond death, emphasizing steadfastness and moral constancy within marriage.
दुष्यन्त उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents an ideal of marital fidelity (pativratā/ sādhvī) as a form of dharma: if the wife dies first she waits for her husband in the next world; if the husband dies first, the virtuous wife follows him afterward—highlighting steadfast devotion and moral constancy within marriage.
Duṣyanta is articulating a normative principle about the conduct and destiny of a faithful wife and her husband, using it as an ethical assertion within the surrounding discussion in the Ādi Parva.