Shloka 57
Adhyaya 69 — Prelude to Devi Mahatmya
ऋषिरुवाच किं विस्मृतं ते यत्पत्नी त्वया त्यक्ता च कानने ।
परित्यक्तस्तया सार्धं त्वया धर्मो नृपाखिलः ॥
ṛṣir uvāca kiṃ vismṛtaṃ te yat patnī tvayā tyaktā ca kānane | parityaktas tayā sārdhaṃ tvayā dharmo nṛpākhilaḥ ||
ఋషి అన్నాడు—నీవు అడవిలో నీ భార్యను విడిచిపెట్టిన సంగతి మరిచిపోయావా? ఆమెతో పాటు, ఓ రాజా, నీవు సమస్త ధర్మాన్నీ వదిలివేశావు।
FAQs
The wife is treated as a partner in dharma (not merely a dependent). Abandoning her is framed as abandoning dharma itself—because household life, ritual continuity, and ethical order are sustained through that covenant.
Dharma/ācāra teaching inside Manvantara narrative. While not a formal pancalakṣaṇa category, Purāṇas routinely embed such normative teaching within manvantara stories.
‘Forest’ can symbolize withdrawal from ordered life into unregulated impulse. Leaving the patnī (dharma-companion) signifies severing the inner principle of steadiness and sacred responsibility.