Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.13.30

patim prayāntam subalasya putrī

pati-vratā cānujagāma sādhvī

himālayam nyasta-danda-praharsham

manasvinām iva sat samprahārah

SYNONYMS

patim — her husband; prayāntam — while leaving home; subalasya — of King Subala; putrī — the worthy daughter; pati-vratā — devoted to her husband; ca — also; anujagāma — followed; sādhvī — the chaste; himālayam — towards the Himalaya Mountains; nyasta-danda — one who has accepted the rod of the renounced order; praharsham — object of delight; manasvinām — of the great fighters; iva — like; sat — legitimate; samprahārah — good lashing.

TRANSLATION

The gentle and chaste Gāndhārī, who was the daughter of King Subala of Kandahar [or Gāndhāra], followed her husband, seeing that he was going to the Himalaya Mountains, which are the delight of those who have accepted the staff of the renounced order like fighters who have accepted a good lashing from the enemy.

PURPORT

Saubalinī, or Gāndhārī, daughter of King Subala and wife of King Dhritarāshtra, was ideal as a wife devoted to her husband. The Vedic civilization especially prepares chaste and devoted wives, of whom Gāndhārī is one amongst many mentioned in history. Lakshmījī Sītādevī was also a daughter of a great king, but she followed her husband, Lord Rāmacandra, into the forest. Similarly, as a woman Gāndhārī could have remained at home or at her father's house, but as a chaste and gentle lady she followed her husband without consideration. Instructions for the renounced order of life were imparted to Dhritarāshtra by Vidura, and Gāndhārī was by the side of her husband. But he did not ask her to follow him because he was at that time fully determined, like a great warrior who faces all kinds of dangers in the battlefield. He was no longer attracted to so-called wife or relatives, and he decided to start alone, but as a chaste lady Gāndhārī decided to follow her husband till the last moment. Mahārāja Dhritarāshtra accepted the order of vānaprastha, and at this stage the wife is allowed to remain as a voluntary servitor, but in the sannyāsa stage no wife can stay with her former husband. A sannyāsī is considered to be a dead man civilly, and therefore the wife becomes a civil widow without connection with her former husband. Mahārāja Dhritarāshtra did not deny his faithful wife, and she followed her husband at her own risk.

The sannyāsīs accept a rod as the sign of the renounced order of life. There are two types of sannyāsīs. Those who follow the Māyāvādī philosophy, headed by Śrīpāda Śańkarācārya, accept only one rod (eka-danda), but those who follow the Vaishnavite philosophy accept three combined rods (tri-danda). The Māyāvādī sannyāsīs are ekadandi-svāmīs, whereas the Vaishnava sannyāsīs are known as tridandi-svāmīs, or more distinctly, tridandi-gosvāmīs, in order to be distinguished from the Māyāvādī philosophers. The ekadandi-svāmīs are mostly fond of the Himalayas, but the Vaishnava sannyāsīs are fond of Vrindāvana and Purī. The Vaishnava sannyāsīs are narottamas, whereas the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs are dhīras. Mahārāja Dhritarāshtra was advised to follow the dhīras because at that stage it was difficult for him to become a narottama.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness