Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 9.18.29

pitra datta devayanyai

sarmishtha sanuga tada

svanam tat sankatam vikshya

tad-arthasya ca gauravam

devayanim paryacarat

stri-sahasrena dasavat

SYNONYMS

pitra -- by the father; datta -- given; devayanyai -- unto Devayani, the daughter of Sukracarya; sarmishtha -- the daughter of Vrishaparva; sa-anuga -- with her friends; tada -- at that time; svanam -- of his own; tat -- that; sankatam -- dangerous position; vikshya -- observing; tat -- from him; arthasya -- of the benefit; ca -- also; gauravam -- the greatness; devayanim -- unto Devayani; paryacarat -- served; stri-sahasrena -- with thousands of other women; dasa-vat -- acting as a slave.

TRANSLATION

Vrishaparva wisely thought that Sukracarya's displeasure would bring danger and that his pleasure would bring material gain. Therefore he carried out Sukracarya's order and served him like a slave. He gave his daughter Sarmishtha to Devayani, and Sarmishtha served Devayani like a slave, along with thousands of other women.

PURPORT

In the beginning of these affairs concerning Sarmishtha and Devayani, we saw that Sarmishtha had many friends. Now these friends became maidservants of Devayani. When a girl married a kshatriya king, it was customary for all her girl friends to go with her to her husband's house. For instance, when Vasudeva married Devaki, the mother of Krishna, he married all six of her sisters, and she also had many friends who accompanied her. A king would maintain not only his wife but also the many friends and maidservants of his wife. Some of these maidservants would become pregnant and give birth to children. Such children were accepted as dasi-putra, the sons of the maidservants, and the king would maintain them. The female population is always greater than the male, but since a woman needs to be protected by a man, the king would maintain many girls, who acted either as friends or as maidservants of the queen. In the history of Krishna's household life we find that Krishna married 16,108 wives. These were not maidservants but direct queens, and Krishna expanded Himself into 16,108 forms to maintain different establishments for each and every wife. This is not possible for ordinary men. Therefore although the kings had to maintain many, many servants and wives, not all of them had different establishments.

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