Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.22.25

aśaknuvaḿs tad-virahaḿ

muñcan bāṣpa-kalāḿ muhuḥ

āsiñcad amba vatseti

netrodair duhituḥ śikhāḥ

SYNONYMS

aśaknuvan — being unable to bear; tat-viraham — separation from her; muñcan — shedding; bāṣpa-kalām — tears; muhuḥ — again and again; āsiñcat — he drenched; amba — my dear mother; vatsa — my dear daughter; iti — thus; netra-udaiḥ — by the water from his eyes; duhituḥ — of his daughter; śikhāḥ — the locks of hair.

TRANSLATION

The Emperor was unable to bear the separation of his daughter. Therefore tears poured from his eyes again and again, drenching his daughter's head as he cried, "My dear mother! My dear daughter!"

PURPORT

The word amba is significant. A father sometimes addresses his daughter in affection as "mother" and sometimes as "my darling." The feeling of separation occurs because until the daughter is married she remains the daughter of the father, but after her marriage she is no longer claimed as a daughter in the family; she must go to the husband's house, for after marriage she becomes the property of the husband. According to Manu-saḿhitā, a woman is never independent. She must remain the property of the father while she is not married, and she must remain the property of the husband until she is elderly and has grown-up children of her own. In old age, when the husband has taken sannyāsa and left home, she remains the property of the sons. A woman is always dependent, either upon the father, husband or elderly sons. That will be exhibited in the life of Devahūti. Devahūti's father handed over responsibility for her to the husband, Kardama Muni, and in the same way, Kardama Muni also left home, giving the responsibility to his son, Kapiladeva. This narration will describe these events one after another.

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