The object for which one desireth a wife hath already been achieved by
thee through me. I have borne thee a daughter and a son and thus been
freed from the debt I had owed thee. Thou art well able to support and
cherish the children, but I however, can never support and cherish them
like thee. Thou art my life, wealth, and lord; bereft of thee, how shall
these children of tender years--how also shall I myself, exist? Widowed
and masterless, with two children depending on me, how shall I, without
thee, keep alive the pair, myself leading an honest life? If the daughter
of thine is solicited (in marriage) by persons dishonourable and vain and
unworthy of contracting an alliance with thee, how shall I be able to
protect the girl? Indeed, as birds seek with avidity for meat that hath
been thrown away on the ground, so do men solicit a woman that hath lost
her husband. O best of Brahmanas, solicited by wicked men, I may waver and
may not be able to continue in the path that is desired by all honest men.
How shall I be able to place this sole daughter of thy house--this
innocent girl--in the way along which her ancestors have always walked?
How shall I then be able to impart unto this child every desirable
accomplishment to make him virtuous as thyself, in that season of want
when I shall become masterless? Overpowering myself who shall be
masterless, unworthy persons will demand (the hand of) this daughter of
thine, like Sudras desiring to hear the Vedas.
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