th their wives. Restraining jealousy,
with deep devotion of heart, without a sense of degradation at the
services I perform, I wait upon my husbands. Ever fearing to utter what
is evil or false, or to look or sit or walk with impropriety, or cast
glances indicative of the feelings of the heart, do I serve the sons of
Pritha--those mighty warriors blazing like the sun or fire, and handsome
as the moon, those endued with fierce energy and prowess, and capable of
slaying their foes by a glance of the eye. Celestial, or man, or
Gandharva, young or decked with ornaments, wealthy or comely of person,
none else my heart liketh. I never bathe or eat or sleep till he that is
my husband hath bathed or eaten or slept,--till, in fact, our attendants
have bathed, eaten, or slept. Whether returning from the field, the
forest, or the town, hastily rising up I always salute my husband with
water and a seat. I always keep the house and all household articles and
the food that is to be taken well-ordered and clean. Carefully do I keep
the rice, and serve the food at the proper time. I never indulge in angry
and fretful speech, and never imitate women that are wicked. Keeping
idleness at distance I always do what is agreeable. I never laugh except
at a jest, and never stay for any length of time at the house-gate. I
never stay long in places for answering calls of nature, nor in
pleasure-gardens attached to the house. I always refrain from laughing
loudly and indulging in high passion, and from everything that may give
offence. Indeed, O Satyabhama, I always am engaged in waiting upon my
lords. A separation from my lords is never agreeable to me. When my
husband leaveth home for the sake of any relative, then renouncing
flowers and fragrant paste of every kind, I begin to undergo penances.
Whatever my husband drinketh not, whatever my husband eateth not,
whatever my husband enjoyeth not, I ever renounce. O beautiful lady,
decked in ornaments and ever controlled by the instruction imparted to
me, I always devotedly seek the good of my lord. Those duties that my
mother-in-law had told me of in respect of relatives, as also the duties
of alms-giving, of offering worship to the gods, of oblations to the
diseased, of boiling food in pots on auspicious days for offer to
ancestors and guests of reverence and service to those that deserve our
regards, and all else that is known to me, I always discharge day and
night, without idleness of any kind.