wetaketu's mother by the hand, told her, 'Let us go.' Beholding his
mother seized by the hand and taken away apparently by force, the son was
greatly moved by wrath. Seeing his son indignant, Uddalaka addressed him
and said, 'Be not angry. O son! This is the practice sanctioned by
antiquity. The women of all orders in this world are free, O son; men in
this matter, as regards their respective orders, act as kine.' The
Rishi's son, Swetaketu, however, disapproved of the usage and established
in the world the present practice as regards men and women. It hath been
heard by us, O thou of great virtue, that the existing practice dates
from that period among human beings but not among beings of other
classes. Accordingly, since the establishment of the present usage, it is
sinful for women not to adhere to their husbands. Women transgressing the
limits assigned by the Rishi became guilty of slaying the embryo. And,
men, too, viol ting a chaste and loving wife who hath from her maidenhood
observed the vow of purity, became guilty of the same sin. The woman also
who, being commanded by her husband to raise offspring, refuses to do his
bidding, becometh equally sinful.

"Thus, O timid one, was the existing usage established of old by
Swetaketu, the son of Uddalaka, in defiance of antiquity. O thou of taper
thighs, it hath also been heard by us that Madayanti, the wife of
Saudasa, commanded by her husband to raise offspring went unto Rishi
Vasishtha. And on going in unto him, the handsome Madayanti obtained a
son named Asmaka. She did this, moved by the desire of doing good to her
husband. O thou of lotus-eyes, thou knowest, O timid girl, how we
ourselves, for the perpetuation of the Kuru race, were begotten by
Krishna-Dwaipayana. O faultless one, beholding all these precedents it
behoveth thee to do my bidding, which is not inconsistent with virtue, O
princess, who is devoted to her husband, it hath also been said by those
acquainted with the rules of morality that a wife, when her monthly
season cometh, must ever seek her husband, though at other times she
deserveth liberty. The wise have declared this to be the ancient
practice. But, be the act sinful or sinless, those acquainted with the
Vedas have declared that it is the duty of wives to do what their
husbands bid them do. Especially, O thou of faultless features, I, who am
deprived of the power of procreation, having yet become desirous of
beholding offspring, deserve the m