Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/306

Rh মৃতে ভর্ত্ররি যা নারী ব্রহ্মচর্য্যে ব্যবস্থিতা। সা মৃতা লভতে স্বর্গং যথাতে ব্রহ্মচারিণঃ॥ তিস্রঃ কোট্টোর্দ্ধকোটী চ যানি লোমানি মানবে। তাবৎ কালং বসেৎ স্বর্গং ভর্ত্তারং যানুগচ্ছতি॥" পরাশরসংহিতা।

He gave the following interpretation to this passage:—

"On receiving no tidings of a husband, on his demise, on his turning an ascetic, on his being found impotent, or on his degradation,—under any one of these calamities, it is canonical for women, to take another husband. That woman who on the decease of her husband, observes the Brahmacharyya (leads the life of austerities and privations), attains heaven after death. She who burns herself with her deceased husband, resides in heaven for as many Kalas or thousands of years as there are hairs on the human body or thirty-five millions."

He then commented on the above as follows:—

"Thus it appears that Parasar prescribes three rules for a widow; marrige, the observance of the Brahmacharyya, and burning with the deceased husband. Among these, the custom of concremation has been abolished by order of the ruling authorities; only two ways, therefore, have now been left for the widows; they have the option of marrying or observing the Brahmacharyya. But in the Kali