Study a Verse

• It is quite clear that according to Vedic culture a woman who accepts a paramour or second husband in the presence of the husband she has married is certainly responsible for the degradation of her father’s family and the family of her husband.
• For a woman of the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya or vaiśya class to accept another husband in the presence of the husband she has married, or to file for divorce or accept a boyfriend or paramour, is unacceptable in the Vedic culture.
• Therefore King Śaryāti, who did not know the real facts of Cyavana Muni’s transformation, was surprised to see the behavior of his daughter.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Change → Acceptance. The instability of worldly identities is a recurring premise.

Chapters 1–3 of Canto 9: Dynastic origins and domestic transformations. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 3: The Marriage of Sukanyā and Cyavana Muni

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Kakudmī was advised by Lord Brahmā to offer his beautiful daughter, Revatī, to Baladeva, who belongs to the viṣṇu-tattva category. After doing this, Kakudmī retired from family life and entered the forest of Badarikāśrama to execute austerities and penances.