by reciting this prince of hymns succeeds in living in heaven for as many
years as there are pores in his body.'"



SECTION XIX

"Yudhishthira said, 'I ask, O chief of Bharata's race, what is the origin
of the saying, about discharging all duties jointly at the time of a
person's taking the hand of his spouse in marriage? Is that saying in
respect of discharging all duties together, due only to what is laid down
by the great Rishis in days of yore, or does it refer to the duty of
begetting offspring from religious motives, or has it reference to only
the carnal pleasure that is expected from such union? I he doubt that
fills my mind in this respect is very great. What is spoken of as joint
duties by the sages is in my consideration incorrect. That which is
called in this world the union for practising all duties together ceases
with death and is not to be seen to subsist hereafter. This union for
practising all duties together leads to heaven. But heaven, O grandsire,
is attained to by persons that are dead. Of a married couple it is seen
that only one dies at a time. Where does the other then remain? Do tell
me this. Men attain to diverse kinds of fruits by practising diverse
kinds of duties. The occupations again, to which men betake themselves
are of diverse kinds. Diverse, again, are the hells to which they go in
consequence of such diversity of duties and acts. Women, in particular,
the Rishis have said, are false in behaviour. When human beings are such,
and when women in particular have been declared in the ordinances to be
false, how, O sire, can there be a union between the sexes for purposes
of practising all duties together? In the very Vedas one may read that
women are false. The word 'Duty', as used in the Vedas, seems to have