«If you do not do as I ask, o Duhshanta, your head will split into a hundred pieces this very day. Because a husband, entering his wife, is born again from her, as a son — in that lies the 'wifehood' (jaya) of a wife, so the ancient sage-poets have known. The offspring born to a husband learned in scripture saves, through the succession of the line, the ancestors who died before him. Because a son saves his father from the hell called 'Put' — for that the Self-born himself has named him 'putra' (son). She alone is a true wife who is skilled in the household, who is blessed with children, for whom her husband is her very life, who is devoted to her husband. A wife is half of a man, a wife is his best friend, a wife is the root of the three aims [of dharma, artha, and kama], a wife is a friend even to the dying. Those who have wives are fit for rites; with a wife, they are true householders; those who have wives rejoice, those who have wives are endowed with prosperity. In solitude they are sweet-speaking companions, in matters of dharma they are like fathers, to one in distress they are like mothers. Even in the wilderness a wife is a traveler's rest; whoever has a wife is trustworthy; therefore a wife is the highest refuge. In misfortune, when the departed husband wanders on alone through perilous paths, only the devoted wife follows him constantly. For this reason, o king, marriage is desired — that a husband gains his wife both in this world and in the next.»