Story of the faithless wife who burnt herself with her husband’s body.
There was a merchant in this very city named Balavarman, and he had a wife named Chandraśrí, and she beheld from a window a handsome merchant’s son, of the name of Śílahara, and she sent her female friend to invite him to her house, and there she used to have assignations with him in secret. And while she was in the habit of meeting him there every day, her attachment to him was discovered by all her friends and relations. But her husband Balavarman was the only one who did not discover that she was unchaste; very often men blinded by affection do not discover the wickedness of their wives.
Then a burning fever seized Balavarman, and the merchant consequently was soon reduced to a very low state. But, though he was in this state, his wife went every day to her friend’s house, to meet her paramour. And the next day, while she was there, her husband died. And on hearing of it she returned, quickly taking leave of her lover. And out of grief for her husband, she ascended the pyre with his body, being firmly resolved, though her attendants, who knew her character, tried to dissuade her.[1]
“Thus is the way of a woman’s heart truly hard to understand. They fall in love with strange men, and die when separated from their husbands.” When Tapantaka said this, Hariśikha said in his turn, “Have you not heard what happened in this way to Devadása?”