Mahabharata 1.3.111

1.3.111

sa pauṣyaṃ punaruvāca |
na yuktaṃ bhavatā vayamanṛtenopacaritum |
na hi te kṣatriyāntaḥpure saṃnihitā |
naināṃ paśyāmīti || 111 ||

"King Paushya replied, 'Go, Utanka, into the female apartments where the Queen is and demand them of her.' And Utanka went into the women's apartments. But as he could not discover the Queen, he again addressed the king, saying, 'It is not proper that I should be treated by thee with deceit. Thy Queen is not in the private apartments, for I could not find her.' The king thus addressed, considered for a while and replied, 'Recollect, Sir, with attention whether thou art not in a state of defilement in consequence of contact with the impurities of a repast. My Queen is a chaste wife and cannot be seen by any one who is impure owing to contact with the leavings of a repast. Nor doth she herself appear in sight of any one who is defiled.'