Simhasanadvatrimshika 30.12

30.12

nā 'tantrī vādyate vīṇā, nā 'cakro vartate rathaḥ,
nā 'patiḥ sukham āpnoti nāri bandhuśatair api. || 12 ||

Tho a woman be surrounded by kinsfolk, tho she have many sons, and be endowed with excellent qualities, she is miserable, poor wretched creature, when deprived of her husband. And so: 11. What shall a widow do with perfumes, garlands, and incense, or with manifold ornaments, or garments and couches of ease? 12. A lute does not sound without strings, a wagon does not go without wheels, and a wife does not obtain happiness without her husband, not even with a hundred kinsfolk. 13. Woman's highest refuge is her husband, even if he be poor, vicious, old, infirm, crippled, outcast, and stingy. 14. There is no kinsman, no friend, no protector, no refuge for a woman like her husband. 15. There is no other misery for women like widowhood. Happy is she among women who dies before her husband."