Manava Dharmashastra 5.156

5.156

eṣa evārtho vispaṣṭīkriyate | ā maraṇādbrahmacāriṇyāsīta | asyāmāpadi na vyabhicāreṇātmānaṃ jīvayet | kṣāntā | tatkṛtaṃ duḥkhamavadhīrayantī | na brahmacaryaṃ kṣudutkṛtyaṃ yena cittaṃ kallolena khaṇḍayet | ekaḥ patiryāsāṃ tāḥ, ekasya vā patnya ‘ekapatnyaḥ’ tāsāṃ sāvitrīprabhṛtīnāṃ yo dharmaḥ, yasya phalaṃ varadānābhiśāpādiṣu śaktatā, taṃ kāṃkṣantī kāmayamānā brahmacaryaṃ na jahyāt | asyāmavasthāyāṃ mūlaphalāśinyā yadi bhavati maraṇaṃ tato na doṣaḥ |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
What has gone before is further explained.

‘Till her death she should remain chaste’;—i.e., even under the said distressing conditions she shall not seek to maintain herself by misbehaviour.

‘Patient’—disregarding the troubles caused by her circumstances, she shall not allow her chastity to be disfigured by hunger; she shall not allow her mind to be disturbed by the waves of passion.

The compound ‘ekapatni (ekapatnī?)’ may be expounded either as ‘those who have a single husband,’ or ‘those who are wives of single men’; such women, as Sāvitrī and the rest;—the ‘merits’ accruing to such women; which brings such results as the capacity to confer boons and pronounce curses;—‘seeking’ such merit, the woman should not renounce chastity.

Under the said circumstances, if, by living upon fruits and roots, she happen to die,—there would be nothing wrong in this.—(156).