कथं त्वं तस्य वैदेहीं रक्षितां स्वेन तेजसा।
इच्छसि प्रसभं हर्तुं प्रभामिव विवस्वतः॥
kathaṁ tvaṁ tasya vaidehīṁ rakṣitāṁ svena tejasā
icchasi prasabhaṁ hartuṁ prabhām iva vivasvataḥ
katham = how; tvam = you; tasya = His; vaidehīm = Vaidehī; rakṣitām = who is protected; svena = by her; tejasā = prowess; icchasi = can desire; prasabham = forcibly; hartum = to carry away; prabhām = [trying to take away] sunlight; iva = [that would be] like; vivasvataḥ = from the sun.
How can you desire to forcibly carry away His Vaidehī who is protected by her prowess?1 [That would be] like [trying to take away] sunlight from the sun.
1 The first line of this verse also indicates that it is impossible for Rāvaṇa to carry Sītā-devī away, for she is protected by Lord Rāma’s natural prowess. Technical note: kiṁ ca tasya rāmasya svena tejasā sahaja-pratāpenety arthaḥ.
1 These verses appear as texts 2.33.110-117 and 2.33.125 in the edition of Kūrma Purāṇa published by All-India Kashiraj Trust.
Her prowess is the glory of her being a chaste wife to her husband as a pati-vratā.
NOTE. According to Śrī Govindarāja’s commentary to text 2.66.12, a woman chaste to her husband as a pati-vratā is described as follows:
ārtārte mudite hṛṣṭā proṣite malinā kṛśā
mṛte mriyeta yā patyau sā strī jñeyā pati-vratā
“A woman who is distressed when her husband is distressed, who is happy when he is happy, who keeps herself unattractive or emaciated when he has gone out of station and who dies when he dies is to be known as a pati-vratā.” (Bṛhat Hārīta-smṛti 8.198)
A section of verses in the Kūrma Purāṇa present the glory of being a pati-vratā, stating that such a woman cannot be overcome by anyone other than her husband and cites the example of Sītā-devī. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhupāda quotes a number of verses from this interesting section in his Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha (Anuccheda 177).1 We will present them a little later in a note in this Canto.