Vasudev Krishna and King Satrajit were having a private conversation when Princess Satyabhama overheard Vasudev Krishna say "she probably doesn't even know the song "farewell by a hero's wife". After hearing this she ran to Subhadra (Krishna's younger sister)and asked her to sing the song. Satyabhama memorized every word. After some time as her affection for Vasudev Krishna matured she spontaneously composed additional verses.
This song was recited by all the chaste ladies who were married to Ksatriya Warriors. During the age of Kings all the young girls were taught this song and all the ladies would sing it while their men folk were at war.What follows is the original song and then the additional verses;
Original song -
Go forth to battle, my lord, if Dharma beckons to you:
I will not try to keep you back.
If I kept you back, your comrades would laugh at you and the highborn maidens with flowing skirts would be ashamed even to look at you.
Let your heart be full of joy, my lord,
As a Kshatriya, you are reared to valour.
Your glory is to fight in the vanguard of the battle,
For the honor of your noble forbears,
For Dharma which Never Dies.
An occasion may arise when you and your comrades may be few and the enemy numberless;
But remember: the moon is only one, the stars numberless, Yet it is the moon that destroys darkness.
My lord, you are born to glory; you will certainly return victorious.
Never, never will I see you fleeing from the field of glory.
Perchance our citadel may fall and our people perish;
I may never see you again.
If God so wills, do not weep for me; never will your enemies carry me off in tears and end my days of freedom.
Remember this: I will never live in the house of another,
Nor work the loom for him, nor carry water-pots from his well.
I will weep, no doubt, but not for myself;
my tears will be an offering for the love you bore me.
When you are no more, I will not let other women bring me sorrow, saying that my lord is gone.
I will share your funeral pyre, as I shared your bed.
Hand in hand, we shall go to the God of Death as joyfully as when we took the seven steps around the nuptial fire.
Additional Verses
‘If perchance, lord, flame-tipped shafts from venomous tongues are aimed at your fair name, so dear to me, so precious to you, more valued than life, I will stand before you, bare-breasted, welcoming them, and like a burning pillar, reduce myself to ashes at Your feet.
Then, lord, press my ashes against your arms, which have so often held me in love, they will cling to you, as I had hoped to do, had not cruel fate intervened.’
