Akhand Saubhyawati!
Haven’t you heard this like a zillion times since you got married? What exactly does it mean? Originally it meant that “May you always be happy in your married life. However as usual, all wise, ancient things get twisted over the course of time, loose its essence. Now it means “May your husband live longer, you may drop dead right now for all I care!” not joking.
Why? Is the husband some divine being who has the right to immortality & the wife a mere mortal who serves the husband as long as she is alive, then makes way for another replacement. I would not wish a short life for anyone, but if the husband in question is a wastrel, good for nothing, totally irresponsible, wayward swine, would still wish him to be alive to light your pyre or would you rather torch his? It is an extreme statement, but think about it. Why this discrimination? The wife can’t eat before her husband, can’t sleep before he is home from some meeting or a party with friends, she must wake up in the morning before him to serve him bed tea & oh before I forget, she must die before him too. Isn’t that great?