Arci's dedication and devotion to Prthu Maharaj

Prthu Maharaj retired from family life and entered the forest and strictly followed the regulations of retired life.His wife Arci also followed her husband to the forest as a chaste wife.

Synopsis:

1. She was a daughter of a king and was not accustomed to walking barefoot and living outside of the palace.
   
2. She tolerated all difficulties of living in the wilderness and followed the regulative principles of living in the forest like great sages.
3. Her body became very frail and thin by eating only fruits and leaves.
   
4. She did not feel any difficulties because she derived pleasure in the honor of serving her great husband
5. She lamented only for a little while, when her husband no longer displayed any symptoms of life( -dehino smin- sober person is not bewildered by such a change) .
6. She prepared his funeral pyre following all regulations and herself entered its flames
7. She thus served her husband just like the goddess of fortune serves Lord vishnu.
8. By dint of her chastity and pious activities she followed her great husband to vaikuntha.

Also refer Chaste wife: Srila Prabhupada's comments from the pastime of Arci

Reference texts:

SB 4.23.20: Although she was not accustomed to such difficulties, Queen Arci followed her husband in the regulative principles of living in the forest like great sages. She lay down on the ground and ate only fruits, flowers and leaves, and because she was not fit for these activities, she became frail and thin. Yet because of the pleasure she derived in serving her husband, she did not feel any difficulties.

SB 4.23.21: When Queen Arci saw that her husband, who had been so merciful to her and the earth, no longer showed symptoms of life, she lamented for a little while and then built a fiery pyre on top of a hill and placed the body of her husband on it.

SB 4.23.22: After this, the Queen executed the necessary funerary functions and offered oblations of water. After bathing in the river, she offered obeisances to various demigods situated in the sky in the different planetary systems. She then circumambulated the fire and, while thinking of the lotus feet of her husband, entered its flames.

SB 4.23.23: After observing this brave act performed by the chaste wife Arci, the wife of the great King Pṛthu, many thousands of the wives of the demigods, along with their husbands, offered prayers to the Queen, for they were very much satisfied.

SB 4.23.24: At that time the demigods were situated on the top of Mandara Hill, and all their wives began to shower flowers on the funeral pyre and began to talk amongst themselves as follows.

SB 4.23.25: The wives of the demigods said: All glories to Queen Arci! We can see that this queen of the great King Pṛthu, the emperor of all the kings of the world, has served her husband with mind, speech and body exactly as the goddess of fortune serves the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Yajñeśa, or Viṣṇu.