SB 9.14.37 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

स्त्रियो ह्यकरुणा: क्रूरा दुर्मर्षा: प्रियसाहसा: । घ्नन्त्यल्पार्थेऽपि विश्रब्धं पतिं भ्रातरमप्युत ॥ ३७ ॥

Verse text

striyo hy akaruṇāḥ krūrā durmarṣāḥ priya-sāhasāḥ ghnanty alpārthe ’pi viśrabdhaṁ patiṁ bhrātaram apy uta

Synonyms

striyaḥ — women ; hi — indeed ; akaruṇāḥ — merciless ; krūrāḥ — cunning ; durmarṣāḥ — intolerant ; priya — sāhasāḥ — for their own pleasure they can do anything ; ghnanti — they kill ; alpa — arthe — for a slight reason ; api — indeed ; viśrabdham — faithful ; patim — husband ; bhrātaram — brother ; api — also ; uta — it is said .

Translation

Women as a class are merciless and cunning. They cannot tolerate even a slight offense. For their own pleasure they can do anything irreligious, and therefore they do not fear killing even a faithful husband or brother.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Women as a class are merciless, cruel, intolerant, and will do anything for their pleasure. For the slightest reason they will kill a faithful husband or brother. Hear about the nature of women in whom you put your faith and waste your rare human life. She expresses this in two verses. Durmarṣāḥ means women cannot tolerate offense. Priya-sāhasāḥ means they are bold enough to commit sin to get pleasure.

Purport

King Purūravā was greatly attached to Urvaśī. Yet despite his faithfulness to her, she had left him. Now, considering that the King was wasting his rarely achieved human form of life, Urvaśī frankly explained the nature of a woman. Because of her nature, a woman can respond to even a slight offense from her husband by not only leaving him but even killing him if required. To say nothing of her husband, she can even kill her brother. That is a woman’s nature. Therefore, in the material world, unless women are trained to be chaste and faithful to their husbands, there cannot be peace or prosperity in society.