Upanishads · Mahā 3.47
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्वेषां दोषरत्नानां सुसमुद्गिकयानया दुःखशृङ्खलया नित्यमलमस्तु मम स्त्रिया
Transliteration (IAST)
sarveṣāṃ doṣaratnānāṃ susamudgikayānayā duḥkhaśṛṅkhalayā nityamalamastu mama striyā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्वेषाम् दोष-रत्नानाम्sarveṣām doṣa-ratnānāmof all the gems of vice; for all the jewels of depravity
सु-समुद्गिकया अनयाsu-samudgikayā anayāwith this fine little casket; with this shapely little coffer
दुःख-शृङ्खलया नित्यम्duḥkha-śṛṅkhalayā nityamwith this everlasting chain of suffering; with this eternal fetter of misery
अलम् अस्तु मम स्त्रियाalam astu mama striyāenough for me of woman; let me have done with woman
Translation
“Enough for me of woman — this shapely casket for all the gems of vice, this everlasting chain of suffering.”
Version
b8a06dd20d1f · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The series' conclusion, and it is pronounced as a vow: alam astu mama — “let it be enough for me”.
This is the formula of refusal with which one ends a dispute with oneself. Nidāgha does not denounce — he forswears.
The image of the casket is curious in its doubleness. Samudgikā is a coffer for ornaments, a costly and beautiful thing; and in it are laid doṣa-ratna, “the gems of vices”. The oxymoron is deliberate: what seems a jewel is named a vice, and the reverse.
Note what the vow refers to. Not to women as people, but to his own part in what he has just described: to the chase, the snares, the hook.
The next verse will say this without images, and there it will be seen that the real target was all along another.