Upaniṣads · Mahā 3.39
॥
Devanāgarī
मांसपाञ्चालिकायास्तु यन्त्रलोलेअङ्गपञ्जरे स्नाय्वस्थिग्रन्थिशालिन्याः स्त्रियः किमिव शोभनम्
Transliteración (IAST)
māṃsapāñcālikāyāstu yantraloleaṅgapañjare snāyvasthigranthiśālinyāḥ striyaḥ kimiva śobhanam
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
मांस-पाञ्चालिकायाः तुmāṃsa-pāñcālikāyāḥ tuin a doll of flesh; in a marionette of meat
यन्त्र-लोल-अङ्ग-पञ्जरेyantra-lola-aṅga-pañjarein a cage of limbs jerked by cords; in a frame of members swayed on rigging
स्नायु-अस्थि-ग्रन्थि-शालिन्याःsnāyu-asthi-granthi-śālinyāḥin her who abounds in sinews, bones and joints; in one possessed of tendons, bones and articulations
स्त्रियः किम् इव शोभनम्striyaḥ kim iva śobhanamwhat indeed is beautiful in a woman; what then is comely in a woman
Traducción
“In a doll of flesh, in a cage of limbs jerked on their cords, in her who is made of sinews, bones and joints — what indeed is beautiful in a woman?”
Versión
99719c566153 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
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From this verse to 3.48 runs a series that must be read honestly, without softening.
Woman is called a “doll of flesh” and taken apart into sinews, bones and joints. Further on it will be sharper still.
The first thing to be said: this is the speech of a youth making his decision for celibacy, addressed to his preceptor and spoken about himself. It is not a sermon on women and not a judgment of their worth. Nidāgha took apart his own body in exactly the same way ten verses earlier — with shards of bone for teeth and a monkey for a tongue (3.30). The device is one and the same, and it is applied first to himself.
Second: the device is an exercise, not a truth. Anything living can be decomposed into substance, and each time it will come out that there is nothing beautiful. This speaks not of the object but of the way of looking.
Third, and chief: the Vaiṣṇava tradition does not hold such a view of woman as final. The Bhāgavatam says that he who sees all beings as His parts despises no one; in its own calendar of saints women stand among the teachers and great devotees, and the highest state of devotion is depicted precisely through a woman's love. What is actually condemned here is said in 3.48: not woman, but bhoga-icchā, the desire to enjoy. A man is to a woman just as much an object of craving, and the book simply speaks with a youth of what is nearer to him.
To read these verses as licence to despise half of humankind is to read out of them the exact opposite of what they were spoken for.