तस्यां पुर्यां तदा चैव माहिष्मत्यां कुरूद्वह ॥
बभूवुर् अनभिग्राह्या योषितश् छन्दतः किल ॥
एवम् अग्निर् वरं प्रादात् स्त्रीणाम् अप्रतिवारणे ॥
स्वैरिण्यस् तत्र नार्यो हि यथेष्टं प्रचरन्त्य् उत ॥
वर्जयन्ति च राजानस् तद् राष्ट्रं पुरुषोत्तम ॥
भयाद् अग्नेर् महाराज तदा प्रभृति सर्वदा ॥
tasyāṃ puryāṃ tadā caiva māhiṣmatyāṃ kurūdvaha ||
babhūvur anabhigrāhyā yoṣitaś chandataḥ kila ||
evam agnir varaṃ prādāt strīṇām aprativāraṇe ||
svairiṇyas tatra nāryo hi yatheṣṭaṃ pracaranty uta ||
varjayanti ca rājānas tad rāṣṭraṃ puruṣottama ||
bhayād agner mahārāja tadā prabhṛti sarvadā ||
“In that city, in Mahishmati, O scion of Kuru, the women from then on became, it is said, free and inviolable by their own will. Thus Agni granted women this boon of unrestrainability; willful are the wives there and act as they please. And kings avoid that kingdom, O best of men, out of fear of Agni, from then on and forever”.
8cc34a8944fb · 发布于 2026年7月16日 15:28:51 UTC
可用语言RUEN用方向键翻颂
The tradition preserves also an unusual custom, born of a god’s boon, without smoothing it over: scripture bears true witness to the past as it was, not as it might be more convenient to see it. It is significant that a god’s gift transformed the very order of the city, and this institution outlived the centuries. The verse reminds us of the power of divine speech, able to alter the order of a whole land; and of the honesty of tradition, which conceals neither the strange nor the discomforting. Remembering the ancient, the reader learns to distinguish eternal dharma from the passing customs of place and time.