Verse 2.213

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

स्वभाव एष नारीणां नराणामिह दूषणम् ।
अतोऽर्थान्न प्रमाद्यन्ति प्रमदासु विपश्चितः ॥ २१३ ॥

svabhāva eṣa nārīṇāṃ narāṇāmiha dūṣaṇam |
ato'rthānna pramādyanti pramadāsu vipaścitaḥ || 213 ||

It is the very nature of women to corrupt men. It is for this reason that the wise are never unguarded regarding women.—(213)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

It is the nature of women that they make men fall off from their fidelity: by associating with men, women would make them deviate from their vow.

For this reason the wise are never ‘unguarded’; i.e., they shun women from a distance;—‘unguardedness’ would consist in touching her and so forth.

It is in the very nature of things that a young woman, when touched, produces a disturbance in the mind; and this mental disturbance itself has been interdicted, to say nothing of other vulgarities.

‘Pramadā’ means woman.—(213)

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 213-215)

Āpastamba Dharmasūtra (1. 3. 16).—‘With women one should talk only when necessary.’

Āpastamba Dharmasūtra (7. 3).—‘One should not look at a naked woman.’

Baudhāyana (1. 2. 24).—‘Talking to women only when necessary.’

Gautama (2. 22, 41).—‘Gazing at and touching of women should be avoided; one who has attained majority should not see young women alone.’

Śukranīti (3.27).—‘One should not sit very near bis mother, sister or daughter.’

Mahābhārata (13. 48.47-48).—(Three lines same as Manu.) ‘That is why wise men do not become too much. attached to women.’