Verse 9.14

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

नैता रूपं परीक्षन्ते नासां वयसि संस्थितिः ।
सुरूपं वा विरूपं वा पुमानित्येव भुञ्जते ॥ १४ ॥

naitā rūpaṃ parīkṣante nāsāṃ vayasi saṃsthitiḥ |
surūpaṃ vā virūpaṃ vā pumānityeva bhuñjate || 14 ||

They care not for beauty; they have no regard for age; be he handsome or ugly, they enjoy the man simply because he is a male.—(14)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The husband should not labour under the vain hope—‘I am well favoured, handsome and young, how can my wife desire any other man, having me?’;—because women do not take into consideration the fact of a man being ‘handsome’ or ‘brave’; simply because he happens to be a male, they have recourse to him.—(14)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 412);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 158b).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 9.14-16)

Dakṣa (Vivādaratnākara, p. 413).—‘Women are like the leech; but while the poor leech draws blood only, the woman draws your riches, your property, your flesh, your virility and your strength. During adolescence, she is in fear of the man, during youth, she demands excessive pleasure, and when her husband becomes old, she does not care a straw for him.’

Rāmāyaṇa (Vivādaratnākara, p. 414).—‘For women there is no one loved or hated; they betake themselves to all men; just as creepers growing in a thick forest hang themselves on all trees.’