1.41
अधर्माभिभवात्कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रियः ।
स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्करः ॥
adharmābhibhavāt kṛṣṇa praduṣyanti kulastriyaḥ
strīṣu duṣṭāsu vārṣṇeya jāyate varṇasaṅkaraḥ
The next link. He says it in the language of his time, about women and birth. Read what the words say, and keep the chain attached to 1.40.
The verse
From the overpowering of dharma, Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण), the women of the family are corrupted, and when the women are corrupted, Vārṣṇeya (वार्ष्णेय), a confusion of the orders is born.
नेपालीमा
हे कृष्ण, अधर्मले धर्मलाई जित्दा कुलका स्त्रीहरू बिग्रन्छन्। हे वार्ष्णेय, स्त्रीहरू बिग्रिँदा वर्णको गोलमाल जन्मिन्छ।
Where it sits
This is Arjuna speaking, not the book's last word. He believes the dharma of a house lives in the sexual regularity of its women, and that a war which kills the men destroys that regularity, and that children born outside the orders then destroy what is left. The next two verses are the ancestors falling because those children will not offer the rites. Whether you share the sociology or not, the Sanskrit is this chain, and he is using it to avoid the war. Chapter 2 will answer a man who is afraid of this chain, not a man who has already been talked out of it.
Split: अधर्म-अभिभवात् + कृष्ण + प्रदुष्यन्ति + कुल-स्त्रियः + स्त्रीषु + दुष्टासु + वार्ष्णेय + जायते + वर्ण-सङ्करः
adharma-abhibhavāt + kṛṣṇa + praduṣyanti + kula-striyaḥ + strīṣu + duṣṭāsu + vārṣṇeya + jāyate + varṇa-saṅkaraḥ
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| देवनागरी | Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| अधर्म-अभिभवात् | adharma-abhibhavāt | ablative | from the overcoming by adharma. Because lawlessness has overcome. |
| प्रदुष्यन्ति | praduṣyanti | present, 3rd plural | they are corrupted, they go bad. |
| कुल-स्त्रियः | kula-striyaḥ | nominative plural | the women of the family. |
| स्त्रीषु | strīṣu | locative plural | when the women… |
| दुष्टासु | duṣṭāsu | locative plural | are corrupted. Agrees with strīṣu (स्त्रीषु). |
| वार्ष्णेय | vārṣṇeya | vocative | descendant of Vṛṣṇi (वृष्णि). Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण). |
| जायते | jāyate | present, 3rd singular | is born. |
| वर्ण-सङ्करः | varṇa-saṅkaraḥ | nominative | a confusion of the orders. Offspring outside the expected order of birth. |
The phrases
adharmābhibhavāt (अधर्माभिभवात्) is the cause, in the ablative. From that overcoming which 1.40 just named. अ + अ a + a inside अधर्म + अभिभव adharma + abhibhava becomes ā (आ).
praduṣyanti kulastriyaḥ (प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रियः) is the next effect. The women of the family are corrupted. kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण) is dropped into the line as a vocative.
strīṣu duṣṭāsu (स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु) is another locative absolute. When the women have been corrupted.
jāyate varṇasaṅkaraḥ (जायते वर्णसङ्करः) is what is born from that. vārṣṇeya (वार्ष्णेय) is a second vocative, a clan-name, in a verse about clan-ruin.
Sanskrit in this line
The ablative --āt (आत्) you learned as "from the hand" in 1.30 is here "because of." adharmābhibhavāt (अधर्माभिभवात्), "from the overcoming by adharma." Source and cause are the same case. If you can say "from," you can usually get to "because of" without a new ending.
strīṣu duṣṭāsu (स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु) is the locative absolute in the plural. strī (स्त्री) becomes strīṣu (स्त्रीषु). duṣṭā (दुष्टा) becomes duṣṭāsu (दुष्टासु). "When the women are corrupted." Same construction as dharme naṣṭe (धर्मे नष्टे), plural because the noun is plural.
Say it back
The cause in the ablative, the locative absolute, and what is born. Then say, in one sentence, that this is his reason, still inside the despair.