Shloka 80
Aṣṭāvakra–Strī-saṃvāda: Dhṛti, hospitality, and a dispute on autonomy
दुःखिता प्रेक्ष्य संजल्पमकार्षीदृषिणा सह । ब्रह्मन्नकामतो<न्यास्ति स्त्रीणां पुरुषतो धृति:
duḥkhitā prekṣya sañjalpam akārsīd ṛṣiṇā saha | brahmann akāmatо 'nyāsti strīṇāṃ puruṣato dhṛtiḥ ||
Seeing her in distress, she spoke in consultation with the sage: “O Brahmin, for women there is no steadfastness that is independent of a man’s will; their resolve is compelled by the man.”
सअद्टावक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse comments on social dependence and constrained agency: it portrays women’s resolve (dhṛti) as being shaped—sometimes against their own wish—by male authority, raising an ethical reflection on autonomy, consent, and the power structures assumed in the narrative world.
A distressed woman, after observing the situation, speaks while consulting a sage and addresses a Brahmin. Her statement frames women’s firmness of purpose as not self-determined but contingent upon a man, indicating the moral and social tension being discussed in this section.