Shloka 12
Vipula’s Guru-Obedience, Divine Flowers, and the Peril of Others’ Oaths (विपुलोपाख्यानम्—पुष्पप्राप्तिः शपथ-प्रसङ्गश्च)
इमा: प्रजा महाबाहो धार्मिक्य इति न: श्रुतम्
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: imāḥ prajā mahābāho dhārmikyā iti naḥ śrutam; tathāpi striyaḥ satkṛtā apy asatkṛtā vā sadāiva puruṣāṇāṃ manasi vikāraṃ janayanti. tāsāṃ rakṣāṃ kaḥ kartum arhati? eṣa me mahān saṃśayaḥ.
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O mighty-armed one, we have heard that these beings—women—are by nature devoted to dharma. Yet, whether they are honored or dishonored, they continually stir disturbance in the minds of men. Who, then, can truly protect them? This is the great doubt that troubles my mind.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ethical dilemma: even when women are regarded as dharmic, social honor alone does not prevent moral agitation in men; therefore the deeper issue is self-restraint and responsible conduct, alongside just social protection.
Yudhiṣṭhira, in a didactic dialogue of the Anuśāsana Parva, raises a doubt to his interlocutor (addressed as “mahābāho”): how to reconcile the traditional praise of women’s dharma (with Sāvitrī as an exemplar) with the observed fact that men’s minds are easily disturbed, and who can truly ensure women’s protection.