Shloka 49
। ण १ | शषि् + १7, त्रण्णा। # उर्वश्युवाच तव पित्रा भ्यनुज्ञातां स्वयं च गृहमागताम् । यस्मान्मां नाभिनन्देथा: कामबाणवशंगताम्,उर्वशी बोली--अर्जुन! तुम्हारे पिता इन्द्रके कहनेसे मैं स्वयं तुम्हारे घरपर आयी और कामबाणसे घायल हो रही हूँ, फिर भी तुम मेरा आदर नहीं करते। अतः तुम्हें स्त्रियोंके बीचमें सम्मानरहित होकर नर्तक बनकर रहना पड़ेगा। तुम नपुंसक कहलाओगे और तुम्हारा सारा आचार-व्यवहार हिजड़ोंके ही समान होगा
Urvaśy uvāca: tava pitrābhyanujñātāṁ svayaṁ ca gṛham āgatām | yasmān māṁ nābhinandethāḥ kāmabāṇavaśaṁgatām ||
Urvaśī said: “With your father’s permission I have come of my own accord to your dwelling. Yet you do not welcome me, though I am overcome and wounded by the arrows of desire. Therefore you shall live among women without honor, as a dancer; you will be called a eunuch, and your conduct will be like that of the third gender.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the tension between personal restraint and social expectations: Arjuna’s refusal to reciprocate desire is met with a punitive curse, showing how honor, consent, and power can be contested even when one acts with self-control.
Urvaśī, having come with Indra’s approval and driven by desire, reproaches Arjuna for not welcoming her. In anger she pronounces a curse that he will be dishonored among women and live as a dancer, being regarded as a eunuch—an outcome later integrated into the larger plot.