Shloka 8
Devaśarmā–Vipula Dialogue on Ahorātra–Ṛtu as Moral Witnesses (अनुशासन पर्व, अध्याय ४३)
पूर्वसर्गे तु कौन्तेय साध्व्यो नार्य इहाभवन्
pūrvasarge tu kaunteya sādhvyo nārya ihābhavan | kuntīnandana! sṛṣṭike prārambhameṃ yahāṃ sab striyāṃ pativratā hī thīṃ | kṛtyārūpa duṣṭa striyāṃ to prajāpati kī is nūtana sṛṣṭise hī utpanna huī haiṃ | prajāpatine unheṃ unakī icchāke anusāra kāmabhāva pradāna kiyā |
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Sa pinakaunang paglikha, O anak ni Kuntī, ang mga babaeng narito ay pawang marangal at tapat sa kanilang mga asawa. Ngunit ang masasamang babae—yaong may mapaminsalang likas na gaya ng ‘kṛtyā’—ay lumitaw lamang sa huling paglikha ni Prajāpati. At si Prajāpati, ayon sa sarili nilang nais, ay nagkaloob sa kanila ng likas na itinutulak ng pagnanasa.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ethical contrast between an idealized primordial order—where marital fidelity and virtuous conduct prevail—and a later emergence of morally harmful tendencies attributed to a subsequent phase of creation. It links certain behaviors to kāma (desire) and presents self-restraint and pativratā-dharma as the earlier normative ideal.
Bhīṣma, instructing Yudhiṣṭhira in Anuśāsana Parva, explains a cosmological-moral account: in the first creation women were virtuous, while in a later creation Prajāpati produced women of harmful disposition and granted them a passion-driven nature according to their own desire.