कच्चित्त्वं नागमोऽगम्यां गम्यां वासत्कृतां स्त्रियम् ।
पराजितो वाथ भवान्नोत्तमैर्नासमैः पथि ॥४२॥

kaccit tvaá¹ nÄgamo 'gamyÄá¹
gamyÄá¹ vÄsat-ká¹›tÄá¹ striyam
parÄjito vÄtha bhavÄn
nottamair nÄsamaiḥ pathi

 kaccit - whether; tvam - yourself; na - not; agamaḥ - did contact; agamyÄm - impeachable; gamyÄm - acceptable;  - either; asat-ká¹›tÄm - improperly treated; striyam - a woman; parÄjitaḥ - defeated by;  - either; atha - after all; bhavÄn - your good self; na - nor; uttamaiḥ - by superior power; na - not; asamaiḥ - by equals; pathi - on the road.


Text

Have you contacted a woman of impeachable character, or have you not properly treated a deserving woman? Or have you been defeated on the way by someone who is inferior or equal to you?

Purport

It appears from this verse that during the time of the PÄṇá¸avas free contact between man and woman was allowed in certain conditions only. The higher-caste men, namely the brÄhmaṇas and ká¹£atriyas, could accept a woman of the vaiÅ›ya or the śūdra community, but a man from the lower castes could not contact a woman of the higher caste. Even a ká¹£atriya could not contact a woman of the brÄhmaṇa caste. The wife of a brÄhmaṇa is considered one of the seven mothers (namely one’s own mother, the wife of the spiritual master or teacher, the wife of a brÄhmaṇa, the wife of a king, the cow, the nurse and the earth). Such contact between man and woman was known as uttama and adhama. Contact of a brÄhmaṇa with a ká¹£atriya woman is uttama, but the contact of a ká¹£atriya with a brÄhmaṇa woman is adhama and therefore condemned. A woman approaching a man for contact should never be refused, but at the same time the discretion as above mentioned may also be considered. BhÄ«ma was approached by Hiá¸imbÄ« from a community lower than the śūdras, and YayÄti refused to marry the daughter of ÅšukrÄcÄrya because of ÅšukrÄcÄrya’s being a brÄhmaṇa. VyÄsadeva, a brÄhmaṇa, was called to beget PÄṇá¸u and Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra. SatyavatÄ« belonged to a family of fishermen, but ParÄÅ›ara, a great brÄhmaṇa, begot in her VyÄsadeva. So there are so many examples of contacts with woman, but in all cases the contacts were not abominable nor were the results of such contacts bad. Contact between man and woman is natural, but that also must be carried out under regulative principles so that social consecration may not be disturbed or unwanted worthless population be increased for the unrest of the world.

It is abominable for a ká¹£atriya to be defeated by one who is inferior in strength or equal in strength. If one is defeated at all, he should be defeated by some superior power. Arjuna was defeated by BhÄ«á¹£madeva, and Lord Kṛṣṇa saved him from the danger. This was not an insult for Arjuna because BhÄ«á¹£madeva was far superior to Arjuna in all ways, namely age, respect and strength. But Karṇa was equal to Arjuna, and therefore Arjuna was in crisis when fighting with Karṇa. It was felt by Arjuna, and therefore Karṇa was killed even by crooked means. Such are the engagements of the ká¹£atriyas, and MahÄrÄja Yudhiṣṭhira inquired from his brother whether anything undesirable happened on the way home from DvÄrakÄ.