Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1, Verse 41

Chapter 1 – Arjuna Vishada Yoga · Speaker: Arjuna

Sanskrit verse

अधर्माभिभवात्कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रियः ।
स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्करः ॥

Transliteration

adharmābhibhavātkṛṣṇa praduṣyanti kulastriyaḥ .
strīṣu duṣṭāsu vārṣṇeya jāyate varṇasaṅkaraḥ ॥

Meaning

When adharma prevails, O Krishna, the women of the family become vulnerable and go astray; and when women are thus corrupted, O descendant of Vrishni, there arises varnasankara, the confusion of social order.

Word meanings

अधर्माभिभवात् – from the predominance of adharma
कृष्ण – O Krishna
प्रदुष्यन्ति – become corrupted, go astray
कुलस्त्रियः – the women of the family
स्त्रीषु – women
दुष्टासु – being corrupted
वार्ष्णेय – O descendant of Vrishni (Krishna)
जायते – arises
वर्णसङ्करः – mixing of social orders, breakdown of social order

Anvaya (word order)

कृष्ण, अधर्माभिभवात् कुलस्त्रियः प्रदुष्यन्ति; वार्ष्णेय, स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वर्णसङ्करः जायते ।

Explanation

Arjuna carries the chain of consequences further. The next result of spreading adharma, he says, is that the women of the family pradushyanti, 'become corrupted' or 'go astray'. This statement must be understood against the social conditions of that age.

When most of a family's men die in war, widows, orphaned children and unprotected households are left behind. Without protectors and guides, women can fall prey to exploitation and violence, and the moral bonds of family life begin to break down. Arjuna's fear is chiefly of this social disintegration. The fault he points to lies not with women but with the adharma that spreads as disorder after war.

Varnasankara literally means 'mixing of varnas'. In the ancient scheme, varna was linked to a person's qualities, nature and duties. According to traditional commentators, the deeper meaning of varnasankara is a social chaos in which people are cut off from their own nature and duty, the transmission of education and sacred rites is broken, and no one knows his own svadharma. Later in the Gita (3.24) Krishna himself says that if he ceased to act he would be the cause of sankara, showing that the word essentially signifies the collapse of duty and social order.

By calling Krishna Varshneya, 'descendant of Vrishni', Arjuna seems to remind him that he too belongs to a clan and knows the value of family traditions.

Context

In the previous verse Arjuna said that when family dharma is lost, adharma spreads; here he describes its social consequence. In the next verse he describes the further result of varnasankara: the fall of the ancestors.

Life lesson

The deepest wounds of war and violence fall on the most vulnerable: women, children and the elderly. A healthy society is one in which everyone is safe and can know their duty according to their nature.

Key terms

Varnasankara: mixing of social orders; in a broader sense, loss of duty and social chaos
Varshneya: descendant of Vrishni; Krishna
Kulastri: the women of a family