नारद उवाच- एवं वदत्सु पौरेषु स्त्रियस्तेषां समागताः । राजांतिक उपाविष्टा इत्यूचुस्ताः परस्परम्
Nārada said: As the citizens spoke thus, their women gathered together, sat before the king, and spoke among themselves.
पौरस्त्रिय ऊचुः । कामं वामाकृतिं विप्रमेनं प्राप्यमनांसि नः । उल्लसंति दिवाधीशं कमलानीव वारिणि
The city women said: O Lord of the day, upon seeing this brāhmaṇa of beautiful form, our minds blossom like lotuses in water.
संकुचंति विना तेन कुमुदानि यथेंदुना । आगच्छंतमिलित्वैनंधारयामोनृपाग्रतः
Without him, our hearts shrink like lotuses without the moon; let us go together and seize him before the king.
अवध्योऽयं वयं चास्य किं करिष्यति भूपतिः । नारद उवाच- इत्युक्त्वा तास्त्वरावत्यो जगृहुस्तं द्विजोत्तमम्
He cannot be harmed, nor can we; what will the king do? Nārada said: Having spoken thus, those eager women seized that best of brāhmaṇas.
पश्यतां निजभर्तॄणां राज्ञश्चैव पुरस्तदा । ऊचुश्चैनं मनोनाथ गृहानागच्छ हृच्छयम्
In the sight of their own husbands and before the king, they said to him: 'O lord of our hearts, come to our homes and relieve our longing.'
शमयाशु विनाद्यत्वां स्थातुं नैव च शक्नुमः । इत्याकर्ण्य वचस्तासां स विप्रः प्रत्युवाच ह
'Satisfy us quickly, for without you we cannot remain.' Hearing these words, that brāhmaṇa replied to them.
विप्र उवाच- भवतीनामहं पुत्रो भवत्यो मातरो मम । गृहान्किमर्थमुत्सृज्य भवत्यः पर्यटंति हि
The brāhmaṇa said: I am a son to you all, and you are mothers to me; why do you abandon your homes and wander about?
आराधयत नाथान्स्वान्यतो लोकद्वयं ध्रुवम् । आराधितेषु पतिषु विष्णुः सर्वसुरेश्वरः
Worship your own husbands, for thus both worlds are surely attained; when husbands are worshipped, Viṣṇu, lord of all gods, is pleased.
प्रसन्नो भवति त्वत्र प्रसन्ने किमु दुर्लभम् । या स्त्री स्वपतिमुत्सृज्य सेवतेऽन्यसुखेच्छया
When he is pleased, what is unattainable here? But a woman who abandons her husband and seeks the pleasure of another—
सापवादमवाप्नोति याति घोरां च दुर्गतिम् । उषित्वा तत्र कल्पांते यावत्सा पतिवंचना
She incurs blame and goes to a terrible fate; as long as she deceives her husband, she dwells there until the end of the age.
पुनस्तस्माद्विनिर्गत्य स्थावरत्वं प्रपद्यते । तस्मादपि पशुत्वं सा लभते बहुजन्मसु
Then, departing from there, she attains the state of immobile life; from that too, after many births, she obtains the condition of an animal.
ततो मुक्ता मनुष्यत्वे व्यंगा भवति तत्र सा । एवं पापगतिं ज्ञात्वा निवर्तध्वमतो जनात्
Afterwards, released from that, she becomes deformed in human birth; knowing thus the course of sin, turn back from it, people.
नो वा यास्यथ देहांते नरकं भृशदारुणम् । यदिच्छंति भवंत्यो मे सुखं तन्नेह लप्स्यथ । पापमेव हि युष्माकं यतोधःपतनं नृणाम्
Otherwise, at the end of your bodies, you will go to a most terrible hell; if you wish for happiness from me, you will not obtain it here. Indeed, your only result is sin, which is the downfall of people.
नारद उवाच- श्रुत्वैवं वचनं तस्य दृष्ट्वा भर्तृसुखानि च । लज्जयानम्र मुख्यस्ता लतावातहता इव
Nārada said: Hearing these words of his and seeing the happiness of their husbands, the chief women bowed their heads in shame, like creepers struck by the wind.
तासां तु पुरनारीणां स्मराग्निर्भृशदारुणः । शशाम तस्य शीतेन बटोर्वचनवारिणा
But the fierce fire of passion in those former women was extinguished by the cool water of the sage's words.
उत्थाय चेलुः सर्वास्ता विनिंदंत्य इति स्मरम् । ब्रह्मशक्रादिदेवानामपि मोहकरं नृप
All of them rose up, condemning the god of love, whose power bewilders even Brahmā, Indra, and other gods, O king.
स्त्रिय ऊचुः । धिगिमं पापकर्माणं शीलदारुकुठारकम् । कामवामदृशां प्रीत्यै धन्यो येन हतः स्मरः
The women said: Shame on this wicked one, the axe that fells the tree of virtue, by whom the god of love, dear to those with beautiful eyes, was slain for their pleasure.
किं वदेम जगत्पूज्यां रुक्मिणीं जठरे यया । धृतः प्रद्युम्ननाम्नाऽसौ राहुः स्त्रीशीलचंद्रभुक्
What shall we say of Rukmiṇī, revered by the world, by whom that Rahu named Pradyumna, devourer of women's virtue, was borne in her womb?
स देवाधम आयाति यदि नो दृष्टगोचरम् । भूयो ध्यानकृतेशान दृगग्नौ तं क्षिपामहे
If that lowest of the gods comes within our sight, we shall again cast him into the fire of our gaze, O Lord of meditation.
येनायं जनितः पापो ह्यात्मारामेण विष्णुना । कृतः षोडशसाहस्रस्त्रीप्रियः का हि नः कथा
By whom this sinful one was begotten—by Viṣṇu, delighting in himself—who made him fond of sixteen thousand women; what more need be said of us?
एवं विनिंद्य तं कामं तुष्टुवुस्तं द्विजोत्तमम् । शीलं स्वस्य च तासां च रक्षितं येन भूपते
Thus reviling the god of love, they praised that best of Brāhmaṇas, by whom their own virtue and that of the women was protected, O king.
धन्या सामुष्य जननी ययायं ब्राह्मणोत्तमः । स्मरजिन्निर्मितो लोके परधर्मस्य रक्षकः
Blessed is the mother of that noble Brāhmaṇa, by whom the conqueror of love was created in the world, the protector of others' virtue.
धिगस्तु नो राजलोकैर्हसिताः स्मरनिर्जिताः । याभिर्वाक्यमनोभ्यां च जनितं पापमुल्बणम्
Shame on us, laughed at by the royal people, conquered by the god of love, by whom great sin was produced through word and mind.
नारद उवाच- एवं विचिंतयंत्यस्ता एक्यमत्ययुताः स्त्रियः । जग्मुः स्वंस्वं गृहं सर्वा द्विजवाक्येन बोधिताः
Nārada said: Thus reflecting, those countless women, instructed by the words of the Brāhmaṇa, all returned to their own homes.
अथ राजापि कांपिल्यस्तं द्विजं वस्त्रभूषणैः । संपूज्य प्रेषयामास सद्गृहे संयतेंद्रियम्
Then the king of Kāmpilya, honoring that Brāhmaṇa with garments and ornaments, sent him to a noble house, self-controlled.
अथागच्छति काले तु कारूषाधिपतिर्बली । कांपिल्याधिपतिं सैन्यैर्नगरं रुरुधे तदा
Then, in due course, the mighty lord of Kārūṣa came and besieged the city of the king of Kāmpilya with his army.
तयोर्युद्धमभूद्घोरं तेन युद्धे स घातितः । नगरं लुठितं सर्वं हताः शूराश्च सर्वशः
A terrible battle took place between them; in that fight he was slain, the entire city was plundered, and all the heroes were killed.
ता स्त्रियः कालकूटं तु खादित्वा मरणं गताः । प्रायश्चित्तं तु न कृतं ताभिः पापस्य तस्य तु
Those women, having consumed deadly poison, met their death; but they did not perform any atonement for that sin.
येन पापेन ताः सर्वा भीषणाख्यस्य रक्षसः । राक्षस्यो नगरे जाता महाकाया भयानकाः
By what sin all those terrifying, great-bodied, fearsome rākṣasīs were born in the city of the dreadful-named rākṣasa,
तत्र ता निहिताः सर्वाः पुरनार्यो हनूमता । यज्ञांश्च रसतो जिष्णोस्तिष्ठतां रथकेतने
There, all those women were confined by Hanuman, the noble one of the city, while the victorious one, delighting in sacrifices, remained in the bannered chariot.