764
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 14]
require the protection of the state or a  kṣatriya  king. If such living beings do not get protection by the  kṣatriya , or the royal order, or by the state, it is certainly shameful for the  kṣatriya  or the state. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was anxious to know about this discrepancy on the part of Arjuna, if such things had actually happened.
TEXT 42
कश्चित्त्वं नागमोऽगम्यां गम्यां वासत्कृतां स्त्रियम् । पराजितो वाथ मवान्नोत्तमैनसिमैः पथि ॥४२॥
kaccit tvam nāgamo 'gamyām gamyām vāsat-kṛtām striyam parājito vātha bhavān nottamair nāsamaiḥ pathi
kaccit —whether;  tvam —yourself;  na —not;  agamaḥ —did contact;  agamyām —impeachable;  gamyām —acceptable;  vā —either;  asat-kṛtām —improperly treated;  striyam —a woman;  parājitaḥ —defeated by;  vā —either;  atha —after all;  bhavān —your good self;  na —not;  uttamaiḥ —by superior power;  na —nor;  asamaiḥ —by equals;  pathi —on the road.
TRANSLATION
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 Pāṇḍavas free contact between man and woman was allowed in certain conditions only. The higher caste men, namely the  brāhmaṇas  and  kṣatriyas , could accept a woman of the  vaiśya  or the  śūdra  community, but a man from the lower castes could not contact a woman of the higher caste. Even a  kṣatriya  could not contact a woman of the  brāhmaṇa  caste. The wife of a  brāhmaṇa  is considered one of the seven mothers (namely one's own mother, the wife of the spiritual master or teacher, the wife of a  brāhmaṇa , 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  brāhmaṇa  with a