362 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 7

or to the son of a brahmana. This is due to her mild nature as a woman.
The woman as a class is no better than a boy, and therefore, they have no
discriminatory power like a man. Asvatthama proved himself to be an
unworthy son of Dronacarya or of a brahmana, and for this reason he was
condemned by the greatest authority Lord Sri Krsna, and yet a mild
woman could not withdraw her natural courtesy for a brahmana.

Even to date, in a Hindu family a woman shows proper respect to the
brahmana caste, however fallen and heinous a brahma-bandhu may be.
But the men have begun to protest against brahma-bandhus who are born
in families of good brahmanes but by action are less than sidras.

The specific word used in this sloka is vama sva-bhava, mild and gentle
by nature. A good man or woman accepts anything very easily, but a
man of average intelligence does not do so. But anyway, we should not
give up our reason and discriminatory power just to be gentle. One must
have good discriminatory power to judge a thing on its merit. We should
not follow the mild nature of a woman and thereby accept that which is
not genuine. Agvatthama may be respected by a good-natured woman,
but that does not mean that he is as good as a genuine brahmana.

TEXT 43

Jaa Wee aaa adi |
Bra FATA ara FART Te Wed

uvaca casahanty asya
bandhananayanam sati

mucyatam mucyatam esa
brahmano nitaram guruh

uvaca--said; ca—and; asahanti—being unbearable for her; asya—his;
bandhana—being bound up: dnayanam—bringing him; sati—the devoted;
mucyatam—just get him released; esah—this; brahmanah—a brahmana;
nitaram—our; guruh—teacher.

TRANSLATION

She could not tolerate Asvatthama’s being bound by ropes, and being
a devoted lady, she said: Release him, for he is a brahmana, our spiritual
master.
