अधर्माभिभवात्कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रियः ।स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्करः ॥
adharmābhibhavāt kṛṣṇa praduṣyanti kulastriyaḥ |strīṣu duṣṭāsu vārṣṇeya jāyate varṇasaṅkaraḥ ||
- अधर्माभिभवात् · adharmābhibhavāt
- from the sway of lawlessness
- कृष्ण · kṛṣṇa
- O Krishna
- प्रदुष्यन्ति · praduṣyanti
- become corrupt, go astray
- कुलस्त्रियः · kulastriyaḥ
- the women of the family
- स्त्रीषु · strīṣu
- when women
- दुष्टासु · duṣṭāsu
- are corrupted
- वार्ष्णेय · vārṣṇeya
- O descendant of Vrishni (Krishna)
- जायते · jāyate
- arises, is born
- वर्णसङ्करः · varṇasaṅkaraḥ
- confusion of castes, mixing of social orders
“When lawlessness prevails, O Krishna, the women of the family go astray; and when women are corrupted, O descendant of Vrishni, confusion of castes arises.”
— Original plain-language translation
This verse reflects its era's patriarchal anxieties about war's aftermath — widowed households, broken protections, social boundaries dissolving. Read it as Arjuna voicing the traditional worldview he was raised in, not as the Gita's final word; Krishna's answer will relocate dharma from birth-order to inward steadfastness.
— Reader's notes (original)