Chapter 24 of 51 · Uma Samhita · Overall chapter 338 of 464
Feminine Nature
At Vyasa's request, Sanatkumara retells an old dialogue in which the sage Narada presses the apsara Panchachuda - against her own reluctance - to describe women's nature honestly; her resulting catalogue of feminine inconstancy and desire, delivered reluctantly under Narada's insistence that truth-telling carries no sin, is preserved here exactly as the source presents it, as a stated aid to non-attachment rather than editorial commentary.
Vyasa said
Panchachuda remarked that women are contemptible. Sage, if you are pleased with me, please tell me about that briefly.
Sanatkumara replied
Brahmana, I will describe feminine nature accurately. As soon as one hears it, excellent non-attachment arises. Sage, women are the root cause of all faults and their minds are always fickle. A man who desires liberation must never be distracted and never be attached to them. In this connection an ancient story is told, a conversation between Narada and the wayward Panchachuda. In ancient times the intelligent divine sage Narada was roaming the worlds and saw the apsara Panchachuda, an excellent maiden. Narada, supreme among sages, asked the apsara of fine brows: slender-waisted one, I have a doubt in my heart; please tell me. Thus addressed, the supreme apsara replied that if he thought her capable he should tell her the subject. Narada said: fortunate one, I will never ask you about something you do not know; I wish to hear the truth about feminine nature. Hearing the divine sage, the supreme among apsaras answered: sage, listen. Since I am a woman I cannot criticise women. You know about women and their nature, divine sage, and should not ask me to answer such a question. Saying this Panchachuda fell silent. Wishing the worlds' welfare, Narada replied that sin attaches to lying and none to speaking truth, so knowing this she should speak the truth. Thus addressed, the sweetly smiling one made up her mind and began to tell the truth about the eternal faults of women.
Panchachuda said
Narada, even if a woman is of noble lineage, beautiful and protected, she does not keep to restraints. That is a fault among women, and nothing is more evil than women, who are the root of all sins; you know this yourself. A husband may be learned, prosperous, handsome and pleasing, yet a woman waits for a chance to transgress. Lord, we women are prone to wickedness and adharma; we abandon shame and are drawn to evil men. Women desire those who approach, desire and serve them, and are not concerned about breaking restraints. If they stay with their husbands and do not break restraints, it is because men do not want them or because they fear their husbands. Women find no one dishonourable and do not care about age; they take pleasure in men, handsome or ugly. Out of fear, compassion, riches, kin, family and relationships, women never stay with their husbands. Women of good families want to be wayward, young, in beautiful ornaments and garments. Even beloved women who are protected and always greatly respected are drawn to the hunchbacked, blind, dumb and dwarfs, to the disabled and other despicable men. Great sage, there is no one in this world whom women regard as unapproachable. Brahmana, if a man can be got in any way a woman never stays with her husband but goes to another. When men cannot be got, when they fear family members or fear being killed by relatives, women's hopes are shattered. Their nature is fickle; they are hard to please and hard to understand even for the wise, and they act sexually as they wish. Wood never satisfies a fire, the great ocean is never satisfied by rivers, the Destroyer is not satisfied by all beings, and so the fair-eyed are never satisfied with men. Divine sage, I think this is a mystery about all women: at the sight of a man, a woman is aroused, and at the sight of one who has bathed, is clean and fragrant, she is aroused like water seeping from a vessel. Even the best of women do not want husbands who give them all they wish, honour them, comfort them and protect them. A woman does not value pleasures, many ornaments and large stores of wealth as much as she values the prospect of sex. They do not consider what is good for themselves. The destroyer, destruction, death, the nether regions, the undersea fire, a razor's sharpness, a snake's poison and fire: all of these together exist in a woman. Brahma ordained the worlds and the five great elements arose with him; Narada, when men and women were created, these are the faults that were always implanted in women.
Sanatkumara concluded
Hearing her, Narada was satisfied in mind and, taking this to be true, became detached from women. Vyasa, he had affectionately told what Panchachuda said about feminine nature. This is a reason for non-attachment, and he asked what else Vyasa wished to hear.
Retold in our own words from Bibek Debroy's English translation of the Shiva Purana (Penguin Classics). Names, numbers and the order of events follow the source.