Sunday, May 29, 2016

Transformations

Today's quote is a product of a society in which it was not uncommon for an upper-caste man to take multiple wives, some of whom were underage; so, I apologize in advance if it offends or distresses anyone.

Devanagari text:
अतिवत्सला सुशीला सेवाचतुरा मनोनुकूला च|
अजनि विनीता गृहिणी सपदि सपत्नीस्तनोद्भेदे||
 गोवर्धनाचार्य

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

ativatsalA suzIlA sevAcaturA mano*nukUlA ca|
ajani vinItA gRhiNI sapadi sapatnIstanodbhede||
 govardhanAcArya

Loose translation: The (older) housewife suddenly became overly affectionate, good-tempered, adept in serving (her husband), and humble – in short, a woman after her husband's own heart  as soon as her (much younger) co-wife started developing full breasts.

Source: 12th century Aryasaptashati (आर्यासप्तशती) Verse 2.

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