शत्रुः पतिप्रवादेन मात्रेव हितकाम्यया।
आशीविष इवाङ्केन बाले परिहृतस्त्वया॥
śatruḥ pati-pravādena mātreva hita-kāmyayā
āśī-viṣa ivāṅkena bāle parihṛtas tvayā
śatruḥ = your enemy; pati-pravādena = known as your husband; mātrā = a mother [who has embraced]; iva = like; hita-kāmyayā = desiring to do good to it; āśī-viṣaḥ iva1 = a venomous baby snake; aṅkena2 bāle = my dear girl; parihṛtaḥ = have embraced; tvayā = you.
1. There are two ivas in this verse. The first goes with mātrā and tvayā. The second goes with śatruḥ and āśī-viṣaḥ.
2. Technical note: aṅkena parihṛtaḥ.
My dear girl, you have embraced your enemy known as your husband, like a mother [who has embraced] a venomous baby snake desiring to do good to it.
1 There are two ivas in this verse. The first goes with mātrā and tvayā. The second goes with śatruḥ and āśī-viṣaḥ.
1 Technical note: aṅkena parihṛtaḥ.
1 Making good wives distrust their genuinely loving husbands (and making good husbands distrust their genuinely loving wives) is not a modern phenomenon. As we can see here, the idea that one’s husband might at any moment backstab his wife (or that one’s wife might at any moment backstab her husband) has led to untold calamity since time immemorial. In today’s world, it has even led to the collapse of the very institution of marriage in many parts of the world. Faithful readers of Śrī Rāmāyaṇa can learn why and how families should not be broken by intentionally or unintentionally following in the footsteps of Mantharā, since participation in the culture of marriage and family life inevitably forces one to give up one’s selflishness, which is essential to become sufficiently self-disciplined. Without sufficient self-discipline, one cannot attain the results of karma, jñāna or bhakti. Stubborn selfishness is absolutely incompatible with Vedic dharma irrespective of whether one is hankering to attain dharma-artha-kāma, mokṣa or bhagavat-prema.
Mantharā intended to tell Kaikeyī, “My dear innocent girl, you are unaware of the disaster to come. Your husband is your enemy, that is, he is inimical to you, with his heart concealed to you. You have an honest character. You are like a mother nourishing a venomous baby snake with the desire to do good to it. Your enemy known as your husband is like that venomous baby snake whose poison is concealed, that is, your husband is like a snake. And you have kept him on your lap, to do good to him.”
The last line could also be read as āśī-viṣa ivāṅke na bāle parihṛtas tvayā which indicates that Mantharā also thought that Kaikeyī did not forsake that venomous baby snake in the form of her husband from her lap; she had kept that snake on her very lap and nourished it.
Mantharā wanted to tell Kaikeyī, “You are are a girl who does not know your husband’s crooked heart and believing in him, you have nourished him, keeping him on your lap. You are like a girl nourishing a snake without knowing about the poison in the snake, simply to do good to it, while keeping it on her lap. And just as that venomous baby snake on that girl’s lap can bite her at any time, even though she has nourished it and has only desired to do good to it, your husband will deprive you, who have believed him [all along], of your wealth. So don’t nourish him [anymore the way you have nourished him all along].”1
Mantharā elaborately reveals her intentions from the next text.
1. Making good wives distrust their genuinely loving husbands (and making good husbands distrust their genuinely loving wives) is not a modern phenomenon. As we can see here, the idea that one’s husband might at any moment backstab his wife (or that one’s wife might at any moment backstab her husband) has led to untold calamity since time immemorial. In today’s world, it has even led to the collapse of the very institution of marriage in many parts of the world. Faithful readers of Śrī Rāmāyaṇa can learn why and how families should not be broken by intentionally or unintentionally following in the footsteps of Mantharā, since participation in the culture of marriage and family life inevitably forces one to give up one’s selflishness, which is essential to become sufficiently self-disciplined. Without sufficient self-discipline, one cannot attain the results of karma, jñāna or bhakti. Stubborn selfishness is absolutely incompatible with Vedic dharma irrespective of whether one is hankering to attain dharma-artha-kāma, mokṣa or bhagavat-prema.