न्यायवृत्तं सुदुर्वृत्ता प्रियमप्रियदर्शना।
शरीरजसमाविष्टा राक्षसी वाक्यमब्रवीत्॥
nyāya-vṛttaṁ sudurvṛttā priyam apriya-darśanā
śarīraja-samāviṣṭā rākṣasī vākyam abravīt
nyāya-vṛttam = His conduct was appropriate; sudurvṛttā = her conduct was very improper; priyam = His appearance was pleasant; apriya-darśanā = her appearance was displeasing; śarīraja-samāviṣṭā = overcome by lust; rākṣasī = the rākṣasī; vākyam = [the following] words; abravīt = spoke.
His conduct was appropriate. Her conduct was very improper. His appearance was pleasant. Her appearance was displeasing.1 Overcome by lust, the rākṣasī spoke [the following] words.
1 The learned sage Śrī Vālmīki makes fun of Śūrpaṇakhā’s proposal to Rāmacandra in texts 10 to 12. From the matrimonial point of view, Śūrpaṇakhā and Rāma simply don’t match. From this we can learn a lesson that no matter how much a man changes his demeanor or appearance in order to impress a woman and no matter how much a woman changes her demeanor or appearance in order to impress a man, if they are intrinsically incompatible by all scriptural parameters, they are not meant to be united in marriage. (Of course, if they are, somehow or other, married to each other, they have to carry out their marital duties towards each other for their entire lives without breaking dharma.)