en of
sinful habits and intentions. Women betray a liking for those men who
court them, who approach their presence, and who respectfully serve them
to even a slight extent. Through want of solicitation by persons of the
other sex, or fear of relatives, women, who are naturally impatient of
all restraints, do not transgress those that have been ordained for them,
and remain by the side of their husbands. There is none whom they are
incapable of admitting to their favours. They never take into
consideration the age of the person they are prepared to favour. Ugly or
handsome, if only the person happens to belong to the opposite sex, women
are ready to enjoy his companionship. That women remain faithful to their
lords is due not to their fear of sin, nor to compassion, nor to wealth,
nor to the affection that springs up in their hearts for kinsmen and
children. Women living in the bosom of respectable families envy the
condition of those members of their sex that are young and well-adorned
with jewels and gems and that lead a free life. Even those women that are
loved by their husbands and treated with great respect, are seen to
bestow their favours upon men that are hump-backed, that are blind, that
are idiots, or that are dwarfs. Women may be seen to like the
companionship of even those men that are destitute of the power of
locomotion or those men that are endued with great ugliness of features.
O great Rishi, there is no man in this world whom women may regard as
unfit for companionship. Through inability to obtain persons of the
opposite sex, or fear of relatives, or fear of death and imprisonment,
women remain, of themselves, within the restraints prescribed for them.
They are exceedingly restless, for they always hanker after new
companions. In consequence of their nature being unintelligible, they are
incapable of being kept in obedience by affectionate treatment. Their
disposition is such that they are incapable of being restrained when bent
upon transgression. Verily, women are like the words uttered by the
wise.[271] Fire is never satiated with fuel. Ocean can never be filled
with the waters that rivers bring unto him. The Destroyer is never
satiated with slaying even all living creatures. Similarly, women are
never satiated with men. This, O celestial Rishi, is another mystery
connected with women. As soon as they see a man of handsome and charming
features, unfailing signs of desire appear on their persons. They