Learn Sanskrit In Selangor Malaysia.

One of the most misunderstood and often mistranslated stanza in the Bhagavad Gita.
Chapter 1 stanza 40.(* sometimes its stanza 41, depending on the Gita)

अधर्माभिभवात्कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रिय: |
स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्कर: || 40||

adharmābhibhavāt kṛiṣhṇa praduṣhyanti kula-striyaḥ
strīṣhu duṣhṭāsu vārṣhṇeya jāyate varṇa-saṅkaraḥ

This stanza if often translated as :

1)With the preponderance of  Adharma, O Krishna, the women of the family become immoral; and from the immorality of women, O descendent of Vrishni,  unwanted progeny are born.

 or

2)When Adharma is prominent in the family O' Krishna, the women of the family become corrupt and from the degradation of womanhood, O' descendant of Vrishni, comes unwanted progeny.

This is where we make the greatest error and many Guruji's even write harsh commentaries stating that women are easily misled and will commit adultery and immoral acts if not guided well by elders and males.

All these type of commentaries show women in the bad light when we all know that prisons have more males than females!

Ok, so where does this verse get misunderstood.

Here it is :
The word प्रदुष्यन्ति (praduSyanti) which is often always translated as become polluted.
So everyone assumes that the women misbehaved and committed adultery.

Let's dissect this word, it is made up of
प्र(pra)  +  दुष्यन्ति(duSyanti)
In Sanskrit when a verb is preceded by the prefix प्र(pra) it denotes the action done with extra intensity.
 दुष्यन्ति(duSyanti) means to become defiled.
With the प्र(pra) added as a prefix, the word  प्रदुष्यन्ति (praduSyanti) translated as "becoming defiled with intensity/force"
So this denotes a situation where a women is sexually assaulted and not that she commits adultery on her own.

In the past when countries faced war and invasion, the males would get killed in war and the females would be taken captive and often sexually assaulted and because of this they would give birth to unwanted progeny and totally destroy the family lineage(Genocide)

So in this stanza Arjuna was merely fearing war and if all the males die who will protect the females from invading forces?
And we do see in the Mahabharat that after the demise of Lord Krishna, the Pandava kingdom is invaded  and many women are taken captive by invading forces.

So that's all there is to this stanza in the Bhagavad Geeta, it was in no way degrading women.
The Hindu culture holds women in high esteem and it's sad that so many Guruji's do not want to interpret this verse correctly.