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97.YUDHISHTHIRA'S ANGUISH
"His father, the sun
lord himself, pleaded with him. He
begged of him to give up the wicked-
hearted Duryodhana and join you. I too
tried hard. But he would not listen to us.
He brought his end on himself."
"You deceived us, mother" said
Yudhishthira, "by hiding the secret of his
birth from us. You became thus the cause
of this great sin. May women never be
able to keep a secret henceforth."
This is the poet's story of how
Yudhishthira cursed all women in his
anguish over having killed his own elder
brother. It is a common notion that
women cannot keep secrets. And this
story is a beautiful conception illustrating
that popular belief.
It may be that in worldly affairs, it is an
advantage to be able to keep secrets. But it
is not great virtue from the point of view
of moral character, and women need not
grieve over an incapacity of this kind, if
indeed Kunti's legacy still persists.
The affectionate temperament natural to
women may perhaps incline them to
openness. But some women do keep
secrets very well indeed, and not a man
possess this ability either. It is a fallacy to
attribute the differences that arise out of
training and occupation on nature itself
and imagine some qualities as peculiar to
a sex.
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