Text 46
ditir uvāca
dhārayiṣye vrataṁ brahman
brūhi kāryāṇi yāni me
yāni ceha niṣiddhāni
na vrataṁ ghnanti yāny uta
ditiḥ uvāca — Diti said; dhārayiṣye — I shall accept; vratam — vow; brahman — my dear brāhmaṇa; brūhi — please state; kāryāṇi — must be done; yāni — what; me — to me; yāni — what; ca — and; iha — here; niṣiddhāni — is forbidden; na — not; vratam — the vow; ghnanti — break; yāni — what; uta — also.
Diti replied: My dear brāhmaṇa, I must accept your advice and follow the vow. Now let me understand what I have to do, what is forbidden and what will not break the vow. Please clearly state all this to me.
As stated above, a woman is generally inclined to serve her own purposes. Kaśyapa Muni proposed to train Diti to fulfill her desires within one year, and since she was eager to kill Indra, she immediately agreed, saying, “Please let me know what the vow is and how I have to follow it. I promise that I shall do the needful and not break the vow.” This is another side of a woman’s psychology. Even though a woman is very fond of fulfilling her own plans, when someone instructs her, especially her husband, she innocently follows, and thus she can be trained for better purposes. By nature a woman wants to be a follower of a man; therefore if the man is good the woman can be trained for a good purpose.