The Collapse of Social Order Viewed from the Perspective of Family Values in Ancient India.

Section 41 is based on the traditional Indian concepts of family and varna. Arjuna believed that if the traditions of the household disappear and restraints are lost, morality and marital fidelity would weaken, leading to a collapse of social order in those times.

The original text describes this crisis using phrases that strongly reflect the historical context, such as "the corruption of women" and "the mixing of varnas." Rather than accepting these terms directly according to modern values, it is necessary to recognize that at that time, family, marriage, lineage, and varna were closely linked to social order. The central point here is that Arjuna views the war not only as a matter of individual death but also as a crisis that threatens to undermine the very structure of society.

Japanese Translation from the Gita Press Edition - Chapter 1, Section 41: "When Adharma Spreads, Social Order Collapses."

When men become unrighteous, the women of their family become corrupted. From corrupt women is born a man of mixed caste. || 41 ||

Vocabulary

"adharmābhibhavāt" means "by the dominance of unrighteousness."

"kṛṣṇa" is a vocative form, meaning "O Krishna."

"praduṣyanti" means "to be corrupted" or "to be polluted."

kulastriyaḥ means "women of the house."

"strīṣu duṣṭāsu" means "when women become corrupt."

"vārṣṇeya" is a way to address Krishna, and it means "descendant of the Vrishni clan."

"jāyate" means "to be born" or "to arise."

"varṇasaṅkaraḥ" means "mixture of varnas," or "confusion of social order."

Translation

"Krishna, When vice prevails, The women of the house become corrupted."

And when women become corrupted, O descendants of the Vrishni clan, a mixture of castes will occur.

Annotative Translation

When a family's traditions disappear, men and women lose all forms of restraint.

In many cases, their behavior begins to become tainted by immorality.

As a result, sin becomes dominant, and spreads throughout society as a whole.

Moral values are treated like outdated formalities, and in the eyes of men and women, they lose their meaning.

They do not only fail to abide by the rules of morality and restraint, but they also cease to even try to understand them.

Furthermore, they ridicule and/or antagonize those who try to teach such a code of conduct.

In that state, the sacred law of marital fidelity, which is the root and foundation of social norms, loses its power in society.

When that ideal is lost, even the most virtuous women of the household will become corrupted and be defiled by the evil of adultery.

They have physical relationships with men from different castes.

Because your mother's caste is different from your father's caste, the child born from that union becomes a mixed-caste individual.

Thus, the purity of lineage that has been maintained from generation to generation is completely lost.