Dharshiṇī
Dharshiṇī · dharshiṇī, “the woman who keeps company with three men”
Grammar: feminine noun. The text prints the name dharshiṇī, and the same woman is called dhṛshṇā and dhṛshṭā in the lines that follow.
Meaning: a woman who keeps company with three men.
In the scriptures: In the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, in the Sāvitrī Upākhyāna, in the account of the narakas that those who do pāpa reach, Yama names women by the number of men they keep company with. One who stays with one husband is a pativratā; one who goes with a second man is a kulaṭā; one who stays with three is a dharshiṇī; one who goes with four is a puṃścalī; one who stays with five is a veśyā; one who keeps company with six is a yugmī; and one who goes with more men is a mahāveśyā.
The brāhmaṇa who keeps company with a kulaṭā and the others goes to the naraka Avaṭoda. One who goes with a dhṛshṇā stays there four hundred years. After the torments of naraka, one who goes with a dhṛshṭā woman takes seven births as a crow. The dhṛshṇā herself goes to the naraka Śoshaṇa, “drying up” (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 31).
Related terms: Kulaṭā · Puṃścalī · Veśyā · Avaṭoda · Naraka
Sources
- Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 31