[300] Then indeed, sirs, the bird Kuṇāla said this to that spotted cuckoo Puṇṇamukha when he had risen from his illness, being not long recovered from sickness:
"I have seen, friend Puṇṇamukha, Kaṇhā of two fathers, who, having five husbands, fixed her mind (citta) upon a sixth man — namely, upon a headless trunk (kabandha) of a man, a cripple.
And on this point there is, further, this saying:
'There were Ajjuna, Nakula, Bhīmasena,
Yudhiṭṭhila, and Sahadeva the king;
passing over these, her five husbands,
the woman did evil with a hunchbacked dwarf.'
"I have seen, friend Puṇṇamukha, the female ascetic (samaṇī) named Pañcatapāvī, who, dwelling in the midst of a charnel ground and putting off her food to every fourth mealtime, did evil with a drunken rogue. I have seen, friend Puṇṇamukha, the queen named Kākavatī, who, dwelling in the midst of the ocean as the wife of Venateyya, did evil with Naṭakuvera. I have seen, friend Puṇṇamukha, the lovely-haired one named Kuruṅgadevī, who, loving Eḷakakumāra, did evil with Chaḷaṅgakumāra and with the hired apprentice Dhanantevāsī. And thus indeed have I known this: the mother of Brahmadatta, forsaking the King of Kosala, did evil with Pañcālacaṇḍa.
'These and others too have wrought evil;
therefore I would neither trust nor praise women.
Even as the earth, the world's ground, the bearer of riches,
is alike in feeling toward one and all, the support of them all,
all-enduring, unquivering, unshakable —
even so are women: a man should put no trust in them.
Even as a lion, a feeder on blood and flesh,
a beast of prey, armed with five weapons, utterly ferocious,
that devours by main force, delighting in harming others —
even so are women: a man should put no trust in them.'
"Truly, good friend Puṇṇamukha, these are not 'courtesans', 'women', 'women to be gone to'; nor indeed are these named 'wantons' (bandhakī): 'slayers' (vadhikā) is their name — they, namely, who are called courtesans, women, women to be gone to. They are braided-haired like robbers; tainted with poison like [drugged] liquor; boastful of speech like a trader; twisting like an antelope's horn; double-tongued like a snake; covered over like a pit; hard to fill like the abyss (pātāla); hard to satisfy like a demoness (rakkhasī); carrying off once for all like Yama; all-devouring like fire; sweeping all away like a river; faring wherever they wish like the wind; making no distinction like Mount Neru; ever bearing fruit like a poison-tree.
And on this point there is, further, this saying:
'Like a robber, like the poison-tainted [draught],
like a trader given to boasting,
twisting like an antelope's horn,
double-tongued like a snake,
covered over like a pit, hard to fill like the abyss,
hard to satisfy like a demoness,
carrying off once for all like Yama,
like fire, like the river's flood,
like the wind faring at its will,
undiscriminating like Neru,
like the poison-tree ever bearing fruit —
women, who make an end of treasures,
destroy the wealth within the house.'"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.