9.32 However low their birth Krishna speaks
मां हि पार्थ व्यपाश्रित्य येऽपि स्युः पापयोनयः
स्त्रियो वैश्यास्तथा शूद्रास्तेऽपि यान्ति परां गतिम्
māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśhritya ye ’pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
striyo vaiśhyās tathā śhūdrās te ’pi yānti parāṁ gatim
For all who take refuge in me, son of Pritha — however low their birth, women, merchants, labourers — reach the highest goal.
Explanation
However low their birth, women, merchants, labourers.
The verse lists, by the conventions of its own time, exactly the people that time excluded — and says all of them reach the highest goal.
It is worth reading it as its first hearers would have. The categories are named in order to be overruled, which is the same work 5.18 does by putting the outcast beside the brahmin.
Going further
Word by word
- mām
- in me
- hi
- certainly
- pārtha
- Arjun, the son of Pritha
- vyapāśhritya
- take refuge
- ye
- who
- api
- even
- syuḥ
- may be
- pāpa yonayaḥ
- of low birth
- striyaḥ
- women
- vaiśhyāḥ
- mercantile people
- tathā
- and
- śhūdrāḥ
- manual workers
- te api
- even they
- yānti
- go
- parām
- the supreme
- gatim
- destination
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However low their birth, women, merchants, labourers — all reach the highest goal.
The verse is listing, by the conventions of its own time, the people held to be excluded, and including them. It sits three verses after 9.30 and makes the same move: the door is described as wider than the surrounding culture assumed. It is worth reading alongside 5.18 rather than in isolation.