streenaam cha chittam purushasya bhaagyam...

अश्वप्रयाणांबुदगर्ज्जितं च स्त्रीणां च चित्तम् पुरुषस्य भाग्यम्।

अवर्षणं प्यतिवर्षणं च देवो न जानाति कुतो मनुष्यः॥

नीतिसारे॥।

aśvaprayāṇāṁbudagarjjitam ca strīṇām ca cittam puruṣasya bhāgyam|

avarṣaṇam cāpyativarṣaṇam ca devo na jānāti kuto manuṣyaḥ||

nītisāre|||

अश्वप्रयाणम् the wayward movements of a horse अम्बुदगर्ज्जितं the roars of a cloud स्त्रीणां चित्तं the working of a female mind पुरुषस्य भाग्यं the luck of a man अवर्षणं lack of rain अतिवर्षणं excessive downpour च अपि देवः न जानाति the gods too do not know मनुष्यः कुतः.. How can a man know?

The above slokam is from Neetisaaram.. a work in Malayalam.. containing compilation of many pithy sayings.. The small book and the oral tradition is in circulation in Kerala for centuries.. Obviously the book is just an anthology of quotes from various sources. Neither the one who compiles it nor the ones who memorized the contents ever seemed bothered about the identify of the author.. But each quote is a nugget of gold in itself..

Meaning of the slokam is

-----------------------------

No one can ever be sure as to when the horse he rides may turn wayward.. throwing the rider off the saddle.. eternal vigil is all that one can have

The clouds gather in the sky and suddenly we hear roars from the sky..

We really do not know why there is a roar.. and we cannot even guess what would be the outcome of such loud show..

Females among us humans appear to be richly endowed with the capacity to hold on to their thoughts and moods without allowing others to know what really is in their mind..Their minds are ominously enigmatic.

And a wrong reading of such minds usually proves disastrous to the men among us..

A man may be just whiling away his time on nothing substantial, but suddenly through an unexpected windfall, his life may change for the better or sometimes, for the worse.

We Indians depend on agriculture for our livelihood, and rain plays a major role in our fortunes.. Most of our prayers and dreams move around the rains, rains coming in every season, every year..

But we do not know when there will be excessive rain.. or when there will be paucity of rain..

The writer wonders that the vagaries of life on the above issues are puzzles even for God.. So the human beings with their limitations can never speculate on these matters..

Streenaam Cha Chittam Purushasya Bhaagyam.. is a very frequently quoted line..