Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.44.7
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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adharmaḥ
—
irreligion, breach of dharma
From a- (non) + dharma. The structural opposite of the principle that holds the world. The women diagnose the assembly with one word — and in the Bhāgavatam, naming adharma is itself an act of dharma.
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rāja - sabhā
—
royal assembly
Compound: rāja (king) + sabhā (court). The same institution that failed Draupadī. The Bhāgavatam keeps pointing at the rāja-sabhā as a site of moral cowardice — and the king's gaze as its central rot.
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anvicchanti
—
they also desire (to see it)
Plural present of anu + √iṣ. The verb 'to follow-after-desire' — the courtiers' eyes mirror the king's. Adharma travels along anvicchā, the contagious wanting that takes the shape of the strongest man in the room.
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bata
—
alas
An exclamation of lament. The women's grammar carries the rasa: not analysis, not protest — lament. Gauḍīyas note that śoka (lament) in the mouth of bhaktas is itself a form of prayer.
The idea the ladies are expressing is that even if the King somehow wanted to see such an unfair match, why should the respectable members of the assembly also desire to see it? These feelings are natural. Even nowadays, if in a public place we find a violent fight going on between a very strong, large person and a weaker, smaller person, we are aroused to indignation. Compassionate women are especially offended and enraged by such unfair violence.
The discussion of the women is described in ten verses. If the king sees a fight between young boys and strong adults he should stop it. When the spectators see that the king is watching they follow suit and simply watch. The king desires to watch and they imitate him.
Ten verses describe what they said. Since it was the king’s assembly, it should have been able to discern dharma. The others desire to see this since the king watches. Bata indicates lamentation.
The king watches; the assembly watches because the king watches. Adharma propagates like a yawn through a tired court — one face permits it, then the next, then the next. The women of Mathurā refuse to yawn.
When Yudhiṣṭhira was being stripped at the dice match in the Kuru sabhā, every elder — Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Kṛpa — looked away. Only Vidura stood up and named the adharma aloud, and was driven from the hall for it.
The Mathurā women do what Vidura did: they refuse the sabhā's silence. Gauḍīyas read both episodes as proving the same point — when a king watches adharma without correcting it, the dharma of the realm passes to whichever lone voice will speak.
My note
Source: vedabase.io