Skandapurana 4.4.16.3
English (machine translation) 4.4.16.3
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4.4.16.3
This alone is the worship of the gods: she should not transgress her husband's word. / Whether he is impotent, in misery, diseased, or even old,
prosperous or destitute, she should never transgress her husband alone. / Always rejoicing when he is pleased, downcast when her beloved is downcast,
she, the virtuous woman, should be of one uniform nature both in prosperity and in adversity. / Even upon the exhaustion of clarified butter, salt, oil, and the like, a devoted wife
should not say to her husband, 'There is none,' nor should she burden him with hardships. / A woman desirous of bathing in sacred waters should drink the water that washed her husband's feet;
far beyond even Śaṃkara or Viṣṇu, her husband alone is superior for a woman. / She who undertakes vows, fasts, and observances by transgressing her husband
steals the life span of her husband, and when dead, goes to hell. / The woman who, prone to anger, retorts back when spoken to,
is born as a bitch in a village or a female jackal in a deserted forest. / For of women this one supreme observance is declared:
having worshipped the feet of her husband, she should eat with firm resolve. / She should not sit upon an elevated seat, nor should she frequent the houses of strangers;
words that cause shame are never to be spoken [by her].
Slander must not be uttered; dispute she should shun from afar. / In the presence of elders she should never speak loudly or laugh.
The foolish woman who, abandoning her husband, wanders about in secret, / is born as a cruel female owl living in a hollow of a tree.
If, when struck, she desires to strike back, she becomes a tigress or a female cat; / and she who casts sidelong glances at another man becomes squint-eyed.
She who, abandoning her husband, eats sweet foods alone, / becomes an inhabitant of a village, a bat feeding on canine feces.
She who, snorting 'humph,' speaks an unpleasant word, indeed becomes dumb; / she who is constantly envious of a co-wife becomes wretched time and time again.
She who, disregarding the sight of her husband, looks at someone else, / becomes one-eyed, averted of face, and deformed.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit