History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c28.s2.21

v2.c28.s2.21

All the smṛtis, purāṇas and the digests devote a great deal of space to the duties of a wife. It would be impossible to set them out in detail. A few striking passages alone will be cited. All are agreed that the foremost duty of a wife is to obey her husband and to honour him as her god. In the Śat. Br.¹³⁰⁶ princess Sukanyā when married to the old and decrepit sage Cyavana to mollify the sage who had been wronged by her brothers says 'I shall not forsake my husband, while he is alive, to whom my father gave me' (IV. 1. 5. 9). Śaṅkha-Likhita¹³⁰⁷ say 'a wife should not hate her husband even if he be impotent (or have swollen testicles), *patita* (guilty of mahāpātaka and so an outcast), devoid of a limb or diseased, since the husband is the god of women.' Manu declares (V. 154) 'a virtuous wife should serve her husband as if he were a god, whether he be of evil character, or lustful (loving another woman) or devoid of good qualities'. Yāj. I. 77 enjoins upon women 'this is the highest duty (dharma) of women that they should obey their husband's words; if he is guilty of some mortal sin, they should wait till he is purified (and thereafter be dependent on his words)'. The Rāmāyaṇa (Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa 24. 26-27) remarks 'the husband is the god and the master of the wife, while she is alive and she obtains the highest heaven by serving her husband.' The Mahābhārata very frequently harps upon the duties of wives.¹³⁰⁸ The Anuśāsana parva 146. 55 says 'the husband is the god of a woman, her (sole) relative, her goal'; the Āśvamedhikaparva 90. 51 declares 'the husband is the highest deity.' 'The father gives only what is limited, the brother and the son do the same; what woman would not worship the husband who gives what is unlimited or immeasurable!' (Śāntiparva 148. 6-7). The Matsyapurāṇa 210. 18 contains this last verse and adds 'the husband is the god for women and is their highest goal.' This idea of the wife's entire submission to the husband is voiced even by poets like Kālidāsa,¹³⁰⁹ who makes one of the pupils of Kaṇva say about Śakuntalā 'this is your wife, abandon her or accept her, since all-round domination of the husband over the wife is proper.' Manu V. 150-156, Yāj. I. 83-87, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 25. 2 ff, Vanaparva 233. 19-58 (Draupadī as the speaker), Anuśāsana 123 (Śāṇḍilī declares the conduct of virtuous wives), Veda-Vyāsa-smṛti II. 20-32 (wife's duties from morning till night), Vṛddha-Hārīta XI. 84 ff (wife's duties from morning), Sm. C. (vyavahāra section) p. 249 ff, Madanapārijāta pp. 192-195 and other *nibandhas* dwell at length upon the duties of the wife. A few of such duties may be indicated here.