(22)
Section V.
Woman.
94.
The beauty of the cuckoo is its voice; of a woman, her devotedness (to her husband); the beauty of the uncomely is knowledge; that of hermits, forbearance.[1]
95.
Women's wealth is beauty, learning that of men; the wealth of priests is virtue, strength that of kings.
96.
Hermits, if lean, are becoming; becoming are quadrupeds if corpulent; men, being learned, are becoming; becoming are women having husbands.
97.
A good musician is ruined in five days, an archer in seven, a good wife in a month, a pupil in half a month.
98.
A buffalo delights in mud, a duck in a pond; a woman delights in a husband, a priest in the law.
99.
One should praise food after digestion, a wife when she has passed her prime, a warrior on his return from battle, and corn when it is brought home.
100.
A woman who has had two or three husbands, a priest
- ↑ This is stanza 212 of the Mitralâbha section of the Hitopadeśa.
