The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar/Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
NON-DESIRING OF ANOTHER MAN'S WIFE
141. Behold the men whose eyes are turned towards righteousness and towards wealth: they commit not the folly of desiring another man's wife.
142. Among those that have fallen from virtue there is no greater fool than he that standeth at his neighbour's threshold.
143. Verily they are in the jaws of death who invade the home of an unsuspecting friend.
144. Let a man be ever so great : what availeth it all if he committeth adultery without thinking ever so little of the shame that floweth therefrom?
145. Behold the man who hangeth on to his neighbour's wife because she is accessible: his name is sullied for ever.
146. The adulterer knoweth no respite from four things, hatred, sin, fear, and shame.
147. He is the righteous householder who careth not for the charms of his neighbour's wife.
148. Behold the high-souled man that looketh not on another's wife: he is more than righteous : he is saintly.
149. Who on earth deserve all the good things of the world ? It is they who clasp not the arms of her who belongeth to another.
150. Though thou shouldst transgress and yield to every other sin, it were well for thee if thou desire not thy neighbour's wife.
