A WARNING

The wife is generally treated with great consideration in Kural. But the following verses deprecate wife-rule as a certain cause of weakness and disgrace for rulers and men of action. Feminists should not be upset by things said in so old a book as Kural. Wife-domineered statesmen hardly command respect or confidence even in modern times. What is condemned here is the domination of the husband's judgment by the wife, and not love and mutual respect between husband and wife. The first two verses condemn excessive attachment, which curbs the heroism and the spirit of adventure, on which depends the success of men of action.

Inordinate attachment to one's wife is not only an impediment to the attainment of spirituality. Even in the -world of action it is to be avoided.

Again, he who neglects his duties on account of his attachment to his wife will find himself overwhelmed by public scandal.

Such attachment does not matter in the case of insignificant men, but becomes a scandal in men holding public positions.

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