Tirukural

CHAPTER 15

Not Coveting Another’s Wife

141

Those who know virtue’s laws and marital rights never indulge in the folly of desiring another man’s wife.§

142

Among those who stand outside virtue, there is no greater fool than he who stands with a lustful heart outside another’s gate.§

143

No different from the dead are those who wickedly desire the wife of a friend.§

144

Though a man’s measure be mountainous, what good is it if, without the minutest concern, he takes another’s wife?§

145

A man who seduces another man’s wife, knowing she is easy, suffers a shame that neither dies nor diminishes.§

146

Hatred, sin, fear and disgrace—these four never forsake the man who commits adultery.§

147

He is decreed a worthy householder who holds no desire for the womanly charms of another’s wife.§

148

The chivalry that does not look upon another’s wife is not mere virtue—it is saintly conduct.§

149

In a world encircled by the awesome sea, to whom do good things belong? To men never impassioned to caress a married woman.§

150

Though a man deserts virtue and indulges in vice, he keeps some decency by not wanting another’s wife’s womanliness.§