6.0 Good Qualities of a wife

                                                              6.0 Good Qualities of a wife

Question:

What are the good qualities that a wife should have?

Answer:

A woman who maintains her family status, and manages her household

well within her husband’s resources, is an ideal wife.                       (Couplet – 51)

What greater treasure can there be, than a woman who has the

abiding strength of chastity.                                                                (Couplet – 54)

One who never falters in protecting herself, while tending to her

husband, and keeping the good name of the family, is an ideal wife. (Couplet–56)

மனைக்தக்க மாண்புடையள் ஆகித்தற் கொண்டான்

வளத்தக்காள் வாழ்க்கைத் துணை.                                                         (குறள் – 51)

பெண்ணின் பெருந்தக்க யாவுள கற்பென்னும்

திண்மைஉண் டாகப் பெறின்.                                                                (குறள் – 54)

தற்காத்துத் தற்கொண்டாற் பேணித் தகைசான்ற

சொற்காத்துச் சோர்விலாள் பெண்.                                                        (குறள் – 56)

 

Explanation:

Managing a household and upholding the family’s reputation is the joint responsibility of the husband and the wife.  Also, a wife and her husband should take care of themselves and other members of the family. So, what is mentioned as the virtue for a wife equally apples to a husband also. Though it is a joint responsibility, in the past, male members have successfully shifted the responsibilities to their spouses because they were at home and did not go to work outside their homes. These days, in many families both the husband and the wife work. So, the responsibilities must be shared between the husband and the wife.  Tamil society has always emphasized chastity as the most significant quality of women, and it was not considered so, for men. In the past, men’s infidelity was often condoned instead of being condemned. These days, chastity is considered the right conduct for both sexes.