She
is a true wife who hath borne a son. She is a true wife whose heart is
devoted to her lord. She is a true wife who knoweth none but her lord.
The wife is a man's half. The wife is the first of friends. The wife is
the root of religion, profit, and desire. The wife is the root of
salvation. They that have wives can perform religious acts. They that
have wives can lead domestic lives. They that have wives have the means
to be cheerful. They that have wives can achieve good fortune.
Sweet-speeched wives are friends on occasions of joy. They are as
fathers on occasions of religious acts. They are mothers in sickness and
woe. Even in the deep woods to a traveller a wife is his refreshment and
solace. He that hath a wife is trusted by all. A wife, therefore, is
one's most valuable possession. Even when the husband leaving this world
goeth into the region of Yama, it is the devoted wife that accompanies
him thither. A wife going before waits for the husband. But if the
husband goeth before, the chaste wife followeth close. For these
reasons, O king, doth marriage exist. The husband enjoyeth the
companionship of the wife both in this and in the other worlds. It hath
been said by learned persons that one is himself born as one's son.
Therefore, a man whose wife hath borne a son should look upon her as his
mother. Beholding the face of the son one hath begotten upon his wife,
like his own face in a mirror, one feeleth as happy as a virtuous man,
on attaining to heaven.
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