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the consequence. When a wife is degraded the family
is degraded and the defeat of the family brings suffer-
ing to the children. When this happens the traditions
of the elders and the previous generations are all lost.
With the loss of tradition, dharma suffers, and when
dharma suffers, the suffering of the soul follows, with
the result that everything is finally lost.
Always be sweet to your wife
Besides giving her security and protecting her, it is
the duty,. of the husband to be kind, polite and_sweet to
his wire. AccorairffiVidur it
irthe dutir
of a: hustand
at all times to treat his wife with equality, to utter kind
words and to be polite to her. (5/38/10). Emphasis has
also been laid on the fact that a husband should never
argue with his wife, or utter unkind words, or be harsh.
Such persons are said to end in hell. (5/37/3).
Wife to be honoured
It is not sufficient just to respect a wife; it is equally
important to treat her well and to give her the honour
that she rightly deserves. Women are worthy of wor-
ship. They provide the beauty in the house (Maha-
bharata 5/35/10). Bhishma says, "Women are worthy
of praise. 0 men, do honour them. It is through
women that we accomplish the desire of dharma, love
and a son." The birth of a child, its upbringing and
its maturing are all dependent on the wife. Therefore,
she has to be honoured and respected for success to be
attained.
6—,
Manu says that where women are honoured the
hole family attains a brightness. Where the women
are not respected, the whole family is in darkness.
When a woman is not treated well and is not happy,
the future of their child is affected. To make a marriage
successful it is the duty of the husband to provide all