Shloka 59
Adhyaya 69 — The King’s Neglect of His Wife and the Restoration of Dharma
पत्नीानुकूलया भाव्यं यथाशीलेऽपि भर्तरि ।
दुःशीलापि तथा भार्या पोषणीयाऽऽ नरेश्वर ॥
patnyānukūlayā bhāvyaṃ yathāśīle 'pi bhartari | duḥśīlāpi tathā bhāryā poṣaṇīyā nareśvara ||
夫自身の振る舞いがいかなるものであれ、妻にとって好ましいように身を処すべきである。同様に、妻が素行よからぬとしても、彼女を扶養し守らねばならぬ、人々の主よ。
FAQs
The verse teaches responsibility over convenience: marriage entails obligations of support and accommodation. Even when relational difficulties exist, abandonment is not endorsed as the dharmic solution.
Dharma/ācāra teaching placed within Manvantara narrative. It functions as normative social ethics rather than genealogical or cosmological material.
Supporting the ‘difficult’ spouse symbolizes sustaining one’s commitments despite the mind’s likes/dislikes—an inner tapas that stabilizes character and prevents dharma from becoming mood-dependent.