Then she arrayed her in heavenly robes and jewels which remained ever new, unsullied and lustrous. In sweet and gentle accents the saintly woman then began to discourse on wifely duty, making her an occasion for such discourse;

‘Listen, O princess; mother, father and brother are all friendly helpers in a limited degree; but a husband, Sita, is an unlimited blessing; and vile is the woman who refuses to serve him.

Fortitude, piety, a friend and a wife – these four are tested only in time of adversity. Though her lord be old, sick, dull-headed, indigent, blind, deaf, bad-tempered or utterly wretched.

- yet if his wife treats him with disrespect, she shall suffer all the torments of hell. To be devoted in thought and word and deed to her husband’s feet is her only religious duty, her only vow and her only guiding rule (for behaviour).

There are in the world four grades of faithful wives, so declare the Vedas, the Puranas and all the saints. The best are firmly convinced in their hearts that no other man exists in this world even in a dream.

The next in order regard another’s husband as their own brother, father or son. She who is restrained by consideration of her duty or by the thought of her family’s honour is said in the Vedas to be a woman of low character.

And reckon that woman the very lowest of all in the world whom fear alone restrains and want of opportunity. The woman who deceives her husband and loves a paramour is cast for a hundred aeons into the depths of the lowest hell.