Not Coveting Another's Wife
The fifteenth chapter, பிறன்இல் விழையாமை — 'not desiring what is another's home.' After right conduct, Valluvar guards the household against the desire that most quickly wrecks it: longing for the spouse who belongs to another. Such longing, he says, is a folly never found in those who truly understand virtue and right living; of all who fall through desire, none is a greater fool than the one loitering at a neighbour's door, for he loses virtue, wealth, and — gripped by fear — even the pleasure he chased. To betray a trusting friend's home is to be, though living, no different from the dead; and however great a person is, that greatness comes to nothing if they enter another's home without weighing the wrong. Four evils — hatred, sin, fear, and undying disgrace — never leave such a person. The true householder is the one who does not covet another's spouse; not even to look with desire is, for the noble, the fullness of conduct and the greatest courage — and even someone who fails at every other virtue does well to keep this one restraint.
10 of 10 narratives drafted · all Tamil, Pope & Parimelazhagar sourced
பிறன்பொருளாள் பெட்டொழுகும் பேதைமை ஞாலத்து
அறம்பொருள் கண்டார்கண் இல்.
“Who laws of virtue and possession's rights have known, / Indulge no foolish love of her by right another's own.”
அறன்கடை நின்றாருள் எல்லாம் பிறன்கடை
நின்றாரின் பேதையார் இல்.
“No fools, of all that stand from virtue's pale shut out, / Like those who longing lurk their neighbour's gate without.”
விளிந்தாரின் வேறல்லர் மன்ற தெளிந்தார்இல்
தீமை புரிந்தொழுகு வார்.
“They're numbered with the dead, e'en while they live, -how otherwise? / With wife of sure confiding friend who evil things devise.”
எனைத்துணையர் ஆயினும் என்னாம் தினைத்துணையும்
தேரான் பிறனில் புகல்.
“How great soe'er they be, what gain have they of life, / Who, not a whit reflecting, seek a neighbour's wife.”
எளிதென இல்லிறப்பான் எய்தும் எஞ்ஞான்றும்
விளியாது நிற்கும் பழி.
“'Mere trifle!' saying thus, invades the home, so he ensures / A gain of guilt that deathless aye endures.”
பகைபாவம் அச்சம் பழியென நான்கும்
இகவாவாம் இல்லிறப்பான் கண்.
“Who home invades, from him pass nevermore, / Hatred and sin, fear, foul disgrace; these four.”
அறனியலான் இல்வாழ்வான் என்பான் பிறனியலாள்
பெண்மை நயவாதவன்.
“Who sees the wife, another's own, with no desiring eye, / In sure domestic bliss he dwelleth ever virtuously.”
பிறன்மனை நோக்காத பேராண்மை சான்றோர்க்கு
அறனொன்றோ ஆன்ற ஒழுக்கு.
“Manly excellence, that looks not on another's wife, / Is not virtue merely, 'tis full 'propriety' of life.”
நலக்குரியார் யாரெனின் நாமநீர் வைப்பின்
பிறர்க்குரியாள் தோள்தோயா தார்.
“Who 're good indeed, on earth begirt by ocean's gruesome tide? / The men who touch not her that is another's bride.”
அறன்வரையான் அல்லசெயினும் பிறன்வரையாள்
பெண்மை நயவாமை நன்று.
“Though virtue's bounds he pass, and evil deeds hath wrought; / At least, 'tis good if neighbour's wife he covet not.”