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Mahānirvāṇa Tantra cover

॥ श्री ॥tantraFor reading

Mahānirvāṇa Tantra 11.52

Traditional

Ullāsas
14
Verses
2517
Minutes
1258
Level
advanced

Ullāsa 11 · Verse 52

पत्नीव्यभिचारप्रामाणाभावे पतिकर्त्तव्यम्The husband's duty when a wife's infidelity cannot be proved

Verse 52

प्रमाणे यद्यशक्तः स्यात् दयितोपपतेः पतिः । त्यक्त्वा तां पोषयेद् ग्रासैस्तिष्ठेच्चेत् पतिशासने ॥ ५२ ॥

pramāṇē yadyaśaktaḥ syāt dayitōpapatēḥ patiḥ | tyaktvā tāṁ pōṣayēd grāsaistiṣṭhēccēt patiśāsanē || 52 ||

Translation

If the husband cannot prove his wife's lover, he should give her up but support her with food, if she stays under his rule.

Word by word

pramāṇē
in proving
yadi
if
aśaktaḥ
(aśaktaḥ) unable
syāt
is
dayitā
of the wife
upapatēḥ
(upapateḥ) the lover
patiḥ
(patiḥ) the husband
tyaktvā
giving up
tāṁ
her
pōṣayēd
(poṣayet) should support
grāsaiḥ
(grāsaiḥ) with food
tiṣṭhēt
stays
cēt
if
pati
of the husband
śāsanē
under the rule

Meaning

Suspicion alone does not allow casting a wife out unsupported.

Commentary

Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated

Now he says that abandonment and maintenance are to be ordered for a woman whose infidelity is suspected but whose husband cannot prove the lover, with "pramāṇe" and the rest. If the husband is unable to prove the wife's lover, then, giving up that wife, if she stays under the husband's rule, does not disobey the husband's command, he should support her with mouthfuls of food.