Idioms.

Outsiders (wives from other families) arrive and end up separating blood brothers.

Failing or losing oneself, one takes it out by beating the daughter-in-law.

The father wears himself out working so that his daughter may settle comfortably in her home.

What use is adornment and makeup for the wives of blind men?

The sister-in-law is a younger mother-in-law.

The sister-in-law may be just one foot tall, but she is enough for her brother's wife.

May God save us from a camel's grip and a woman's cunning.

Only those women are true queens who are favored and loved by their husbands.

If there were only one Friday, I would gladly sacrifice my son.

Neither a tumor nor a daughter has eyes.

Seven wives for one single coin.

One daughter attracts ten prospective sons-in-law.

Twelve women and one man, only then is a complete testimony formed.

Being childless is better than one having a single child because one can marry again with a wife who bears no children.

A woman of moral laxity can manage to survive in a marriage, but a foul-mouthed woman cannot.

A brother's hungry stomach eventually gets filled, but a sister's burnt wound never heals.

A sister looks up to her brother for support, even if he is blind.

A brother is a strong iron wall of protection for sisters; a father is a cool shadow for daughters; a mother is a comb and mirror for girls.

See the brother and marry his sister.

An old woman is the devil's aunt.

May an old man's wife not die, and may a child's mother not die. Reflects rural social structures where elderly men and young children rely entirely on domestic caregiving from their mothers/wives.

A husband's poor deeds bring insult and dishonor upon himself.

A wife's death is like a blow to the elbow: painful at first, but quickly forgotten.

Your husband and mine together create an army.

Peaches are no real fruit; a wife's sister's husband is no real relative.

When one starts dancing in public, why wear a veil?

That which lacks luster is no diamond; she who lacks beauty/allure is no true woman.

The home whose primary homemaker/master is absent ceases to be a true home.

She whom the husband favors is the true wedded bride.

A woman's skill is proven in the high pasture; a man's is proven in travel.

A shy woman is worth a hundred thousand; a shy man is worth a blade of grass.

A girl should be gentle like a deer, a boy should be brave like a lion.

She follows anyone who engages her in smooth talk.

Feed your wife like a goat and she will praise your name to everyone.

A woman's intellect lies under her heel.

The reins/control of a woman are in a man's hands.

A woman's river is full, yet it does not flow.

A woman's mind/understanding is narrow.

A woman is the nest/abode of Satan.

The wife is a shoe for the foot.

Women are for sitting at home, men are for the public council (dewan).

Women are for talking, men are for action.

A daughter is like a flower; one day someone will come and pick her away.

A female child gets her food only by luck/destiny.

A female child is for the house; a male child is for outings and the public sphere.

A female child is like an oily leather skin container.

A woman is like dry grass that even a cow won't eat; a man is a fly sitting proudly on a golden turban.

A woman is like a delicate stalk; if you try to force it straight, it breaks.

Half a wife was enough.

A corrupt/stubborn woman cannot be made good by mere advice.

When a woman becomes a widow, she becomes like a burnt object.

A woman is a friend of the devil.

Jutta, misfortune has struck you! A daughter was born in your home.

The causes of all strife are three: Woman, Wealth, and Land.

He who follows the advice of his wife is destined to suffer.

Girls are like weeds: they grow everywhere and quickly.

As is the mother's milk, so is the child's intellect and character.

Only the owner can make his monkey dance (or: only the husband should handle his wife).

As soon as a girl steps down from her swing, marry her off.

When my husband rebukes me, only then do I feel lively/reinvigorated.

A beautiful wife and a border fort are the root of all conflicts.

The husband is a protective shadow over the wife's head.

Marrying a man is easy; maintaining a home is difficult.

A donkey is no true livestock; a son-in-law is no true relative.

Call a donkey "Laila" and she refuses to eat grass.

Marry the daughter of a rich man; buy the cow of a poor man.

A daughter is trash on someone else's dunghill.

Another man's wife looks beautiful in one's eyes.

The world cannot exist without a beloved.

A mother's authority is limited to the cooking pot.

A man's good or bad fortune depends on his wife.

A beggar husband is better for a woman than living with a brother who is a king.

Black hair marks a daughter or daughter-in-law; grey hair marks a mother or mother-in-law.

A poor man's wife is the sister-in-law of the whole village.

A mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are like a dog and a cat.

A mother-in-law dislikes seeing the wet hair of her daughter-in-law.

A cheap ten-rupee bride will end up wetting the wedding bed.

Sweet is the name of sons, yet they rarely live up to every expectation.

A shrewish woman lives for a hundred years.

A man's honor resides between the legs of his woman.

A man's character is judged by his wife's conduct and home management.

Look at a man's deeds, not his physical height or stature.

One can compete in anything except in bearing a male child.

In the dark of night, all women are alike.

Hurt by a rock on the mountain, he came home to break the grinding stone.

A father of daughters is never at peace.

A bride's silence indicates her consent.

The biggest lie in the world is that three women sat together quietly.

Let me be a guest in my father's home, not its permanent host.

The daughter-in-law dropped a bit of dough, giving the mother-in-law a reason to fight.

Neither the earth nor a Pashtun woman should raise their voice.

In a hen-pecked man's house, a guest acts as the host.

From a good husband hide half your secrets; from a bad husband hide them all.

Listen to women, but do not obey them.

Listen to a woman's words through one ear and throw them out the other.

Women's talk breeds conflicts and strife.

Women's mouths have no locks.

Beneath every single hair of a woman lie a hundred trickeries.

There are no shrines dedicated to female saints.

The more you engage women in conversation, the more authority you lose over them.

A loss of female honor cannot be restored through apologies or reparations.

A woman's vision does not extend beyond the edge of the village.

A woman's work is always flawed.

Women have no native village of their own.

A woman's mind changes as quickly as winter wind.

A girl's shadow ultimately falls on another man's head.

A woman's tongue measures twenty meters.

A woman's hair is long, but her tongue is even longer.

A field without a fence is vulnerable to wandering livestock.

Keep household matters inside and external matters outside.

Praise a maiden too much and she will elope.

A widow's son acts as her protector and husband figure.

The intellect of one Pashtun man equals nine Pashtun women, and one Pashtun woman equals nine non-Pashtuns.

The taller the woman, the lesser her intellect.

Ensure the mother of two feet (human) is good, and the father of four feet (livestock) is good.

A traveling donkey is better than a homebound man.

A second husband is like a knee patch.

When two women sit together, they hold the hair of a third woman.

As a daughter grows up, her personal household expenses and dowry requirements grow alongside her.

A daughter is like an unwelcome or temporary guest who must inevitably depart for another household.

Better that a daughter dies at birth so that her lifelong hardships and grief never occur.

A daughter is like a chinaberry (dharaik) tree, while a son is like a mango tree. (Dharaik tree grows up very quickly while the mango tree takes a longer time to mature.)

A son-in-law is what you get from giving away your daughter. In someways, the ultimate measure of a daughter's worth and destiny.

The son-in-law is more precious than a daughter.

The house of those who have daughters is always filled with worry and ongoing anxieties.

Refers to a daughter prematurely bringing incomplete burdens or domestic responsibilities right from childhood/cradle.

No one considers their own daughter bad, and no one considers their daughter-in-law good.

If a daughter gets used to laughter (casual gossip) and if a son gets used to spending outside home, their future is likely ruined

A daughter should neither die while laughing (bringing public scandal) nor while settled in her home (suffering silently in marriage).

The birth of daughters is met with immediate collective sighs and systemic worries.

A mother of daughters rules like a queen when they are young, but must draw water herself in old age once they marry away.

Daughters are like migratory cranes, forever destined to depart for foreign lands.

An angry wife is like a female jackal

A wife and a young child are best managed and cared for when kept directly before one's eyes.

A cunning woman can act like a double-edged knife, cutting both ways if mishandled.

A man excessively submissive to his wife constantly faces humiliation.

An exceptionally beautiful wife becomes a source of endless anxiety, jealousy, and danger to life.

Getting a malicious wife is an unescapable, unseen penalty; she cannot be killed, nor loved, acting as a divine tax.

Never share critical, high-stakes secrets with a woman because they can’t keep on

When a woman provokes another woman, even God yields to the resulting intense conflict.

Marrying a woman brings immediate financial, emotional, and social entanglements.

An idle woman becomes overly sharp-tongued, nitpicky, and prone to creating mischief.

A wife checks a man's pocket for money, whereas a mother checks his stomach for hunger.

A woman is like a double-edged sword.

A woman is always going out and is very gullible because she believes anyone’s advice

Women love to talk. So, even if they go to a place of mourning, they find a way to engage in gossip.

When the woman left, even the quilt/bedding went with her (everything fell apart).

A traditional cynical folk claim that women are unfaithful by nature.

A traditional patriarchal adage claiming a woman's intellect lags behind her heels.

If a man picks arguments with women, he should pray for the safety of his ears.

A man who spends all his time sitting among women comes to be called effeminate or henpecked.

Society turns a deaf ear to a destitute woman, whereas orphans still elicit some sympathy.

The house of an unprotected widow (or a prostitute) can become a brothel

A widowed or destitute woman often faces societal slander and public mockery.

May God protect men from the wiles of women.

Place no trust in a bright day, shaking wood, or a laughing woman.

Sons divide the estate; daughters divide the grief.

I have a tongue in my mouth, but cotton covers it.

I view my wife's sister's husband as no better than a farm bull.

A son-in-law is a snake hidden up your sleeve.

A son acts as his father's supporting shoulders.

With hair tied up on the head and a baby in arms, a mother fears nothing and marches forward carelessly.

God has granted men natural authority over women.

Men build the house; women turn it into a home.

When a man turns sixty, he is fit to be shot.

Even a young man is the head of his household.

In hardship, brothers stand like riding camels; in happiness, one enjoys with a wife.

Communal land is like a virgin girl; whoever tills it first owns it.

He who marries a wealthy woman turns himself into her servant.

Though lawful in religion, it should remain hidden from public view.

No need to arm an unruly son, and no need to adorn an unruly daughter.

Looks like a witch, but puts on the temperament of a fairy.

Keep the bread basket full, whether with barley or wheat.

Where the devil cannot go himself, he sends an old woman.

Let there be four sons, even if they are plain.

Women and wine make a man lose his senses.

Man for the open field; woman for the domestic hearth.

A woman fights her battle in childbed; a man fights his on the battlefield.

Win a woman's favor through flattery and a plant through ash fertilizer.

A poor man's wife is treated as everyone's sister-in-law (approachable/exploitable by all).

Only a mother understands her mute child's unspoken words.

Backing out of one's word is not the trait of real men.

A daughter is cherished, yet she brings endless worries.

A daughter belongs to someone else's house.

A daughter is a basket of shame; hand her over to another as soon as possible.

A daughter is her mother's helping hands and wings.

When a daughter demands her inheritance, she forfeits her status as a daughter.

The daughter steals; the mother acts as master mind.

Better (for a woman) to make a large block of butter than to speak big words.

Sacrifice wealth for life; sacrifice life for honor and women.

Be a man

If a man wanders, he prospers/gains exposure; if a woman wanders, she forgets (strays into ruin).

A man's word and the early morning thunder never go to waste.

A man's word and the wheels of a moving vehicle always move forward.

Consider him a true man who speaks the truth face-to-face.

A soft-spoken woman invites flirting / flirts with others.

A pearl leaf is enough space for a husband and wife.

Flies, fish, and fickle women, all three are unpredictable and unreliable by nature.

A new bride is pampered for nine days, put to work by day ten, and by day eleven she is relegated to the hearth.

An overly pampered daughter makes a poor daughter-in-law.

An unskilled woman uses an excessively long thread.

A male son is the peg to which a woman anchors her home.

A male becomes a complete man only upon marriage.

A son born without labor pain will be disobedient, and a servant bought free will be disloyal.

A brave man conquers mountain peaks; a coward beats his wife.

A new shoe and a new bride both cause discomfort until one adapts to them.

In Hazara, bread is expensive and women are cheap.

A boy playing with girls grows horns; a girl playing with boys grows a tail.

A mother has two days of pure joy: bearing a son and bringing home his bride.

When God wants to humble a proud man, He grants him daughters.

Even a lizard may court a widow.

Without rhyme or reason, the lady went and sat on the throne

An idle woman's mind becomes a spinning wheel for the devil's mischief.

An idle woman avoids actual household work and instead contents herself with just chatting with guests.

Go beyond London for all I care; my sons are grown now.

You use me sexually, yet you laugh at my body!

A daughter shares deeply in both her parents' grief and joy.

She holds power over me because she is the mother of six sons.

Every household needs at least one fierce/mad man.

A man with only one wife is practically a widower.

A single theft does not define a man as a permanent thief.

Mothers of sons possess immense courage as they are backed by their sons.

A Pashtun home without a watchdog and a fierce man is no real home.

A Pashtun cannot sleep soundly in his son-in-law's house.

The stool/chair may shake, but the stubborn daughter-in-law will not budge.

Even the cat claims ownership of a vagina!

Humble yourself to dust today to see a bright tomorrow.

A young man is valuable even if made of straw.

He who curses another's mother invites curses upon his own.

Beauty fades, but grievances persist.

The cobbler's wife wears broken shoes.

Little beauty, yet endless pretension.

to wear bangles (implying cowardice) from a man

A quiet, silent woman efficiently manages household tasks.

When the kid is born, the mother goat's market value decreases.

The mother feeds her child only when he cries.

When she smiles, she is caught.

What God wills happens, and what a woman sets her mind to happens.

When the lower grinding stone moves on its own, know something is wrong.

When bread runs short, blame the wife; when broth runs short, blame the guest.

If she is a woman, she is automatically wrong.

When it is time to milk the cow, the disorganized woman starts grinding grain.

When a buffalo enters the shed, the cows lose their place and status.

A woman's social status is relative to her husband's treatment of her.

The shorter the woman, the more wicked she is.

The more sons a person has, the greater their social status and respect.

While a woman is alive, she belongs to her husband; when she dies, she belongs to her father.

When you share a secret with a woman, why not just tell it to a drummer?

An ugly woman possesses the sweetest fortune.

When a woman becomes a widow, she is constantly on the run.

One woman in a house is good; two fight like crocodiles; three ride the rooftops in chaos.

Upon seeing fair skin (a fair-complexioned woman), he completely forgot his own mother.

Stern is the birth of a son.

A woman's primary weapons are her tongue and her tears.

Give a daughter and obtain a son.

Man and woman are the two wheels of the vehicle of life.

A woman and a glass object are always in danger.

A woman walks seven steps ahead of the devil.

Woman is the root of all evil and strife.

A woman is like footwear; if you dislike her, change her.

Raising a daughter is working hard for another man.

Women are an incomplete species.

A woman desires neither crown nor fortune, but physical fulfillment.

A woman's domestic work is never done.

Keep a woman's stomach full and her face under your hand/slap.

A woman's possession is confirmed by marriage; land by transfer papers.

A woman is born in sorrow, married in sorrow, and dies in sorrow.

Women even managed to deceive Adam.

Telling lies to one's wife carries no sin.

Women should not be brought into public guest houses (Hujras).

Women talk more having two mouths; men think more having two heads.

Though the night is dark, sisters and daughters remain distinct.

Though the mother may be a donkey, she remains precious to her children.

If a brother were entirely good, God would have created one for Himself.

If prostration to anyone besides God were allowed, women would prostrate to their husbands.

If women were fit for supreme leadership, there would have been female prophets.

Look at a woman attempting ablution by the river stream!

Giving vagina brought no spiritual reward.

Some men are blessed with charming wives; others carry tightened slingshots.

A man who cannot control his household cannot lead his village.

The birth of a daughter brings seven divine blessings to the home.

Bare buttocks, yet bangles adorning her wrists.

An idle husband is better than a warrior son.

A woman is a dagger in the chest.

Finding a wife for my son is as easy as finding a handle for an axe.

I am senior in verbal chatter, but my sister-in-law is senior in actual deeds.

A woman who indulges in neighborhood gossip forfeits her marital harmony.

She got absorbed in gossip while the dogs ate the flour.

God is the ultimate guardian of a wife and a sister.

A woman without a brother is like a fortress without a master.

Born in the house, she becomes a dominant force/ruler inside the house.

Trust not in a giggling lady nor a quivering wood.

A family needs three men: one to earn, one for councils, and one for defense.

Those without a leader perish; those with a youthful leader perish; those with a female leader perish; those with many leaders perish.

A daughter so fair; a son-in-law from every house. All will want to marry her. Another similar saying is Asa lenka dana gharoghara suna (A son so good; a daughter-in-law from every house).

If there be sons they will prevent misfortune.

A father for the profitable son, a mother for the unprofitable. 'In prosperity, a father; in adversity, a mother' (Hindustani).

By the mother's petting the child becomes an idiot.

One's own resolve is happy, the priest's advice is better; another's advice is for one's ruin, woman's counsel is destructive.

She herself is naked (shameless), (yet calls) those who are looking at her wicked.

She herself does not bear children and yet she cannot endure a fellow-wife. 'Dog in the manger' spirit.

Our own child is tender, another's is (as tough as) leather. Or the last word may be karate (an urchin). Sometimes the two rhyming words are gojiravane (graceful) and laziravane (graceless). 'Every man thinks his own geese swans' (English).

Her own house or her father's. There is no other place for a married woman.

[To live upon] self-acquired property is good, [to live upon] that acquired by a father is middling, [to live upon] a brother's property is low, [to live upon] a woman's property is the lowest of the low.

One fair woman (and she has) seventy-two hidden vices.

Bear the pain once and become mistress of the house. The wife's position is greatly improved after she has had a son.

She who has one child cries, she who has two cries, she who has seven cries, and she who has none she also cries. No one is satisfied.

The two wives of one man, let them not quarrel in the house!

The flowers of the fig tree, a white-coloured crow, a fish's foot in the water, one may see—but not what is in a woman's mind.

Barren as a plantain, barren as a crow. (A woman who has one child and then dies is like the plantain which produces one bunch and then perishes; a woman who brings forth once and is afterwards barren is like the crow which lays eggs but once.)

O daughter-in-law! why are you behaving so? (She answers) 'Like the household.'

O madam! why are you so thin? 'I have separated from my husband.'

The elbow will not touch the ear and the son-in-law will not cry when his mother-in-law dies.

In work, a slave; in business, a minister; in form a Rambha; in patience, [like] the earth; in [providing] food, a mother; in conjugal enjoyments, a courtesan:—is not she who possesses these six qualities, a dutiful wife?

Residence in a hamlet, service under a low fellow, coarse food, an ill-tempered wife, a stubborn son, and a widowed virgin [daughter] burn the body without fire.

Neither hair nor anything yet a widow is attractive.

The voice is the beauty of cuckoos; chastity is the beauty of women; learning is the beauty of the deformed; patience is the beauty of ascetics.

Some are thinking of their trials, the widow is thinking of her hair.

A grandmother at eating, a neighbour at working. One ready to eat who keeps away when there is work.

A fool in the village but a lord in the opinion of his mother-in-law.

The girl sulked and sat gravely like a married woman.

A good-looking wife is the world's, an ugly one is our own.

Four days of the mother-in-law's (authority) and four days of the daughter-in-law's. The latter asserts her authority when she has children.

A son-in-law search. He is petted and feasted when he visits his wife's relatives.

Where the childless woman goes there she will stay till evening.

She manages well whose husband is a slave to her. The Indian wife is generally a good manager if left alone.

While he was alive she was not affectionate, now he is dead she breaks her necklaces and bangles.

Where there is a (husband of) stone there will be a paramour.

Tie up and carry with you your wife and your money. Neither should be trusted to the care of another.

The thing has become old and (says) 'Call me a faithful wife.'

A child's character may be known by the mother's longings (during pregnancy).

The young wife's cheeks: the old wife's neglect. He is fond of kissing his young wife.

Death is the punishment of a robber, the punishment of a harlot is shaving the head; separation is the punishment of a wife, the punishment of a friend is not speaking to him.

Beat a bullock every other furrow, and a wife every other day. A Shudra proverb. 'A spaniel, a woman, and a walnut-tree, the more they're beaten the better they will be' (English).

He is his own father. It is a father's duty to punish; here, he is punishing himself by his folly, and therefore is his own father.

Adopted therefore he stands forward.

A poor man is brother-in-law of all.

If the wife be bigger than the husband she will run after him with the pestle.

A brother is one's own flesh, his wife is only a relative.

My brother's key is with his wife. She can influence him. Also a similar proverb, Dadaci khoda vahinila mahita (My brother's bad habit is known to my brother's wife).

In the daytime she was frightened by the cawing of a crow. (The feigned timidity of a loose woman.)

A poor mother is like a dry river.

A bad man, gold, a drum, a bad woman, a bad horse, stalks of sugar cane, sesamum seed, and Sudras should be beaten to improve their qualities. ("A spaniel, a woman and a walnut tree, the more they be beaten, the better they be.'')

Another's wife is a poisonous plant.

A woman is not fit for independence.

There are seventeen hundred objections to a noseless woman's marriage!

A husband's sister takes pleasure in mischief.

A husband's sister is mischievous; she is like the board of a spinning-mill. She sits quietly and sets others quarrelling.

A husband's beating is like a fall in the mud. The consequences are soon forgotten.

While new they dine together! Refers to newly-married people. After a time the husband takes his meal first.

New wives have new fancies, the first did not behave so.

Of a new (husband) nine days, of a dead one three days. This is how long a wife's love lasts!

A delicate wife and beating with a whip. Perhaps implying that if strong and robust the husband would think twice before beating her.

A woman's talk (is like) heat from grass, i.e. it is useless.

A husband is the ornament of women.

The turn of the disliked wife came and the village was set on fire. The man's two wives take turns in cooking. The holi is a pile of wood burnt at the Holi festival.

The salt of the disliked wife is tasteless, the mucus from the nose of the favoured wife is pleasant. The two are wives of one man.

A faithful wife yet she goes from door to door at night.

A faithful wife or the pestle as a god. (A story is told of a devout wife pounding rice with a long pestle; when her husband called her, she let go of the raised pestle to obey him, and it stayed suspended in the air, proving her faithfulness. Another wife, hoping for the same fame, tried the same trick, but the pestle fell and bruised her head. Now applied to one who boasts of her faithfulness, with the reply: 'A faithful wife! yes, or else the pestle is your god.')

A father in debt is an enemy [to his son]; a mother of bad conduct is an enemy [to her son]; a beautiful wife is an enemy [to her husband]; an unlearned son is an enemy [to his parents].

Sorrow for [the loss of] a father [lasts] six months; sorrow for a mother, a year; sorrow for a wife until a second wife [comes]; sorrow for a son, for ever.

In the absence of men, all women are chaste.

A book, a woman, or money, when gone into the hand of another, is gone [indeed]; or it returns worn out, corrupted, or by bits.

A teacher for a boy,Ê a mother-in-law for a girl. The one is the equivalent of the other.

If the woman turn on her husband she may kill him.

A woman who costs nothing; why will she remain? Others will not serve us for nothing.

Women are the great root of the firmly-rooted tree of enmity. ("Women and dogs set men together by the ears." "A woman's vengeance knows no bounds." — German.)

Although the father beat his son they do not separate from each other.

Women's wisdom is connected with the fire-place.

Women's singing and naked bathing. Both are bad. Respectable women in India do not sing and they bathe in their clothes.

Women cannot endure a fellow-wife even if she be (soft as) butter.

A second wife; disgraceÊ a third thing. The two wives will quarrel and bring disgrace.

Even Bramha does not know the schemings of a woman.

A daughter is her father's (just as) the land is the emperor's. He arranges for her marriage.

Forehead-powder to a widow, and katabola (medicine) to a barren woman. Both useless.

The widow bathed and the water was wasted. It is useless for a widow to bathe and adorn herself as she has no husband.

Whether talking or cleaning (the pots) it affects the daughter-in-law. Whatever the mother-in-law says or does is intended to reprove the daughter-in-law. If dhuva means 'daughter' (Molesworth) then the proverb would be, 'What is said to the daughter is meant for the daughter-in-law.'

First and last father is the bridegroom. A widower remarrying who does not arrange for his son's marriage.

Vain is the life of a motherless child, so is the prime [of a woman] without a husband; penance without quietism is fruitless, so is food without tamarind juice.

(The girl feels) happiness at home but pain at her mother-in-law's.

An old husband is a support to life. Or, perhaps better, kunkumala adhar (an excuse for using the forehead mark), i.e. it shows that she is a wife, not a widow.

Call me a widow or what you like but give me enough to eat.

The king must answer for his country's sin; the priest for the king's sin; the husband for the wife's sin, and the Guru for the disciple's sin.

Modesty is the ornament of women. ("I will therefore that ... women adorn themselves ... with shamefacedness." 1 Timothy ii. 8, 9.)

If you show her affection she will fall about your neck.

Although a daughter be a fairy she will go to a stranger's house, i.e. she will marry.

What is said to the daughter is meant for the daughter-in-law. So that the girl may not complain to her mother or her husband, the sasu addresses her own daughter, urges her to work, chides her for laziness, etc., but all the time she intends it for her daughter-in-law. The first words may be kombadisa bole (What is said to the fowls).

An old woman, a chaste wife.

An old harlot, a female devotee.

What is a mother-in-law's house or a mother's house to a mad woman? She would be mad indeed not to know the difference.

A cup of butter to the son-in-law and his father while the guest dies of starvation.

Stale bread is sweet with butter-milk and a bad wife becomes sweet when she has a child.

A step-mother, and no enjoyment.

She walks on thorns to her mother-in-law's, but she feels delight in coming to her mother's house.

The son-in-law is liberal with the distended paunch (property) of his mother-in-law.

I am glad mother-in-law has gone (is dead), the whole house is now in my hands. The last phrase is also quoted tupatse gadage hati ale (the butter-pot has come into my charge).

Mother-in-law is making cakes: may my soul be burnt, i.e. I need not expect to get any.

If the mother-in-law's foot knock against the daughter-in-law, or if the daughter-in-law's foot knock against the mother-in-law, it is the daughter-in-law who must beg pardon.

Mother-in-law's bad habit; she hates my husband to be kind to me.

On becoming a mother-in-law the torments of being a daughter-in-law are forgotten.

The daughter-in-law must dance to the mother-in-law's tune.

Beat the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law will be afraid.

The mother-in-law is a check on the daughter-in-law.

A brother-in-law among relatives; a spear among weapons. These are good.

Women are attracted by rich men. By a slight alteration it may mean 'by riches;' and also, 'Women are subdued by tricks.'

Women know the foibles of women.

The husband is the life of the woman.

The gods know not a woman's conduct and a man's fortune, how then can men?

Women are the cause of mischief.

Women are said to eat twice as much [as men], to have four times as much sense, six times as much pluck, and eight times as much desire.

It was the result of an ancient sin that my son became the father-in-law of my co-wife.

A household is completely empty and desolate without a son.

A weak woman's only weapon is her tongue.

An unlucky man loses his cattle; a fortunate man loses his wife.

Poverty ruins character, pimples ruin the face, storms ruin crops, and beating ruins a wife (makes her defiant).

Holy basil growing in an improper place; a beautiful girl wedded to an unworthy vessel.

He is a fool of the highest order who sends his wife to the public market.

The first wife of a man is neglected, but the second wife is cherished like a necklace.

Living as the sole wife in a separate home is joyful, but when the husband beats her, there is no one to stop him.

Arguments breed arguments, water grows paddy, and an unmarried daughter staying at her father's home brings insult.

The bride's father sits in tears, while the groom's father waits eagerly to count five hundred rupees.

The bride's mother weeps while tying up the money bag for dowry.

A gawky/cuckoo bride does not know how to hold or care for her child.

Even a blind son supports his mother, but even a king's daughter exploits her father.

For dark kohl soil, one would walk for six months; a white datura flower is not worth a single penny.

A prostitute has no honor or dignity to speak of.

Women who climb trees or smoke tobacco by the river are prostitutes.

Secure and stable your house first, then subdue your wife.

Woman is like a pot of clarified butter; man is like burning ember. A wise man never keeps them together.

Giving birth to a son feels like dwelling in heaven; giving birth to a daughter feels like dwelling in hell.

Boys should pursue education; girls should learn cooking and household chores.

A son's urine generates wealth, while a daughter should hang herself with a rope.

Beating the maidservant to discipline and teach the daughter-in-law.

Maidservants are subdued with fists, wives with grinding stones, and neighbors by pointing out their flaws directly.

If one possesses the crown and flute, many servants like Radha will readily be found.

Does brother beat his wife? He merely strikes her with a towel for fun!

Turbid river water is still good; a dark-complexioned girl is good if she comes from a noble lineage.

A sister-in-law is as scary as a tigress, standing like a deadly cobra.

Boats, horses, and women belong entirely to whoever rides/controls them.

A woman's strength lies only in her tears.

His own brother goes without rice, yet he buys sweets for his wife's sister.

A woman has no direction, purpose, or refuge without a husband.

She whose devotion remains at her husband's feet is called a chaste and true woman.

A husbandless woman is like a boat without a boatman.

He doesn't have two pennies, yet he wants a clever and beautiful wife.

Father protects her in childhood, husband protects her in youth, sons protect her in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.

The wife finds no room in her husband's home, yet he fills the courtyard with concubines.

She is no wife, but a household witch; a human child by day, a tigress by night.

How is the wife's behavior? Like a Turkish horse. How is the wife's voice? Like a screaming myna/shrike.

Mother's cooking is ordinary, sister cooks like water, but the pitiable wife's cooking is sweet like payesh.

A daughter's tragedy concerns her father, but neighbors perk up their ears to gossip.

She who cooks also manages to braid her hair.

A woman who eats before the men of the house will have a fruitless and dried-up life.

Iron is tamed at the blacksmith's forge; a woman is tamed at her in-laws' house.

Primordial enmity [exists] between the grindstone and the wheat; primordial enmity [exists] between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. (Listed alongside cat-and-mouse, thief-and-honest-man as a 'natural,' inevitable enmity.)

Take a cow that gives milk; take a daughter-in-law (bride) who is beautiful. (Choosing a bride is likened to choosing livestock — for her looks/usefulness.)

Not finding a wife, one easily becomes celibate. An old woman is [naturally] a chaste wife. (Implies a woman's fidelity is only assured once she is old and no longer desired.)

The wife is the honor ('nose') of the home; the wife is the giver of sons; through the wife one flourishes; the wife is the foundation of happiness. Without a wife one is disgraced; without a wife there is no happiness; without a wife there is no ornament; without a wife there is no forgetting of sorrow. (A woman's value is defined entirely through what she provides a husband/household, not as a person in her own right.)

Another man's wife is a hot knife, constantly cutting the body; [only] one who keeps to Ram [avoids] going to another's wife's house. See another's wife as pure poison in the flesh; Ravana lost his ten heads through [involvement with] another's wife.

She stays dyed in the color of her beloved, indifferent to the world; whether he desires her or not, she remains his servant. Obedient to her husband, she stays by his side; serves with body and mind, taking on no other color [loyalty]. The devoted wife has no [awareness of her own] body — her whole being dwells in her husband's mind. The devoted wife worships her husband, yet never [dares to] speak his name aloud. (The book's closing section, prescribing a wife's total self-erasure and obedience as virtue — including the old taboo against a wife ever saying her husband's name.)

Woman's rule, a Tambali's government. (A Tambali is a Saiva priest of low origin, who wears the sacred thread and endeavours to observe Brahminical customs.)

A woman's word, a bundle of water. (A woman's mind and winter wind change oft.)

Money left in the hands of a woman wont last; a child left in the hands of a man wont live.

If a woman lies, it's like building a wall; if a man lies, it's like putting up a mat (easily seen through).

Although the pumpkin be as big as a large pot, yet it is subject to the kitchen knife. However great a family a wife may come from, she must still be subject to her husband.

The scorpion which stung is a good tempered creature, the [stung] woman who bawled out is a wretched slut. (A mischief maker often escapes blame.)

A monkey [-like wife] of good family is better [than a pretty wife of low origin].

What a mother does, [falls] on her children. (If she sin, her children are disgraced.)

Look at the mother before you take the daughter; see how much milk the buffalo gives before you buy her.

A laughing woman and a crying man should not be trusted.

Having many leaders, having a youthful leader, having a female leader (Is equally bad). (Said of people, an army, etc.)

Enquire not into the origin of a Rishi, a river, or a woman.

Three hundred Sikhas (i.e. men) may come together, but three Koppus (i.e. women) should not get together. (Sikha is the top-lock worn by men and Koppu is a woman's chignon.)

The heat of the sun emerging from the clouds—the passion of a meretricious woman separated from her husband—the violence of a bough bent and let go—the force of a pot lifted up and dropped—are great. ("Give the water no passage; neither a wicked woman liberty to gad abroad." Ecclesiasticus xxv. 25.)

Will the woman who has learnt to play the harlot, not learn to lie?

The changed harlot became an honest woman. (Ironical.) Chastity gone once, gone for ever.

Who is the father of a harlot's child?

A child is a hindrance to a harlot.

A madman's wife is common property. (The helpless are mocked and ill-treated.)