WRITTEN BY LONDON SWAMINATHAN

Post No. 13,837

Date uploaded in London – 31 October 2024                 

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

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tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

https://www.pustaka.co.in/home/author/london-swaminathan

xxxx  

This proverb is in Latin, German and other languages.

The three things are

Smoke

Rain

Scolding wife

In some languages the fourth is also added- many children but no bread in the house.

In Hungarian language it is slightly changed to

Three things are harmful in a house,

An angry wife, dense smoke, dish with a hole.

But Chinese, Korean and Japanese proverbs singled out wife and said,

In Chinese wu qi  po jia = a bad wife ruins a family.

In Japanese,

Akusai wa rokujunen/ hyakunen  no saku= a bad wife is like a poor harvest for sixty hundred years.

****

Hindus support this with many stories:

Kuchela or Sudhama had 27 children; all of them starved and then his wife begged or nagged him to go to Krishna, the king and get some help. When you go to see a god in the temple or a king or a saint you should take something to offer. So, his wife gave him pounded rice tide in a torn cloth. He went to Krishna’s palace and the guards at the gate refused entry after seeing his poor look. But he requested the guards to tell Krishna that his old school mate Sudhama had come to see him. When Krishna heard the name, he cam running to the palace gate ad hugged Sudhama. Then he was given royal treatment. When he took one hand full of pounded rice and ate, all the wealth started going to Sudhama’s hut. When he took the second handful, Krishna’s wife stopped him eating; she knew if he took another mouthful, the entire palace will go to Sudhama; because the devotion of a sincere friend can move a mountain. Then Kuchela alias Sudhama took leave of Krishna and went to his hut, but there was no hut but a palace just like Krishna’s. (Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp story took or stole this idea).

Here the nagging wife drove him out, but all ended well.

****

But there is another story where the most famous Tamil poetess Avvaiyar met a poor husband with a very bad (ddest) wife.

The poor man saw Avvaiyar (avvaiyaar) walking tiredly and invited her for dinner. As soon as his wife saw her, she became angry. Then Avvaiayar said,

The man cajoled his wife in all the ways like dressing her, cleaning her hair of lice and then said about me, the guest ; she became so angry and jumped up and down and drove her husband out by beating him with a winnowing fan (Muram in Tamil); Avvaiyar laughed and slipped out.

இருந்து முகம் திருத்தி ஈரோடு பேன் வாங்கி

விருந்து வந்ததென விளம்ப –வருந்தி

ஆடினாள் … பாடினாள்; ஆடிப்பழ முறத்தால்

சாடினாள்  ஓடோடத்தான்.–  

***

As she walked some distance, she became very hungry; so, requested a man on the road whether he could get her something to eat; he took her to his house and introduced her to his wife. She was very angry about him bringing a guest and showed it when she served food to Avvaiyar. She came out and said,

காணக்கண் கூசுதே கையெடுக்க நாணுதே

மாணொக்க வாய்திறக்க மாட்டாதே – வீணுக்கென்

என்பெல்லாம் பற்றி எரிகின்ற தையையோ

அன்பில்லாள் இட்ட அமுது.

I am ashamed to see such a woman; my heart and bones are burning because of the food that served by a woman/ wife who has no kindness.

And the poetess did not stop there,

Shed advised her husband

சண்டாளி சூர்ப்பனகை தாடகையைப் போல்வடிவு

கொண்டாளைப் பெண்டென்று கொண்டாயே

தொண்டா செருப்படிதான் செல்லாவுன் செல்வமென்ன

செல்வம் நெருப்பிலே வீழ்ந்திடுதல் நேர்

பத்தாவுக்கு ஏற்ற பதிவிரதை உண்டாணால்

எத்தாலும் கூடி யிருக்கலாம் – சற்றேனும்

ஏறுமா றாகஇருப்பாளே ஆமாயின்

கூறாமல் சந்நியாசம் கொள்.

Oh my god you got woman like a low life, like demoness Tadaka, Surpanakha; better to fall in the fire than to live with her;  if one has a good wife one may live happily otherwise better run away  from home and become an ascetic.

–subham—

Tags- three things, driving out, bad wife, smoke, rain, proverbs, Avvaiyar

Kuchela, Sudhama, Krishna, stories, Tamil , Japanese, Chinese, Hungarian