Verse 9.22

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

यादृग्गुणेन भर्त्रा स्त्री संयुज्येत यथाविधि ।
तादृग्गुणा सा भवति समुद्रेणैव निम्नगा ॥ २२ ॥

yādṛgguṇena bhartrā strī saṃyujyeta yathāvidhi |
tādṛgguṇā sā bhavati samudreṇaiva nimnagā || 22 ||

When a woman is united in one form with a man possessed of certain qualities, she becomes herself endowed with similar qualities,—like a river united with the ocean.—(22)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

If a man wishes to guard his wife, he should guard himself also against evil habits; and it is not the woman that should preserve her chastity. Since if the man has a bad character, his wife also becomes the same; just as the wife of a man possessed of good character becomes good. For instance the river, though herself sweet-watered, becomes saline like the Ocean, when she joins this latter.—(22)

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 416).