6.4. Ideal Wife in Ancient India

[Full title: Ancient Indian Social Life: Excerpts from Kāmaśāstra (4): Ideal Wife]

Ṣaṭkarmanārī kuladharmapatnī is the misogynic ancient Indian concept on a wife. Vātsyāyana dedicates the entire fourth book of Kāmasūtra entitled Bhāryādhikārika for explaining the duties of an ideal wife. Ekacāriṇī, Jyeṣṭhā, Kaniṣṭhā, Punarbhū and Durbhagā, the five sub-categories of wife, can be seen here. From the first sūtra onwards Vātsyāyana restricts individual interests of women and commands her to be always with husband considering him to be god^[1]. Here Vātsyāyana inflicts that many duties need to be done by a wife. They include gardening, cleaning the house and its surroundings, nurturing vegetables, assessment of monthly income and expenditure, treatment of elder members in the family, express wholehearted hospitality to the friends and relatives of husband etc. She has no right to do anything without the prior permission of her husband. In the absence of husband, wife is directed to sleep with her mother-in-law. This is nothing other than to restrict personal desires of a woman and questioning her sexual identity also. In short, according to the author of Kāmasūtra a wife is same as an employee who works mentally and physically whenever in a house without any remuneration.