Kuṇālajātaka

Suttapiṭaka · Khuddakanikāya · Jātaka (2) · Vol. 28 · Section 306

[306] Truly, friend Puṇṇamukha, by twenty-five points is a woman to be known as corrupt: she praises her husband's absence from home; when he is away she does not think of him; when he has come home she does not welcome him; she speaks his dispraise; she does not speak his praise; she works what is harmful to him; she does not work what is beneficial to him; she does for him what ought not to be done; she does not do for him what ought to be done; she sleeps fully clothed; she lies down with her face turned away; she is given to tossing and turning; she is given to fretting; she heaves long sighs; she complains of pain; she goes frequently to pass excrement and urine; she behaves contrarily; on hearing the voice of another man she pricks up her ears; she makes away with his wealth; she forms intimacy with the neighbours; she is one whose feet are ever out of doors; she is a wanderer of the streets; she is unfaithful, without respect for her husband, corrupt in mind and purpose; she stands constantly at the door; she displays her armpits, her limbs, her breasts; she goes about gazing this way and that. By these twenty-five points, truly, friend Puṇṇamukha, is a woman to be known as corrupt. And on this there is this further saying: She praises his absence from home; she grieves not over his departure; seeing her husband come home, she gives him no welcome; she never speaks his praise — these are the marks of a corrupt woman. Unrestrained, she works what is harmful to him, and, doing what ought not to be done, she lets his good decline; she sleeps fully clothed, her face turned away — these are the marks of a corrupt woman. She is given to tossing and turning, and to fretting; she heaves long sighs, complaining of pain; she goes frequently to pass excrement and urine — these are the marks of a corrupt woman. She behaves contrarily, doing what ought not to be done; she listens intently to the voice of another man speaking; she makes away with his wealth and forms intimacies — these are the marks of a corrupt woman. The wealth won with difficulty, brought home with toil, the riches amassed with pain — she brings to ruin; and she forms intimacy with the neighbours — these are the marks of a corrupt woman. Her feet ever out of doors, a wanderer of the streets, her mind constantly corrupted against her husband, she is unfaithful, devoid of respect — these are the marks of a corrupt woman. Again and again she stands at the doorway, displaying her breasts and her armpits; with a wavering mind she gazes this way and that — these are the marks of a corrupt woman. All rivers run a winding course; all forests are but made of wood; all women would work evil, when a sheltered spot is found. If she might find an opportune moment or a place of secrecy, or even find such a sheltered spot, all women would surely work evil — finding no other, even with a cripple. In women, who make delight for men, who are fickle of mind and not to be restrained, even should they be givers of joy in every way, one should place no trust: for women are even as a ford [open to all].

English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.