Shloka 5
Practical Maxims — Chanakya Niti
त्यजन्ति मित्राणि धनैर्विहीनं
पुत्राश्च दाराश्च सुहृज्जनाश्च ।
तमर्थवन्तं पुनराश्रयन्ति
अर्थो हि लोके मनुष्यस्य बन्धुः ॥
tyajanti mitrāṇi dhanairvihīnaṃ
putrāśca dārāśca suhṛjjanāśca |
tam arthavantaṃ punar āśrayanti
artho hi loke manuṣyasya bandhuḥ ||
Wer ohne Vermögen ist, den verlassen die Freunde; ebenso Söhne, Frau und Wohlgesinnte. Wird er wieder wohlhabend, kehren sie zurück und suchen bei ihm Zuflucht. In der Welt gilt Reichtum als der wahre „Verwandte“ des Menschen.
FAQs
Within the broader niti (didactic) tradition, the verse reflects a pragmatic observation about social attachment and patronage in premodern South Asian society, where household stability and networks of support were closely tied to material resources (artha). It aligns with a wider genre of aphorisms that describe social behavior in terms of economic dependence rather than idealized loyalty.
Here artha functions as the effective basis of social support: it is portrayed not merely as money, but as the enabling condition for retaining dependents and allies. The verse frames artha as a practical ‘bond’ (bandhu) that substitutes for, or outweighs, nominal kinship and friendship when resources are absent.
The key metaphor is the equation of artha with bandhu (“kinsman/relative”), using kinship language to describe economic power as the real guarantor of affiliation. The repeated catalog—friends, sons, wives, well-wishers—creates an escalating social scope, emphasizing that even intimate relations are depicted as contingent upon prosperity.