Chanakya Niti — Family and Relationships, Shloka 11
दारिद्र्यनाशनं दानं शीलं दुर्गतिनाशनम् ।
अज्ञाननाशिनी प्रज्ञा भावना भयनाशिनी ॥
dāridryanāśanaṃ dānaṃ śīlaṃ durgatināśanam |
ajñānanāśinī prajñā bhāvanā bhayanāśinī ||
Geben (dāna) vertreibt Armut; gute Lebensführung (śīla) vertreibt Unglück. Weisheit (prajñā) vertreibt Unwissen; innere Kultivierung (bhāvanā) vertreibt Furcht.
FAQs
Within the broader nīti (didactic-ethical) tradition associated with Cāṇakya, such verses commonly compress social and moral expectations into paired formulas. The items listed—giving, conduct, wisdom, and mental cultivation—reflect themes shared across early Indian ethical discourse, where personal virtues are framed as counterforces to social and psychological vulnerabilities (poverty, misfortune, ignorance, fear) in a milieu shaped by patronage, learning, and courtly-administrative life.
The verse presents a conceptual linkage rather than an economic mechanism: dāna is characterized as 'poverty-destroying' (dāridrya-nāśana). In historical terms, this can be read as reflecting a moral economy in which generosity and redistribution—especially within patronage networks and religious gifting—were imagined to transform one’s condition through social reciprocity and merit-based reasoning found in related classical discourse.
The verse uses a parallel, nominal style typical of aphoristic Sanskrit: four short equations built with compound formations (e.g., dāridrya-nāśanam, durgati-nāśanam) and feminine agentive forms in -nāśinī ('remover') for prajñā and bhāvanā. This symmetry creates a mnemonic catalogue, presenting virtues as 'counter-agents' to specific forms of human adversity.