Shloka 10
Education and Conduct — Chanakya Niti
लोकयात्रा भयं लज्जा दाक्षिण्यं त्यागशीलता ।
पञ्च यत्र न विद्यन्ते न कुर्यात्तत्र संस्थितिम् ॥
lokayātrā bhayaṁ lajjā dākṣiṇyaṁ tyāgaśīlatā |
pañca yatra na vidyante na kuryāt tatra saṁsthitim ||
Social order, fear as restraint, modesty, kindness, and a spirit of giving and renunciation—where these five are absent, do not settle there.
FAQs
Within the Nītiśāstra genre, such verses are commonly read as compact observations about the conditions thought to sustain orderly community life in early and medieval South Asian political and social imagination—emphasizing shared norms (ācāra), internal restraints (fear and shame), and reciprocal social virtues (generosity and giving).
Restraint is framed through bhaya (fear, often functioning as deterrence) and lajjā (shame/modesty, a sense of propriety). In historical readings of Sanskrit ethical literature, these are treated as internalized mechanisms that support conformity to social expectations alongside external norms (lokayātrā).
The compound-like listing (a nominal series) functions as an aphoristic catalogue, typical of didactic Sanskrit. The term lokayātrā is notable for pointing to “the way the world goes” (conventional conduct), while tyāgaśīlatā emphasizes a stable disposition (śīlatā) rather than a single act of giving, indicating a character trait valued in the text’s social-ethical economy.