Shloka 3
Education and Conduct — Chanakya Niti
तदहं सम्प्रवक्ष्यामि लोकानां हितकाम्यया ।
येन विज्ञातमात्रेण सर्वज्ञात्वं प्रपद्यते ॥
tad ahaṃ sampravakṣyāmi lokānāṃ hitakāmyayā |
yena vijñātamātreṇa sarvajñātvam prapadyate ||
For the welfare of people I shall expound this; by merely understanding it, one is said to attain comprehension of all relevant knowledge.
FAQs
In the Chanakya-nīti/Nītiśāstra tradition, introductory verses commonly frame the work as a public-spirited compendium of practical knowledge. The emphasis on loka-hita (welfare of people) reflects a didactic genre that circulated in courtly and scholastic milieus, presenting condensed maxims as broadly applicable learning.
The verse characterizes the forthcoming teaching as a concise body of knowledge whose comprehension is portrayed as yielding sarvajñātvam—an idiomatic claim of comprehensive understanding, likely meaning mastery of the work’s central principles rather than literal omniscience.
Key terms include हितकाम्यया (a motive clause indicating benevolent intent) and विज्ञातमात्रेण (a compression suggesting ease/efficiency of learning). The expression सर्वज्ञात्वं प्रपद्यते functions as a rhetorical hyperbole typical of didactic prefaces, elevating the text’s scope and authority within the Nīti literature.