Shloka 13
Discernment and Wisdom — Chanakya Niti
विप्रो वृक्षस्तस्य मूलं च सन्ध्या
वेदः शाखा धर्मकर्माणि पत्रम् ।
तस्मान्मूलं यत्नतो रक्षणीयं
छिन्ने मूले नैव शाखा न पत्रम् ॥
vipro vṛkṣas tasya mūlaṃ ca sandhyā
vedaḥ śākhā dharmakarmāṇi patram |
tasmān mūlaṃ yatnato rakṣaṇīyaṃ
chinne mūle naiva śākhā na patram ||
A Brahmin is like a tree: the sandhyā rites are its root, the Veda its branches, and deeds of dharma its leaves. Therefore guard the root with care; when the root is cut, there are neither branches nor leaves.
FAQs
In the broader nītiśāstra milieu, such verses reflect a social-ritual ideology in which Vedic learning and daily rites are treated as stabilizing institutions. The metaphor aligns with a historical setting where brāhmaṇa identity is often described through maintenance of sandhyā practice, Vedic transmission, and dharma-oriented conduct, themes common in didactic compilations circulating in premodern South Asia.
The verse identifies sandhyā (regular twilight rites) as the “root” supporting the rest of the religious-ethical structure: Veda as “branches” and dharma-karmas as “leaves.” The internal logic depicts ritual regularity as a prerequisite for learning and for the visible expression of dharma in action.
The shloka uses an extended arboreal metaphor (vṛkṣa–mūla–śākhā–patra) to hierarchize practices and texts: root (sandhyā) precedes branches (veda) and leaves (dharma-karmāṇi). The compound dharma-karmāṇi compresses moral-ritual duties into a single category, while the closing clause (chinne mūle...) employs a cause–effect formulation typical of didactic Sanskrit verse to emphasize dependence and loss through severance.