Shloka 14
Discernment and Wisdom — Chanakya Niti
माता च कमला देवी पिता देवो जनार्दनः ।
बान्धवा विष्णुभक्ताश्च स्वदेशो भुवनत्रयम् ॥
mātā ca kamalā devī pitā devo janārdanaḥ |
bāndhavā viṣṇubhaktāś ca svadeśo bhuvanatrayam ||
My mother is the goddess Kamalā, my father is Janārdana; my kinsmen are devotees of Viṣṇu, and my homeland is the three worlds.
FAQs
In historical terms, the verse reflects a Vaiṣṇava devotional idiom in which familial and territorial categories are re-described through divine associations. Such formulations are attested across Sanskrit religious and ethical literature, and in later transmission contexts they can function as markers of sectarian identity and cosmological worldview rather than administrative statecraft.
Here “svadeśa” is described as “bhuvanatrayam,” the three worlds, indicating an expansive, cosmological framing of belonging. The phrasing suggests a rhetorical widening of ‘one’s country’ from a localized territory to a universalized domain, expressed through traditional tri-loka cosmology.
The verse uses equational nominal clauses (“mother [is] Kamalā,” “father [is] Janārdana”) as a devotional metaphor, replacing ordinary kinship relations with divine referents. The compound “viṣṇu-bhaktāḥ” functions as a collective identity label, while “bhuvana-trayam” invokes a standard cosmological term, producing a stylized, pan-cosmic self-description typical of Sanskrit praise and identity statements.