Shloka 16
Discernment and Wisdom — Chanakya Niti
बुद्धिर्यस्य बलं तस्य निर्बुद्धेश्च कुतो बलम् ।
वने सिंहो यदोन्मत्तः मशकेन निपातितः ॥
buddhir yasya balaṃ tasya nirbuddheś ca kuto balam |
vane siṃho yadonmattaḥ maśakena nipātitaḥ ||
Intellect is the strength of the intelligent; for the witless, whence could strength arise? In the forest, even a frenzied lion can be brought down by a mosquito.
FAQs
Within the Chanakya Niti tradition, such verses function as didactic maxims associated with governance, personal conduct, and pragmatic reasoning in classical Indian intellectual culture. The contrast between buddhi (discernment) and bala (force) reflects a broader South Asian political-ethical discourse in which counsel, calculation, and strategy are treated as decisive factors alongside physical power.
In this verse, strength (bala) is framed as dependent on intellect (buddhi), implying that effective power is not merely physical capacity but the ability to judge, restrain impulses, and act strategically. The rhetorical question about the 'unintelligent' suggests that force without discernment is depicted as unstable or ineffective in the text’s conceptual scheme.
The metaphor juxtaposes सिंह (lion), a conventional emblem of raw power, with मशक (mosquito/gnat), a symbol of something minor, to indicate reversal through vulnerability. The qualifier उन्मत्त (frenzied/intoxicated) marks a lapse of control or judgment, aligning the image with the verse’s thesis that impaired discernment can allow a seemingly insignificant factor to cause downfall.