Shloka 8
Right Conduct — Chanakya Niti
न वेत्ति यो यस्य गुणप्रकर्षं
स तं सदा निन्दति नात्र चित्रम् ।
यथा किराती करिकुम्भलब्धां
मुक्तां परित्यज्य बिभर्ति गुञ्जाम् ॥
na vetti yo yasya guṇa-prakarṣaṃ
sa taṃ sadā nindati nātra citram |
yathā kirātī kari-kumbha-labdhāṃ
muktāṃ parityajya bibharti guñjām ||
He who does not recognize another’s excellence always disparages him—there is nothing strange in that. Like the Kirātī woman who, finding a pearl from an elephant’s frontal globes, casts it aside and wears a guñjā seed instead.
FAQs
In the broader didactic (nīti) tradition, such verses function as compact social observations circulated in pedagogical and courtly milieus, where reputation, discernment of merit, and public speech were treated as politically consequential. The imagery reflects classical Sanskrit literary conventions that contrast refined valuation (the pearl) with misrecognition or low valuation (the guñjā seed), often using stereotyped social types to sharpen the moral-psychological point.
Disparagement (nindā) is framed as an outcome of non-recognition: the inability to perceive another’s guṇa-prakarṣa (preeminent qualities) is depicted as leading to habitual criticism. The verse presents this as a patterned social behavior rather than a singular incident, emphasizing perception and valuation as the underlying mechanisms.
Philologically, guṇa-prakarṣa combines guṇa (quality/virtue/merit) with prakarṣa (eminence, intensity), stressing a superlative degree of excellence. The simile hinges on culturally loaded objects: muktā (pearl) as a prestige good and guñjā as a small seed used as a bead and also known as a weight-unit in South Asian material culture. The reference to an elephant’s kumbha evokes a well-attested Sanskrit motif of rare treasures associated with elephants, intensifying the contrast between true value and misjudged preference.