Shloka 10
Human Nature — Chanakya Niti
धर्मार्थकाममोक्षाणां यस्यैकोऽपि न विद्यते ।
अजागलस्तनस्येव तस्य जन्म निरर्थकम् ॥
dharmārthakāmamokṣāṇāṁ yasyaiko’pi na vidyate |
ajākagalastanasyeva tasya janma nirarthakam ||
One who has not even one among dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa—his birth is purposeless, like teats on a goat’s neck: present, yet of no use.
FAQs
This verse reflects the classical Indian puruṣārtha schema—dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa—widely attested across Sanskrit ethical and philosophical literature. In the historical milieu of Nīti texts, such frameworks functioned as compact evaluative categories for describing a ‘meaningful’ human life within social, economic, and religious-intellectual orders.
The verse treats the four puruṣārthas as recognized aims or dimensions of life and frames their total absence as a marker of futility. It does not elaborate internal definitions here; instead, it presupposes their conventional meanings and uses them as a standard for assessing human purpose within the tradition.
The simile “ajākagalastanasya iva” invokes a traditional image of a ‘teat on a goat’s neck,’ commonly cited in Sanskrit as a metaphor for something that appears like it should have a function but is practically non-functional. Linguistically, the construction emphasizes negation and minimality (“eko’pi na vidyate,” ‘not even one is found’) to intensify the evaluative conclusion (“janma nirarthakam,” ‘birth is purposeless’).