Shloka 15
Human Nature — Chanakya Niti
यथा धेनुसहस्रेषु वत्सो गच्छति मातरम् ।
तथा यच्च कृतं कर्म कर्तारमनुगच्छति ॥
yathā dhenusahasreṣu vatso gacchati mātaram |
tathā yacca kṛtaṃ karma kartāram anugacchati ||
As a calf finds its mother among thousands of cows, so a deed once done unfailingly follows its doer.
FAQs
In the broader Nītiśāstra milieu, such verses commonly articulate a theory of moral causation using agrarian imagery familiar to early Indian social life. The comparison to cattle-herding scenes situates the teaching in a world where pastoral observation served as a persuasive register for ethical and political reflection.
The verse frames karma as an action whose consequences are conceptually attached to the agent: the deed is portrayed as tracking its performer. The formulation functions as an account of accountability, expressed in compact proverbial form rather than as a systematic doctrine.
The simile hinges on recognition and inevitability: “dhenusahasreṣu” (among thousands of cows) intensifies the improbability, while “anugacchati” (follows after) conveys pursuit or attachment. The metaphor translates an abstract ethical claim into a concrete pastoral scene, a common didactic strategy in classical Sanskrit gnomic literature.