Shloka 15
Governance and Policy — Chanakya Niti
प्रस्तावसदृशं वाक्यं प्रभावसदृशं प्रियम् ।
आत्मशक्तिसमं कोपं यो जानाति स पण्डितः ॥
prastāva-sadṛśaṃ vākyaṃ prabhāva-sadṛśaṃ priyam |
ātmaśakti-samaṃ kopaṃ yo jānāti sa paṇḍitaḥ ||
A learned person knows speech fit for the occasion, pleasing words proportionate to their effect, and anger proportionate to one’s own strength.
FAQs
In the Chanakya/Nītiśāstra tradition, such verses are commonly situated within pedagogical literature associated with courtly life, governance, and social conduct. The emphasis on context-sensitive speech and calibrated emotional display reflects a milieu where reputation, persuasion, and hierarchical interaction were significant elements of political and administrative culture in ancient and early-medieval South Asia.
The verse frames paṇḍitatva (learned discernment) as practical judgment: matching speech to the immediate context (prastāva), aligning pleasantness with anticipated impact (prabhāva), and regulating anger in proportion to one’s actual capacity (ātmaśakti). The definition is functional rather than doctrinal, focusing on situational assessment and self-management.
The repeated compound pattern “X-sadṛśa” (‘commensurate with X’) produces a measured, proportional logic across three domains—speech, pleasantness, and anger—creating a triadic schema of calibration. Terms like prastāva (‘occasion, topic at hand’) and prabhāva (‘effect, influence’) are also common in Sanskrit discourse on rhetoric and polity, where appropriateness and efficacy are treated as intertwined criteria.