Shloka 14
Practical Maxims — Chanakya Niti
अयममृतनिधानं नायकोऽप्योषधीनाम्
अमृतमयशरीरः कान्तियुक्तोऽपि चन्द्रः ।
भवतिविगतरश्मिर्मण्डलं प्राप्य भानोः
परसदननिविष्टः को लघुत्वं न याति ॥
ayam amṛtanidhānaṃ nāyako ’py oṣadhīnām
amṛtamayaśarīraḥ kāntiyukto ’pi candraḥ |
bhavati vigataraśmir maṇḍalaṃ prāpya bhānoḥ
parasadananiviṣṭaḥ ko laghutvaṃ na yāti ||
The moon is a store of nectar and lord of medicinal herbs; though its body seems deathless and its beauty shines, on reaching the sun’s orb it loses its rays. Dwelling in another’s domain—who does not suffer a fall in stature?
FAQs
In the broader Nītiśāstra tradition, verses frequently encode observations about hierarchy, dependence, and the risks of operating under a stronger power. The imagery of celestial bodies reflects a classical South Asian literary habit of grounding political and social commentary in cosmological metaphors familiar to courtly and scholastic audiences.
Dependence is framed indirectly through the motif of entering another’s sphere (parasadananiviṣṭaḥ). The moon—portrayed as intrinsically splendid—undergoes loss of radiance when placed in relation to the sun, functioning as an analogy for how relative position within a dominant domain can reduce perceived standing.
The verse layers epithets (amṛtanidhāna, oṣadhīnām nāyaka, amṛtamayaśarīra, kāntiyukta) to heighten the moon’s inherent prestige before contrasting it with vigataraśmiḥ (“deprived of rays”). The closing rhetorical question (ko … na yāti) is a common Sanskrit device that generalizes a specific image into a broader maxim about status and context.