Shloka 15
Practical Maxims — Chanakya Niti
अलिरयं नलिनीदलमध्यगः
कमलिनीमकरन्दमदालसः ।
विधिवशात्परदेशमुपागतः
कुटजपुष्परसं बहु मन्यते ॥
alir ayaṁ nalinī-dala-madhyagaḥ
kamalinī-makaranda-madālasaḥ |
vidhi-vaśāt paradeśam upāgataḥ
kuṭaja-puṣpa-rasaṁ bahu manyate ||
A bee, languid with the intoxication of lotus nectar and resting amid the lotus petals, when driven by fate to a foreign land, comes to prize the juice of the kuṭaja flower as something great.
FAQs
Within the broader nīti-śāstra milieu, such imagery is commonly used to encode observations about status, patronage, and the shifting valuation of resources when individuals move between regions or courts. The reference to “foreign land” (paradeśa) reflects a historically familiar setting of travel, exile, or service away from one’s home polity, where relative standards of worth could change.
The verse frames “value” as relative and contingent: what is considered excellent in one environment (lotus nectar) contrasts with what is later considered valuable under changed conditions (kuṭaja-flower juice). The emphasis falls on circumstance (vidhi) as a driver of altered preference and appraisal rather than on an intrinsic hierarchy of substances.
Key compounds such as nalinī-dala-madhyagaḥ and kamalinī-makaranda-madālasaḥ compress a vivid scene into dense poetic Sanskrit, presenting sensory intoxication as a metaphor for habituation or privilege. The contrast between kamalinī (lotus, a conventional marker of refinement) and kuṭaja (a more ordinary or context-specific flower) supports a period-typical nīti motif: displacement can invert expectations and recalibrate judgment.