Shloka 19
Practical Maxims — Chanakya Niti
उर्व्यां कोऽपि महीधरो लघुतरो दोर्भ्यां धृतो
लीलया तेन त्वं दिवि भूतले च सततं गोवर्धनो गीयसे।
त्वां त्रैलोक्यधरं वहामि कुचयोरग्रे न तद्गण्यते
किं वा केशव भाषणेन बहुना पुण्यैर्यशो लभ्यते ॥
urvyāṃ ko’pi mahīdharo laghutaro dorbhyāṃ dhṛto
līlayā tena tvaṃ divi bhūtale ca satataṃ govardhano gīyase |
tvāṃ trailokyadharaṃ vahāmi kucayoragre na tadgaṇyate
kiṃ vā keśava bhāṣaṇena bahunā puṇyairyaśo labhyate ||
On earth there was a certain mountain, small enough to be lifted playfully with two arms; therefore in heaven and on earth you are ever sung as “Govardhana.” Yet I bear you—the supporter of the three worlds—upon the forepart of my breasts, and it is not counted the same. Why speak so much of Keśava? Fame is won by meritorious deeds.
FAQs
The imagery draws on Vaiṣṇava mythic tradition, especially the episode of lifting Govardhana associated with Kṛṣṇa/Keśava. In manuscript cultures, such devotional-mythic allusions sometimes appear in collections transmitted under the name “Cāṇakya-nīti,” reflecting later accretions, regional recensions, or anthological borrowing rather than a single authorial layer.
Fame is framed as a consequence of puṇya (meritorious action) rather than of speech alone. The verse’s rhetorical contrast implies a valuation of publicly memorable deeds over verbal praise as the mechanism by which renown is historically imagined to circulate.
The verse uses hyperbolic comparison and irony: a mountain lifted “playfully” becomes the basis for lasting celebration, while an even grander cosmological burden (“supporter of the three worlds”) carried intimately is said to be “not counted.” Terms like mahīdhara and trailokyadhara exploit compound formation to intensify scale, while gīyase (“you are sung”) foregrounds the role of oral/poetic transmission in reputational memory.