Shloka 3
Practical Maxims — Chanakya Niti
खलानां कण्टकानां च द्विविधैव प्रतिक्रिया ।
उपानन्मुखभङ्गो वा दूरतो वा विसर्जनम् ॥
khalānāṃ kaṇṭakānāṃ ca dvividhāiva pratikriyā |
upānanmukhabhaṅgo vā dūrato vā visarjanam ||
For the wicked and for thorns, the remedy is only twofold: either a direct counterblow, as with a shoe, or casting them off from a distance.
FAQs
In the broader Nītiśāstra milieu, such verses are commonly situated in didactic collections concerned with pragmatic social conduct and political prudence. The pairing of “khalāḥ” (malicious persons) with “kaṇṭakāḥ” (thorns) reflects a period-typical tendency to treat social danger and physical hazard through a shared vocabulary of “obstacles,” a motif also encountered in wider Sanskrit political and moral literature.
Here “pratikriyā” is framed as a two-part schema: (1) an immediate, confrontational form of counteraction expressed through the idiom “upānan-mukha-bhaṅga” (a humiliating or forceful rebuke), and (2) “visarjana” at a distance, i.e., removal, avoidance, or discarding without close engagement. The verse describes these as alternative traditional options rather than as a detailed procedure.
The metaphorical coupling of “khalānām” with “kaṇṭakānām” compresses moral and practical categories into a single field of “harm.” The compound-like phrase “upānanmukhabhaṅgaḥ” functions as a vivid idiom: “upānat” (shoe) signifies contempt or social humiliation, while “mukhabhaṅga” (literally ‘breaking the face’) intensifies the image of direct confrontation. “Dūrataḥ” contrasts by marking spatial and social distance as an alternative mode of dealing with perceived threats.