Shloka 9
Practical Maxims — Chanakya Niti
मणिर्लुण्ठति पादाग्रे काचः शिरसि धार्यते ।
क्रयविक्रयवेलायां काचः काचो मणिर्मणिः ॥
maṇir luṇṭhati pādāgre kācaḥ śirasi dhāryate |
krayavikrayavelāyāṃ kācaḥ kāco maṇir maṇiḥ ||
A jewel rolls at the feet while glass is carried on the head; yet at the time of buying and selling, glass is glass and a jewel is a jewel.
FAQs
Within the didactic Nītiśāstra tradition, such verses commonly use everyday economic and material imagery (gems, glass, buying and selling) to comment on social reputation, misrecognition, and the perceived inversion of merit in public life. The reference to market exchange reflects a familiar institution in early Indian urban and courtly settings where value is negotiated and tested.
The verse contrasts outward display and social treatment (glass carried on the head, jewel at the feet) with an implied notion of intrinsic value that becomes evident under scrutiny, represented by the marketplace moment of purchase and sale. The formulation “glass is glass; jewel is jewel” frames value as stable despite fluctuating public regard.
The paired oppositions—पादाग्रे/शिरसि (at the feet/on the head) and काचः/मणिः (glass/jewel)—create a compact metaphor for inverted status. The repetitive clausula “काचः काचो मणिर्मणिः” functions as an emphatic gnomic closure, a stylistic feature in Sanskrit aphoristic verse that reinforces categorical distinction and rhetorical finality.